This dissertation is the written component of a practice-as-research based investigation into the reception of Shakespeare’s writing by young people via performance-based methods. Participants in the research took part in a twofold process, firstly attending preparatory workshops utilising active storytelling and active Shakespeare approaches, before attending an abridged performance, which was performed in one of a number of in-the-round theatre spaces. The study explores the responses and behaviours of primary school aged children who attended Julius Caesar performed at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London and secondary school aged pupils who attended Romeo and Juliet at various locations in schools and a specifically constructed in-the-round auditorium in Hull and Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Firstly, this dissertation uses ideas stemming from Maurice Merleau Ponty’s existential phenomenology to describe the skills development of the participants in the preparatory workshops, before providing a wider phenomenological theoretical framework to justify and explain the practical deployment of aesthetic and architectural design choices in the research conducted. The spatial investigation is continued by applying Henri Lefebvre’s theories of space to explore how considerations of space can realign the position of Shakespeare’s writing within the hegemonies of the various youth cultures of which primary and secondary school age groups are a part. This framework is then used theoretically to analyse the theatre spaces in which research took place; the spatial dynamics of the audience and performance spaces found within theatre in-the-round are analysed using existing, contemporary audience reception theories alongside original research conducted with practitioners of this theatrical configuration. Finally, the treatment of illocutionary acts, both in the performances conducted as part of this dissertation, and in UK classrooms, by young people, are investigated via the concepts of J.L. Austin and John C. Searle’s Speech Act Theory, in order to provide a methodology appropriate for analysis of the linguistic behaviour of Shakespeare’s writing in performance.

Forum Theatre technique established by Augusto Boal, a well-known Brazilian dramatist, is a kind of social therapy where people are not just watching the play but are also encouraged to participate in the play and give ideas and solutions to the problems. This study focuses on the Forum Theatre as a medium or tool for the Malay adolescents to discuss their social problems creatively and critically. The study discusses the historical background of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), as well as its components such as Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, Invisible Theatre, the Rainbow of Desire and Legislative Theatre. Forum Theatre has been successfully performed in European countries under the guise of 'Power Play', 'Therapy Play', 'Theatre of Revolution' and 'Theatre for Social Change'. Theatre of the Oppressed, especially the Forum Theatre, is generally unknown in Malaysian society and the approach needs to be introduced and explained in some detail. By having a comprehensive description of the Theatre of the Oppressed, the Malaysian reader will be able to understand the technique and approach in a deeper sense. As the research is about the implementation of Forum approach with adolescents, studies also concentrated on several theories of adolescent behavior and development from several perspectives and fields. The world of adolescents is confusing and complex and differs between countries. This study allows a better understanding on the complexity of Malay adolescence. The study focuses in general on the dilemma of the Malay traditional system of culture and norms that has been developed for centuries which has affected the adolescents' way of life. The study criticizes some of the customs (adat) that have caused Malays, and especially adolescents, to be incompetent and silent. Several opinions from various sources were quoted to support the ideas. The application of the original Forum approach in Malaysia is complicated because there is lack of written references available in the country. To implement the approach in Malaysia some modification and adjustment were made by adapting several other therapeutic approaches such as Psychodrama and Playback Theatre. To verify the effectiveness of the adapted approach, workshops with the troubled adolescents in the two rehabilitation centres known as Tunas Bakti Schools (STB) were conducted. The data gathered in the workshops were analyzed to determine the reception of the approach by the society and especially by the adolescents. Results from these two workshops were studied and analyzed and a new adapted approach appropriate for the Malaysian context has been constructed. The outcome will provide a model for Malaysians interested in applying the technique in future.

In a world brimming with upheavals our individual identities are threatened with annihilation, every social eruption carries seeds of change. The word change is pregnant with both positive and negative possibilities, one hand, it allows human beings a chance of tremendous progress or on the other, it constrains human progress. Harold Pinter, once described as the ‘a master of Uncertainty’, 1 provided valid situations and formulas in his dramas in which the identities of his characters are deployed in two different categories: (i) those who stick to their identities to the extent of destroying the Other, thus creating oppressors out of themselves, and (ii) those who desperately fight to preserve their different identities in the face of the shifting landmarks created by the oppressors. Therefore my study is an attempt to develop a new conceptualisation of the term ‘identity’, to see how it has been employed in seven selected works of Harold Pinter. My thesis is not concerned with following the evolution of Harold Pinter dramas as much as the representation of his characters and the fluctuation of their identities in the face of the totalitarian powers. The hegemonising policies of these powers come in different shapes in public or private spheres, therefore the treatment of identity in my thesis takes different categories, and each category is approached with relevant set of theories to cut to the bone of Pinter’s philosophy of the individual as an independent and free human being in this world. The hegemonic powers do not emerge out of the vacuum, they stealthily encroach on governing systems progressively be they democratic or undemocratic. They create small incisions in our moral code, a ‘slow morphing of our social landmarks’,2 that results in a brainwashing process with different techniques and targets that are set against any individual who shows symptoms of non-conformity. My thesis highlights such processes, and examines those individuals who accept to be brainwashed as well as those who do so under duress in light of the suggested theories. Although draconic measure in Pinter dramas include everybody, a subaltern feminist theme is running in parallel with the theme of subduing the identity of the Other by focusing on the position of women in his dramas. By following different representations of characters in different circumstances, my thesis is an attempt to add another layer to the concept of identity as seen from my own experiences and as represented in Pinter dramas. It does not offer solutions or alternatives as much as representing situations in which the concept of identity is at stake. Words such as power, violence, and hegemony are part and parcel of this process. Moreover, by spotting the weaknesses in any given system or social model, I’m diagnosing the inadequacies that need to be negotiated, or addressed in order to protect our identities as free individuals who are not in need of more restrictions to regulate our lives as much as we need to break away from them to establish ourselves with only one identity: humanity.

Thesis (PH. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1914. / Cover-title. "Reprinted from the Publications of the Modern language association of America, vol. XXXI, no. 2, June, 1916." Also available in digital form on the Internet Archive Web site.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M.A.)--San Jose State University, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.

According to the curriculum for primary schools, pre-school and after-school Lgr11 says that students should experience different feelings and moods using different forms of expression including drama (Lgr11 2011:10). The purpose of this study was to examine how educational drama is used in three elementary schools and for what purpose in teaching. The aim was also to examine the four teachers' perceptions of what educational drama means to them.I have used a qualitative approach with interviews and contacted four teachers from three different schools to get different information for my study. Three of them were educated teachers and one of them was an actor.  The information provided in the interviews was analyzed using educational drama theory and previous research. The interviews with the teachers and the actor showed the use of different methods of educational drama in education. It turned out that the teachers even if they have different views on educational drama significance they are using the same methods which are contained in the work of educational drama. The most dominant purpose of using educational drama proved to be the personality development perspective and the students´ learning development. The purpose of this perspective is that the students through various role plays to develop awareness, self-reflection and learning to work in groups. Through my study I found out that the educators are using educational drama in the teaching: To produce a theater performance and play it in front of an audience In order to resolve conflicts in the teaching and As a tool in the order instruction to teach something to the students.  My conclusion is that educational drama is used in education for personal development and as a tool in the regular curriculum.

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Thesis (M.A.(African Languages)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006.

Inaug.-Diss.--Rostock. / Lebenslauf. "Bibliographie der hauptsächlich benutzten Werke": p. 73.