ABSTRACT
Whereas the authors so far have taken a broad critical view of the nature, purposes and structure of drama, Bolton deliberately focusses his chapter on one aspect of the activity itself – dramatic playing. He analyzes the activity by identifying what it has in common with and how it differs from play. He judges that it is more than simply an extension of play as earlier writers have sometimes suggested. Certainly it contains spontaneity, symbolism and passive-active elements. In addition, both play and dramatic play are rule-governed. However, Bolton argues that in dramatic play the quality of meaning depends on appropriateness, integrity and collectivity of response. In this sense dramatic playing is nearer to games than to symbolic play. He suggests also that in dramatic play it is not enough for the participant to enjoy a sense of satisfaction. Rather, it is important to move beyond the intuitive, discovery learning towards objectifying experience, and this suggests a generalizing, conceptualizing requirement of the participant. The type of teacher intervention is crucial here, for it is his responsibility, the author claims, to identify potential learning areas and ensure as far as possible a balance in drama between the child’s play and the teacher’s play. In terms of the activity of dramatic playing, the teacher’s role is to provide further refinement of feeling values. It may be argued that this is a complicated way of saying that whereas play is natural, dramatic play is structured by the teacher, and so, inevitably, each is likely to have different intentions, processes and outcomes. However, like the writers of all the chapters, Bolton is essentially concerned with clarifying the meaning of drama in relation to teaching and learning. The chapter, therefore, is both important in itself, and contributes in the progressive focussing of issues in educational drama
