Devised and collaborative creation is
at the core of many university drama and theatre courses. Theatre
practitioners and theorists have emphasised the 'non-hierarchical
possibilities' of devising and how it may employed as a model of cooperative
collaboration' (Heddon and Milling: 2006, 4). Devising can also represent 'a
practical expression of political and ideological commitment' (Ibid, 2006: 4),
and raise issues about personal politics in relation to group dynamics (Oddey,
2003: 9). Students working in devised theatre are required to take collective
responsibility for all aspects of the process including the creative outcomes
for the project. This can sometimes generate creative tensions which may be
difficult to confront and problematic to manage. These tensions have the
potential to undermine or challenge the principles upon which collaborative
devised work is predicated. Tracy Crossley (2006) identifies a tendency within
group work collective devising towards 'groupthink' in which there is an
avoidance of conflict in order to maintain the appearance of a well-functioning
and cohesive group. Bound up with this is the pressure of assessment, which may
lead a group to be 'risk averse' and consequently make defective decisions. Inevitably,
within collaborative projects there is always the potential for creative
conflict. However, constructive conflict may also be used to produce positive
personal change and social change (Carnevale, 2006). This project focuses on the inherent
tension within the assessment process between a competitive system that rewards
the individual and a group based approach, which values sharing and
collaboration. It considers a variety of methods and approaches to
collaborative learning and examines how creative conflict and dissent might be
used in a positive way to enrich the experience. It also considers how the processes of devising
might be used to explore the place of the individual within a community and the
function of democratic decision-making and power (Wessels, 2011).
Key
words
Creativity, conflict, dissent, devising, collaborative learning, group
assessment
References
Carnevale, Peter J. "Creativity in the outcomes
of conflict." Handbook of conflict resolution: theory and practice,
(2006): 414-435.
Crossley, T.
(2006) Letting the Drama into Group Work: Using conflict constructively in
performing arts. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.2006; 5.1:
33-50.
Heddon, D. and Milling, J. (2006) Devising Performance: a critical history, London, Macmillan.
Oddey, A. (2003) Devising
Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook, London: Routledge.
Wessels, Anne. Devising
as Pedagogy, Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education. Sense Publishers,
2011. 131-134.
