WHAT IS A THEATRE-BASED APPROACH?
The spirit of the rehearsal room in the classroom
The following list summarises the philosophy and working practices of a typical RSC rehearsal room:
- Shakespeare as our contemporary - we look for the relevance of his work to our own lives and experiences
- Validation - give validity to the experiences and responses of those who are approaching the text as part of that group for the first time
- Active relationship between theory and practice - through the action of 'doing' we can then reflect back on our experience
- Purpose: having clear and shared aims
- Opportunities to 'do' rather than 'think' in order to nurture creative responses
- Preparation
- Risk-taking
- Constructive feedback
- Reflection
- A spirit of enquiry
- Teamwork
- Ensemble
A belief that 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts' is central to the active approach of our education work. A whole class or group of young people working together to explore interpretations of a 'difficult' text will spark ideas off each other and work collectively to find creative solutions to problems they encounter. - Celebration
- Learning: all learning together - and continuing to learn
- The teacher as facilitator (like a director)
