The impact of drama and theatre on marginalised

“It makes me feel alive”: The impact of drama
and theatre on marginalised young people
Aims and research questions
Background
• Marginalised or socially excluded young people disproportionately experience multiple
deprivations: poverty, exclusion from school, and a lack of social supports1.
• Their future trajectories are frequently associated with negative outcomes: academic
underachievement, homelessness, substance misuse, and mental health problems2.
• UK government‟s Youth Matters (2005) Green paper led to increased interest in alternative ways
of supporting socially excluded young people, including sport, the creative arts, and drama and
theatre3.
• Existing research suggests that drama and theatre might be associated with unique benefits that
emphasise personal development4.
• Studies carried out with typically developing and at-risk youths provide insights into
psychological mechanisms underpinning the impact of drama and theatre activities.
• Outcomes include: more pro-social behaviours, positive identity changes, increases in self-belief,
self-efficacy, personal agency, and motivation, as well as greater confidence in social skills.
Additionally drama and theatre has been found to offer young people a space for self-expression,
a place where a young person can „be themselves‟; and where playing roles offers an opportunity
to experiment with other ways of being4.
• But what psychological processes may underpin changes brought about by drama and theatre
projects?
Model of the
development of
disaffection /
engagement in
young people
(Hanrahan &
Banerjee)
Selfdetermination
theory (SDT)
Selfdiscrepancy
theory
(Ryan & Deci,
2000)
(Higgins, 1987)
Home,
School and
Community
Environments
Feelings
about
myself
Aspirations
and
motivation
Achievement
goal theory
(Dweck & Leggett,
1988)
Possible selves
(Markus & Nurius,
1986)
Attribution
theory
(Weiner, 1985)
Results: Themes from analysis using IPA
A Nurturing Space
Something for Myself
Self-expression
When I'm on stage
[…] it makes me feel
alive. […] My inner
self, the real me,
comes out. (Jordan,
3rd interview)
A positive activity to
fill time
[I] started to focus on
things that I actually love
to do, and then it [drama]
just channelled all that
energy that I was putting in
on being that hard rude girl
into now doing what I
actually wanna do, and it's
constructive. (Chloe, 3rd
interview)
Room to
unexpectedly achieve
I think that was like
one thing that I've
actually stuck at
and actually
finished. […]
Literally, never
finished a thing. So
it was nice to do
something, and
ride it out till the
end. (Jasmine, 2nd
interview)
Intrinsic enjoyment
Oh my god, this
[performing] is so
good. I really,
really liked it.
(Alisha, 2nd
interview)
Method
• Participants
• Four young people involved in a drama and theatre project (3 female, 1 male; aged 1521 years; British with mixed ethnicity: 2 mixed race, 2 black)
• 3 out of 4 participants had received a permanent exclusions from school, and 2 out of 4
had histories of offending behaviour
• Design
• Qualitative longitudinal design to capture change and continuity of experience.
• Semi-structured interviews
Behaviour
and
emotion
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
• To examine the impact of drama and theatre involvement on marginalised young people.
• To use in-depth, longitudinal, idiographic methods (studying the experiences of
individuals) to capture change and continuity of experience to go beyond limited
„snapshot‟ of a cross-sectional study5.
• To examine whether the narratives of young people support the psychological
mechanisms identified by our model.
• To address the question of „how and why‟ drama and theatre activities „work‟.
Supportive boundaries
He [the director] was always on time. He
always showed up. He never missed a
session. […] if we had a director that only
came sometimes, or didn't turn up on time,
you'd be like: „Well, he's not taking it
seriously, so we're not going to take it
seriously‟. He took it very seriously.
(Alisha, 2nd interview)
• 3 time points over 2.5 years
• Interview questions tapped into: motivation for attending workshops; experience of
involvement; relationships with theatre practitioners; character played in production
Analysis
• Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of anonymised transcripts
• IPA - Concerned with exploring and understanding the lived experience of each
participant6.
• Themes and superordinate themes arrived at for each of the four cases separately
within and across time points.
• Patterns identified across multiple cases – first by compressing time points, then by
tracking common and distinct themes across individuals and time points.
Discussion: Relationships as foundation of
self-development
The drama and theatre
workshops – provided a
nurturing space in which
new insight and selfawareness could grow,
and a space where new
roles, identities, and
ways of behaving could
be explored
Self-development
occurred through
internalisation of
supportive
environment in which
young people felt
valued accepted, and
a sense of belonging
The young people
experienced new selfbelief and competence
from positive feedback
from practitioners –
appeared to result in a
re-connection with
instrinsic values and
motivation
It feels like we’re all a family
The best part of it was just … it‟s
almost … […] it feels like we're
all a family.
(Jordan, 3rd interview)
Growth of trust
He didn't give up on us.. […] he took
a risk with us, and he believed in
us. […] It feels good for someone
to actually put their trust in us…
someone that come from the PRU.
(Alisha, 2nd interview)
Opportunity
to experience
something that was
inherently enjoyable
and rewarding resulted
in new achievement
experiences which are
often not experienced
by
youth at risk
Changing the Story
My life’s so different
Desire to move on
It just feels like it was like: “Did
that even happen?” Because the
transition from
then and now is just completely
different. […] it's like
everything's changed, like
everything's just gone positive
(Chloe, 2nd interview)
It's hard for me to be that person, it's
really hard for me to act that person
[…] because you know it's yourself
and that's not how you want to be
anymore, and it kind of reminds you
of how you don't want to be.
(Alisha, 3rd interview)
Limitations and Questions for future research
• Cannot generalise
• to all marginalised young people or
• to all drama and theatre activities for at-risk youths
• Need for large scale study with samples of young people from different drama and
theatre projects to examine how different experiences, and external factors relate to
outcomes
• Not a systematic investigation
• Need for an experimental design to test drama and theatre projects as an intervention
• Likely that other factors – personal, social, experiential – also influence outcomes
• Need for a quantitative examination of specific drama and theatre activities on outcomes
• Question of whether specific activities within drama and theatre confer unique
benefits remains
• What happens when creative arts projects end?
• Need for follow-up work to examine how long lasting changes seen are
Selfdevelopment
possible because
of theatre environment
which supported a sense
of agency and choice,
belonging, and
competence
Playing characters
based on past selves
created an opportunity
for young people to
reflect on ways they
had changed, and
reasons
for past
behaviour and
experiences
Relationships
with practitioners –
crucial for establishing
a space where feelings
of confidence, selfbelief, trust, belonging,
mutual respect, and
equality could grow
Clear structures
and expectations –
created a solid
foundation upon
which positive
relationships could
develop and
personal growth
occur
References
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