Conquering the Zoombies: Why we need drama in online settings

Eva Göksel; Nicola Abraham

doi:10.33178/scenario.16.2.6

Authors

Eva Göksel https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7185-7499
Nicola Abraham The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.16.2.6

Keywords:

Drama online, Zoombies, Digital pedagogy, wellbeing, Reciprocity, Creativity, Teacher Training, Reflexivity, Play

Abstract

In this piece we offer a reflexive account of our recent experiences of teaching with drama in two different online settings. Eva will recount her practice teaching trainee teachers in Switzerland and Nicky will recall her practice working with postgraduate applied theatre students in a drama school in the UK. Over and over again, we have encountered the mind-set that teaching drama online is “not possible”, or at the very least, that it is but a pale reflection of face-to-face teaching. Although we were out of our comfort zone at first, we now feel that teaching with drama online has its place in our fast-paced and increasingly technological world. Teaching and learning in digital contexts will likely remain a reality from now on, thus it is the purpose of this article to make the case for the creative potential of and indeed urgent need for online teaching that includes drama.

Author Biographies

Eva Göksel

Eva Göksel is a doctoral candidate at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, with a master’s in education examining Drama in French as a Second Language from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Between 2014 and 2020, Eva was a research assistant at the Centre for Oral Communication, PH Zug, Switzerland, where she introduced Drama in Education to students and staff. Eva co-organises the annual Drama in Education Days.
Nicola Abraham, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Dr Nicola Abraham is Senior Lecturer in Applied Theatre Practices at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has most recently been working on a range of digital applied theatre, film and virtual reality storytelling projects in NHS hospitals to develop new person-centred approaches to creating bespoke creative artefacts, including VR 360 videos, intergenerational augmented reality-based process dramas with primary school children and older adult patients living with dementia, and films to improve subjective wellbeing of patients in acute dialysis wards. She has published in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (RiDE), Applied Theatre Research, Contemporary Theatre Review and co-edited the 2nd Edition of The Applied Theatre Reader (2020), Supporting Patients Living with Dementia During a Pandemic: Digital Theatre and educational spaces (2023) and Applied Theatre with Urban Youth: Witnessing Change (forthcoming, 2023).

References

Abraham, N. (2021). Pedagogy of Reciprocity in Digital Applied Theatre Practice: The antithesis to unjust responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that have devalued and ignored the rights and lives of older adults living with dementia. Welfare e Ergonomia, 7(2), 49-63. http://www.doi.org/10.3280/WE2021-002004

Abraham, N. (2018). The Creature Methodology: Reflexivity and the applied theatre practitioner in training. ETAS Journal, 35(2), 16-17.

Afolabi, T. (2017). Theatre and participation: Towards a holistic notion of participation. Applied Theatre Research, 5(2), 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.5.2.67_1

Baelo-Allué, S. (2019). Transhumanism, transmedia and the serial podcast: Redefining storytelling in times of enhancement. International Journal of English Studies, 19(1), 113-131. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes.335321

Bolton, G. M. (1984). Drama as education: An argument for placing drama at the centre of the curriculum. Longman.

Brown, S. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. New York.

Donohoe, P., & Bale, M. (2020). To Zoom or not to Zoom: Adapting educational versions of Shakespeare’s plays for an online platform during the Covid pandemic. Scenario, 14(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.14.2.7

Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin Books.

Göksel, E. (2019). Embodied language learning through drama: A tool for reflection, professional development, and holistic language practice. Babylonia: The Swiss Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 3, 36-42.

Hunter, M. A. (2008). Cultivating the art of safe space: Research in Drama Education, 13(1), 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569780701825195

Leal Filho, W., Wall, T., Rayman-Bacchus, L., Mifsud, M., Pritchard, D. J., Orlovic Lovren, V., Farinha, C., Petrovic, D. S., & Balogun A.-L. (2021). Impacts of COVID-19 and social isolation on academic staff and students at universities: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 21, 1213. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11040-z

McNamara, A. (2021). Playful learning in actor training: The impact of COVID-19 on spontaneity and intuition. Critical Stages, 23. https://www.critical-stages.org/23/playful-learning-in-actor-training-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-spontaneity-and-intuition/

Neelands, J., & Goode, T. (2015). Structuring drama work. Cambridge University Press.

Nicholson, H. (2005). Applied drama: the gift of theatre. Palgrave Macmillan.

O'Neill, C. (1995). Drama worlds: a framework for process drama. Heinemann.

Petriglieri, G. (2020, 21st Feb 2022). We are all Zoombies now, but it has to stop. In: Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/34fea7ea-83c5-11ea-b6e9-a94cffd1d9bf

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Schewe, M. (1993). Fremdsprache inszenieren. Zur Fundierung einer dramapädagogischen Lehr-und Lernpraxis. Zentrum für pädagogische Berufspraxis Universität Oldenburg.

Sutton, P. (2020). Act smart. N. Abraham & T. Prentki (2020), The applied theatre reader (pp. 202-210). Routledge.

Thompson, J. (2011). Performance affects: applied theatre and the end of effect. Palgrave Macmillan.

Wynn, C. M. (2018, March 29). 5 interdisciplinary skills for your résumé. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf