Practice as Research: The Tipping Point: Appropriating the Chorus of Euripides when Scriptwriting for Applied Drama.

Dickenson, Sarah

Abstract

Play Script. Published article, Dickenson, S. J. (2010), ‘After Cyclops: Appropriating the chorus of Euripides when scriptwriting for applied drama’, Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance 3: 3, pp. 291–304. Intellect. Electronic links to BBC interview of Writer and cast. In the writing of the play The Tipping Point. I explored appropriating aspects of the use of Chorus from the satyr play Cyclops by Euripides. The play was commissioned by Hull Truck Theatre in 2007 as part of a large media project for Hull schools. It explores the Eastern European economic migrant experience in Britain. I would suggest that the desire for the writer to adapt or appropriate what has gone before is more to do with desire to engage with transformational learning. Put simply transformational learning is that which is capable of being used in other contexts. “it must be socialised.” (O’Toole. 1992. 223) I would contend the socialisation of the forms used in the earlier text provides the writer with a learning experience in relation to their craft. Furthermore the appropriation of different periods and forms of theatre, when used effectively, can enable active citizenship, that is, to make secure and increase the knowledge, skills and values relevant to the nature and practices of participative democracy. The Tipping Point as an appropriation of Cyclops is not about linear functioning belatedness but an appropriation more magpie in its intent. I have taken, as a starting point, aspects of the device of chorus as employed by Euripides but then made a ‘decisive journey away from the informing source into a wholly new cultural product and domain’. (Sanders 2006.26)

Citation

Dickenson, S. (2010). Practice as Research: The Tipping Point: Appropriating the Chorus of Euripides when Scriptwriting for Applied Drama

• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/428889