Prying Into The Heart Of Drama

We did a mini performance on a play of Edward Bond’s 'Bingo' last Monday. The selected extract contained only two characters who spoke ten lines that were made up of five questions and five brief responses. It was interesting to see how our friends’ creative minds had turned the story into different settings with characters of different relationships. Some pretended to be lovers who were sitting under the tree, some were teacher and student in the classroom, the most interesting were two chickens using their claws to write on the ground.

This mini performance has helped us to understand the nature of text. It makes the play more interesting than reading it. Without performance, we have to visualise the stage and try to figure out what is going on there in the play. We are also given an opportunity to explore and interpret the play by our own creativity and imaginations. Now I know that a small extract from a play can be done in different settings, characters and mood. We can play it positively or negatively that depends on our creativity.

I think this is how we are going to teach our students when we teach in school. We may choose a small extract from the short stories, novels or dramas and ask the students to act out. I am sure they will be enjoying the activity just as we do.

Reading plays is for most people a difficult and unfamiliar task especially among Malaysian students. The Literature Component has just been implemented since the year 2000. It is still a new programme that our students need more time in their exposure. Teachers should be aware of the fact that not everyone responds positively to drama, therefore we need to make the classroom activity interesting so as to capture our students’ interests.