ABSTRACT
This unit provides opportunities for learning across a number of curriculum areas. The unit starts by establishing a contemporary context based around a potential ecological disaster, which arises when a top-secret project goes wrong. As such, the drama will resonate with a number of ‘recent’ events – perhaps most obviously the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill of autumn 2010 – and will ask students to consider the moral and ethical implications of mankind’s exploitation of the Earth for wealth and resources. The focus of the work switches as students, working in role as newspaper reporters, have to examine a classic Greek myth, in which a headstrong young man challenges his father’s authority, over-reaches himself and ultimately brings disaster on himself – and almost destroys the Earth in the process. The original drama frame – that of print journalists researching a story – should motivate students to want to explore the myth for the light it might shed on the contemporary puzzle they need to solve. In terms of the curriculum the unit will therefore extend to work on Greek myths, beliefs and society, the moral responsibility of the scientist and ecological issues – global warming, soil erosion, etc. The unit will engage students in a range of drama techniques including chamber theatre, fi gurative mime and so on, as a means of active exploration of the key concepts of hubris and nemesis within a story which still speaks to us across the centuries.
