A Robot who could not dance: Generating performative presence among performer, text, and audience through exploring and performing stories by children

Linda Lorenza; Persephone Sextou

doi:10.33178/scenario.18.2.1

Authors

Dr Linda. M. Lorenza CQ University
Professor Persephone Sextou (PhD) Leeds Beckett University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.18.2.1

Keywords:

drama training, applied theatre, storytelling, children, paediatrics, wellbeing, university teaching, undergraduate research

Abstract

A cyclic performance project enabled Australian tertiary drama students and primary school students to connect through stories written by children in hospital in the UK. University drama students undertook a semester of puppetry and created performances of children’s stories from Sextou’s book. The university students’ learning process involved exploring form and movement with inanimate objects to collaboratively create puppets which they allocated to the children’s stories they selected. These stories were performed for an audience of children aged between 5 and 8 years of age. This project used participatory action research and applied theatre to facilitate the university drama students’ exploration of puppetry, storytelling and performance. While the university drama students wanted to apply logic and chronology to the hospitalised children’s stories, they were willing to be vulnerable and to accept that they may not completely understand the stories. The university drama students performed their puppet interpretations of the stories for young children. This co-presence of the university drama students with the children affected a new understanding of the stories for both groups.

Author Biographies

Dr Linda. M. Lorenza, CQ University

Dr Linda Lorenza is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and the Arts at Central Queensland University. She researches arts education and applied arts. Dr Lorenza is Head of the Bachelor of Theatre and teaches theatre, acting and drama. Her professional career spans arts industry management, education policy development, research and academia. Her interdisciplinary research is predominantly associated with applied arts cutting across social innovation and change, regionality, rehabilitation and youth.
Professor Persephone Sextou (PhD), Leeds Beckett University

Dr Persephone Sextou is a Professor in Applied Theatre for Health and Wellbeing at Leeds Beckett University in England and a visiting Professor at NSW Sydney University in Australia. She is a leading expert in mixed-methodologies, arts-based, Arts & Health Research. She is the author of over 50 publications and 5 monographs, influencing parliamentary and scholarly debates about the practice and policy of the arts in healthcare globally.

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