Learning, Knowing, and Languaging in Drama: An Interview with Dorothy Heathcote.

Abstract

Ms . Heathcote : What's possible with drama has to do with the way time is used in drama. Much learning tends to be what I'd call over learning. In other words, when we say Let's consider that matter or those people, we are here (in time and space) pondering on the matters over But in drama you can't do that, because suddenly you are walking in the time of the event. For example, let's say we are considering with some children General Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. If we say, Interesting what Wolfe did at Quebec, wasn't it? he remains over there. Even if we become very involved and intrigued by our study of it, we're still here looking over But in drama the over becomes here and the whole world is around me. In this example, it happens to be Wolfe's world at Quebec. Now I'm in a totally different position for joining things together or learning within drama. I can see things only from the point of view of my present responsibility at Quebec. That immanent pressure activates or harnesses my previous knowledge in a totally different way, and very quickly at that. Wolfe is standing there and everyone is saying Give us your orders. The historical facts may be vague or even wrong, but the need for Wolfe to suddenly recognize his responsibility can come only through that immanent pressure here. You have the whole energy of knowledge, all the affairs of mankind over Drama filters it to us here through a tiny fissure. That fissure is the event, the episode, and those who are , not were, but are present at that one moment. We are going forward to induct new knowledge, but to face that moment we have to draw upon previous, well-understood knowledge. The key point is how I can use this dramatic moment to use relevant knowledge from my past, perhaps about officers and soldiers, to extend into new knowledge and learning about Wolfe at Quebec. It's the pressure, or the authenticity, of that dramatic moment that creates the new knowledge, that makes different connections, and that suddenly brings connections that have been dormant in my previous knowledge into active use in making sense of new information I encounter. For example, up until this dramatic