Teaching Drama 11-18

"As a busy teacher of drama, I have stringent criteria when looking for a book which deals with the diverse and often messy business that is my day-to-day practice of working with young people in a lively college in the field of drama education. Firstly, it needs to be structured in a logical and coherent way which allows me to dip in and out and yet which makes sense as an end-to-end read. It needs to be packed full of practical ideas that encourage me to experiment within the classroom combined with solid theoretical underpinning that challenges assumptions and makes me see my current work with fresh eyes. Rather than overwhelm me, it needs to inspire me and have an appreciation of areas of struggle within our subject which, as practitioners, we learn to embrace as part of the creative process and which make our explorations into drama so exciting. It seems to me that this new publication from Helen Nicholson and her contributors has succeeded in fulfilling all of these requirements....The strength of the book lies in the ability of the contributors to make accessible not only the content of their work but also the cultural, theoretical and artistic context within which they work. The tone is one of collaboration, openness and reflection and, as such, makes for interesting and stimulating reading....Rather than being a disparate collection of ideas clamouring to be heard, it is instead a celebration of the diversity of our profession and a reminder of the creative potential which lies in the hearts of the young people we teach." Research in Drama Education