A Defense of Poesy (Drama, that is)

In one of our newsletters, I mentioned I was writing a theater handbook for The Rafiki foundation, a ministry creating a Classical curriculum for their schools in several countries in Africa. This is an introduction to the handbook, a short apologetic for the art of drama.

Why Drama?

God wants us to know him, and has revealed himself in two ways: creation and his Word. God is a story-teller. God created man in such a way that he learns through story. What is the Bible? It is a story. A story made up of lots of smaller stories: prophecies and poems, proverbs and parables. Overall it is a story of God’s love for his people, and how he sent his only son, Jesus Christ to redeem them. But that’s not all. Being made in God’s image, man is like God. We must be story-tellers too. What Francis Schaeffer called the “manishness of man” was the inescapable instinct and desire in us to create.

Like God, man creates and tells stories. We tell them through many, many mediums, which today have been given the vague name “The Arts.” Whether spoken, written, sung, acted, painted, or sculpted, all art is communication of something. But art isn’t neutral. The artist must choose to tell the truth about God’s world, or to lie. Many artists today are telling lies. The response of many Christians is to abstain from the Arts all together, but this is foolish. We must be artists ourselves and choose to tell the truth. 

For centuries, stories have been told or sung aloud, passed from one generation to the next orally. Today, literacy is still a privilege, and many will enjoy, learn, and tell stories without being able to read or write. Plays and acting are part of that long tradition of story-telling. Rather than a single bard reciting or singing an epic saga, many actors come together to play different parts and give a story to the audience. 

In Western culture, plays are not a primary medium of story, consumers generally opting for movies or books. However, participating in drama and theater in the lower grades and in high school is still a wide-spread practice. Even at home, little kids love to pretend to be someone they are not, and tell stories as they play. Theater as a medium has many unique attributes which make it both enjoyable and beneficial for kids to participate in. 

The first reason is educational. You are equipping students to learn and appreciate the many plays in history that have shaped and continue to shape Western and other cultures. It has long been held that the well-educated man must know his Greek tragedies, and above all, his Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s works are numerous, ubiquitous, and the standard of excellence in word-craft and story-telling. Give a student the tools they need to study and understand the works of Shakespeare, and you have given them the key to unlock a great treasure. Reading Shakespeare is a great start. But just as a musical piece is meant to be played and listened to, so are Shakespeare’s plays meant to be performed and watched. 

The other attributes of theater have more to do with the medium itself. It is a form of public speaking. Being comfortable in front of an audience, speaking loud enough for them to hear, and speaking from memory are all valuable skills. However, because the kids are not alone on stage, and because they are acting a part, the exercise is usually more fun and less intimidating than reciting a written speech or poem on their own.

Another way theater differs from other forms of public speaking is that plays are a sequence of events. This means it is not enough for an actor to memorize and recite his part well. He must do so at the correct time and in the correct way. The actor must pay attention to what is happening around him, and say his line at the right moment. In order for the story to flow, he can’t simply regurgitate lines he memorized right before coming on stage. He must really know his part. He must not be thinking, “What do I say next?” He should be in the scene, in the story, naturally responding as his character would respond to the events occurring around him. This requires a more conscious effort and  attention to detail than simple recitation does. 

Another unique attribute of theater is that it happens live, in front of an audience. Even if you have practiced it perfectly ahead of time, this is no guarantee that the live performance will be perfect as well. The actors know it, and the audience knows it too. Because of this, there is an atmosphere of tension and expectation as the audience watches to see if something will happen. Things can still and probably will go wrong. Forgotten lines, missed entrances, set pieces breaking on stage—all could and have happened during a performance. If they are good actors, they won’t mess up because of the mistake, but will think on their feet and stay in character. 

At its best, the actors are smart and the play is smooth, even if a few things go wrong. When the audience is sucked into the story, and forgets they are watching so-in-so in a role, but rather Macbeth heading toward his downfall, they are impressed and grateful for the performance. They are grateful for a story told in a skillful way. Of course, if the students are very young, the audience will be impressed if they say their lines loudly and at the right time. As the kids get older, the audience’s standards go up, and the harder they are to please. But if the audience expects more, they will also be more impressed by a play well done and a story well told. It is the satisfaction and pleasure that all men feel of witnessing excellence in an art. the audience and the actors each participate in the giving and receiving of a story. The pattern we imitate as image-bearers of God, the ultimate story-teller.