Playing on the Great Stage of Fools: Shakespeare and Dramaturgic Pedagogy

An artists' residency in a primary school in regional Victoria Australia staged a production of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in a local theatre. A qualitative, reflective practitioner research study into this project collected and analysed data from participating children and their community audience that gave some insight into their experience of the project. This article examines the processes used by teacher-artists to develop the children's understanding of the play and to create a hybrid performance text that engaged a large community audience. It interrogates key artistic decisions made by teacher-artists in adapting Shakespeare's play. It theorises this project in relation to the dramaturgical and pedagogic approaches underpinning the script adaptation and devising processes used to generate this Shakespearean performance. The role of dramaturg included the education of both actors and audience and bridging the gap between the roles of writer and director to weave words and dramatic action into a performance text. This practice constitutes what may be termed a "dramaturgical pedagogy" and has a wider potential application in drama education practice.