Summary of the impact

This case study documents the impact of practice-as-research into playwriting methodologies engaging multiple voices as expressive of the instability of auto/biography and the social/political construction of the self. This research has had a national and international impact on the cultural life, the quality of life and education. The impact was initiated at the anniversary event of the Goethe-Institute (Dresden and Mühlheim) in celebration of the twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall; the impact has been continuing and, apart from a life in the theatre, has resulted in the inclusion of the script in German language tuition at A-Level (Routes Into Languages Project).

Underpinning research

`Not Yet' is a single-authored play, written by Sarah Jane Dickenson, which originated in a synergy of individual research in playwriting, of theatre workshops and drama education, and of an internationally instigated opportunity of the `After the Fall' project/festival (Germany), marking the 20^th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and of the beginning of `New', post-communist Europe. Ongoing research in playwriting is one of the key research areas in Drama since Anthony Minghella was a playwright-lecturer in the early 1990s and other specialists and practitioners in Drama (Donald Roy, J. Michael Walton, Keith Peacock, Richard Boon); the continuity and gained experience is reflected upon in Dickenson 2013. The current research questions were (1) the instability of auto/biography and adaptation of memory; (2) construction of the self (individual, private, social, public, political, cultural) through a dramatic structure; (3) applied theatre and drama in education (behavioural patterns, clashes between individuals and community, bullying and harrassment, xenophobia, theatre as an act of remembrance); and (4) dramatic structure: multiplicity of voices (heteroglossia) and choric structures. The play Not Yet explores the ways in which a multi-vocal presence may be given to those who feel their identities have been or are being ignored, ridiculed, or both. In the play, the stories and choric structures are manipulated to generate the possibility of new positive narratives of identity and a claiming/reclaiming of a heard voice; experimenting with the adaptation of memory and identity in choric and other structural dramatic devices is discussed more fully in Dickenson 2010.

The commission from the Goethe-Institut in 2009 for a play to mark the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall was taken as a convenient opportunity to explore the research questions applied to one of the symbolic and major political and social events in the recent political and cultural history of Europe. Supported and facilitated by the Goethe-Institut, interviews of former East and West Berliners from differing socio-economic backgrounds were undertaken and the impact on their lives of the reunification of Germany was discussed. As a counterbalance and a way of opening the perspective to a more far-reaching scale, workshops with the children of East European migrants in Lincolnshire were conducted, which identified a series of key issues of the individual experiences of a shift in cultural identity and assimilation. The resonances between the subjects' testimonies in the two geographical locations (Germany and the UK) were profound and revealing and influenced the conception and implications of the play.

From the perspective of Applied Theatre, Not Yet reworks and refines the previous playwriting research experiments with narrative and dramatic structures in approaching, embodying and giving voice to the adolescent/teenage mentality as developed in The Tipping Point (2008; published in the Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance 3 (2011): 3, pp. 305-28). Both plays address the de-individualised group mentalities targeting individuals, analysing the mechanisms of bullying and harrassment as triggered by awareness of otherness and differences in voice. Through dramatic structure and the use of choric and rhythmic elements, Not Yet embodies the possibilities of change in behavioural patterns through a multiplicity of voices and responses.

This innovative and topical use of language and the articulation of young people's concerns today have found application in language learning. This dimension has been developed through a series of workshops at schools in order to test hypotheses and create a text that interweaves these concerns and a sense of topicality in the dramatic structure.

References to the research

Details of the impact

It is recognised that much of the impact was "causal, [...] diffuse and non-linear" — in keeping with the §83 of the HEFCE Panel Criteria document. The transitory nature of the audience and consumers and the nature of the impact pose methodological problems of documentation and quantification.

After the Fall was a multi-disciplinary theatre project, devised by the Goethe-Institut to mark the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The project examined the importance of the historical and political moment for the development of civic culture in Europe. The play `Not Yet' was produced and performed by a UK student company in the UK and in Germany: in five university and school venues in Yorkshire, and at the Dresden & Mulheim Theatre Festival (2-10 November 2009). An accompanying workshop programme was run, predominantly for audiences of secondary school pupils. In the UK (February-March 2009), approximately 400 students (aged 14-21) saw the play and participated in the workshops. In Germany, approximately 300 German students (aged 11-18) participated in the workshops. The opportunity challenged the lived experience and understanding of the post-Communist society for both German students and the performers from and audiences in the UK — facilitated through near-peer learning experience provided by the workshops and, additionally, through a screening of the film of the play in Hull City centre by BBC Humberside on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 2009). The interactions had a positive effect on articulating the uniqueness of the situation and the empirical cognition it brought.

This awareness was further mediated through performances of the play and the ensuing publications: a keynote speech at the Goethe-Institut to an international audience (`Not Yet: The Berlin Wall & the Loss of Biography'), and in the direct application of the play to German language tuition at A-level, as part of the `Routes to Languages' tuition project and in a publication for Routledge: respectively, (1) Die Mauer. Multimedia Resource for students studying AS/A2A level German (2011), which has at its core the DVD and script of Not Yet. The resource pack is now in permanent use by 60 schools in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (further details unavailable). (2) This material has been included in a book published by Routledge: Catherine Watts (ed). Living Languages: An Integrated Approach to Teaching Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools (Routledge, 2012).

The Staatsschauspiel Theatre in Dresden reflected on the play and workshops as a "great contribution" to the Festival (Christof Belka. Staatsschauspiel-Dresden). Feedback from the schools and colleges was highly positive as the workshops enabled the students to make connections between their own lives and the play's themes. They found them "really motivating... a great idea, the play helped make sense of a difficult subject." and would "really like to do it again in the near future" (Claudia Schmidt. Teacher. Dresden).

Not Yet was published online by the Goethe-Institut (2009) in its original English and in a German translation by Anselm Heinrich (access data unavailable). The play was seen by the Goethe-Institut as a success in terms of the After The Fall Project and beyond. The forte of the project was identified in the complexity of the themes in the play and in the engagement of the age range at which it was aimed, both in the performance and in the workshops in schools. The Goethe-Institut identified the project as the "major highlight of 2009" and observed that it was "amazing how this project really took off", stating that they were "full of admiration for all the work done." (Wolfgang Winkler. Goethe-Institut Manchester). References to and images from the play featured heavily in the Goethe-Institut Yearbook.

The online publication of the play by the Goethe-Institut influenced the practice of others. This is exemplified by the fact that Not Yet has been used by international groups such as the European Shared Voices project (2010), the aim of which is to create a stage version that would represent a common future for all young people in Europe.

Sources to corroborate the impact

Analysis of impact on language learning
Catherine Watts (Ed). 2012. Living Languages: An Integrated Approach to Teaching Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools, pp. 183-215. London. Routledge.

Teaching Resource (A-Level German)
Cerny, Maria, Sarah Jane Dickenson, Daniela Schwark & Bettina Steurer (2011). Die Mauer. Multimedia Resource for students studying AS/A2A level German.

Routes into Languages Programme
Die Mauer. Have fun learning German!
https://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/yorkshire/resources

After the Fall Festival (Goethe-Institut)
http://www.goethe.de/kue/the/prj/atf/prj/de3941771.htm
Ein Interview mit Sarah-Jane Dickenson
http://www.goethe.de/kue/the/prj/atf/aus/dic/de4250127.htm

Dresden und Mühlheim Festival
An account of the festival (3 Nov 2009)
http://www.deutsch-perfekt.com/nachrichten/kultur/theaterfestival-in-dresden-und-muehlheim
About the festival (13 May 2009)
http://nachtkritik.de/index.php?index_php?view=article&id=2827&tmpl=component&print=1&task=printblog&option=com_myblog

School Workshops in Germany
http://www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de/home/after_the_fall/