Browsing by Author "Meskin, Tamar."

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Creative Shakespeare : exploring a creative pedagogy for teaching The Merchant of Venice at Grove End Secondary school within their English home language learning area.
(2013) Moodley, Derosha.; Meskin, Tamar.; Van der Walt, Tanya Lenore.
This dissertation is an investigation of a creative pedagogical approach formulated to teach the Shakespearean play in a KwaZulu-Natal public high school, namely Grove End Secondary in Phoenix, Durban. The study explores how my formulated creative pedagogy for teaching The Merchant of Venice (1980) functions as an alternate creative teaching methodology to the current pedagogical approach, namely the text-based approach, which appears not to acknowledge the performative element inherent within Shakespearean plays. This study argues that through creative learning processes such as drama in education, creative drama, experiential learning, group dynamics and playmaking, learners can engage the performative aspect within the plays. The study also argues that creative learning processes can diminish the apprehension with which learners currently approach Shakespearean play study, since creative processes stimulate the learners’ imaginative ideas, as opposed to the educator-centered text-based approach, which requires little or no input from the learners during the learning process. Through the implementation of the creative pedagogy with eighteen learners from Grove End Secondary, the research aimed firstly, to evoke a positive attitude change from learners towards Shakespearean play study and secondly, to guide the learners towards a better understanding of the Shakespearean play narrative and Shakespearean language. The research was conducted through classroom action research. Research methods included data collection of journals, surveys, and questionnaires that were analysed throughout the course of the case study. Outcomes of the continuous data analysis reflected upon during the case study resulted in the adaptation of the creative pedagogy to suit the learners’ needs. The qualitative nature of this research led to findings which reveal that the creative pedagogy is an effective methodology for teaching Shakespearean plays, but is problematic when trying to integrate the educational aims of the creative pedagogy, with the constraints and structures of the current curriculum and public school system. The research also produces data which can benefit future inquiry into the creative teaching of Shakespearean plays in KwaZulu-Natal public high schools.
Hooked: a truelife production about teen drug and alcohol abuse: engaging action research and postmodern theatre practices in devising a theatre in education project.
(2019) Strauss, Nancy Leigh.; Meskin, Tamar.
Theatre in Education (TIE) has a long history of impact and development, and in South Africa, has been particularly instrumental in bringing about social change, challenging young people to reflect on their lives and their role in society. In this dissertation, I explore the usefulness of Action Research (AR) for the process of devising a TIE production using a case study of Trulife, a non-profit organisation working in schools across KwaZulu-Natal. Action Research has been shown to be useful in education but has not been properly explored in the context of the devising process for TIE programmes. This dissertation is structured into three parts – the initial establishment of the literature and a theoretical framework; followed by a description of the practical creative project and script; and concluding with a description of the methods used to reflect on the work as well as key observations and reflections. Central to this dissertation is the script of Hooked, a TIE programme which focuses on the impact of young people’s decisions relating to drug and alcohol use. The script, which is included in Chapter Four, was created using collaborative devising – with a focus on brainstorming, improvisation, and borrowing the storyboarding technique from the world of film. The study explores how the process of devising for TIE programmes relates to the intersecting ideas and frameworks of practice as research, self-reflection and the AR method, using postmodernism conceptually to examine how subjective truth is communicated and also practically as a stylistic approach to best engage high school learners using theatre. The data was drawn from both the script itself, group interviews with the participant actors, and my own observations captured in private journaling. The most important finding of this work is that AR was not only useful for helping to streamline the devising process but was already deeply ingrained in the way the team of creators and performers approached the task of creating a new TIE production. The benefits of using AR in guiding devising are explored, while parallels to other cyclical processes found in self-reflection and theatre are acknowledged. This study contributes both to the field of TIE – suggesting that AR can be a useful tool fordevising, and calling for future studies aimed at further developing and refining AR for TIE – and to my own personal development as a creative practitioner involved in producing TIE productions.
Journey through the past: analysing performance in museums to promote multivocality in historical narratives through a self-devised piece, our footprints, in Bergtheil museum, Durban.
(2018) Jenkins, Stephanie.; Meskin, Tamar.
This dissertation explores the role performance in museums might play through encouraging multivocality in the depiction and exploration of historical narratives in post-apartheid South Africa. The research is situated within the discipline of drama and performance studies, and focuses specifically on performing history in museums. In conducting this research, a case study approach has been adopted to examine the process of creating museum theatre. The main focus is on the self-devised, Performance-as-Research project, Our Footprints, performed in the Bergtheil Museum in Durban. Three other examples of museum theatre are considered, namely Brett Bailey‟s Exhibits A and B (2012 & 2013), This Accursed Thing (Jackson & Kidd, 2007) and the Triangle presentation (Talbot & Andrews, 2008). These examples are used to explore how performance can be employed alongside the traditional archive to bring history „to life‟ in museums. The theoretical component of this dissertation examines the manner in which performance and historical narratives are framed – using Erving Goffman‟s (1975) frame analysis. In addition, it considers how multiple perspectives can be promoted in museums through performance – using aspects of Mikhail Bakhtin‟s (1981/1994) theory of heteroglossia. The pre-existing case studies noted above offer different approaches and techniques for making museum theatre which link to these theoretical ideas. Similar concepts are then explored in Our Footprints. Museum theatre uses performance in sites that deal with historical narratives and artefacts torecreate‟ the past through action. This study explores how offering the audience the opportunity „physically‟ to experience the past through „participating‟ in performance, and connecting history to their personal lives and memories, creates possibilities for learning about, experiencing and remembering the past. Through this study I contribute to the body of knowledge in drama and performance studies and museum studies by exploring the potential of museum theatre in post-apartheid South Africa to bring different – and, sometimes dissenting – historical narratives, into contact with one another, thus promoting dialogue through performance. Our Footprints is an original production in a new area of drama that investigates performance‟s role in exploring the past in the present.
On the inside writing out : the dramatic represention of the private boys' boarding school on the South African stage.
(2001) Van de Ruit, John.; Meskin, Tamar.
This dissertation sets out to analyze the manner in which the writers of dramatic fiction deconstruct the mythology and ideology of the private boys' boarding school in their work. It also seeks to interrogate the sociological and philosophical notions that underpin this fictional work. The central thrust of this dissertation is to explore the representation of the private boys' boarding school experience on the South African stage, with particular reference to writers whose work reflects their personal experiences within such institutions. Private boys' boarding schools promote the ideology that they provide a superior education based on liberal and democratic principles. These institutions supposedly oversee the development of the individual's mental, physical, spiritual, cultural and social education. The projected ideology of the private boys' boarding schools has become entrenched and has manifested itself as a pervasive mythology, which glorifies and glamourises the social reality of such institutions. This mythology is challenged and refuted by the appropriation of various sociological, and philosophical theorists, including: traditional Marxist critiques such as the theories of Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976); structuralist theories such as those proposed by Louis Althusser (1971) and Antonio Gramsci (1971), whose notions of hegemony carry much relevance when considering private boys' boarding schools; and finally, Michel Foucault's (1977) theories of power and power hierarchies (Lotringer, 1989; Smart, 1985). Since South Africa's democratization in 1994, a number of fictional works have emerged that have engaged with the social reality of private boys' boarding schools. Most notably, two plays, Anthony Akerman's Old Boys (2000) and John van de Ruit's War Cry (1999), have highlighted issues surrounding private boys' boarding schools in South Africa. Together with a variety of texts written for different media these works have formed a critical base that, to some degree, has undermined the supremely positive resonance of the entrenched private school mythology, and in so doing, challenge the projected ideology. This dissertation's prime focus is on South African private boys' boarding schools; however, it also includes texts that articulate the social reality of private education in England and America. These texts are relevant firstly because the South African private schools are modeled very closely on the English public school system and secondly, because their inclusion adds weight and variety to the discussion. Important areas of study within this dissertation will be the interpretation of the various thematic concerns raised, and character constructions created by the various writers. This will be underpinned by the theoretical framework, which analyzes systems of power and power hierarchies, and the notion of hegemonic masculinity. Finally, the private boys' boarding school will be examined as a site for hegemonic struggle where power and privilege are continually contested in a relationship characterized by coercion and consent. The critical discourse of the fictional texts and its theoretical underpinning will be placed in opposition to the elitist mythology of the private boys' boarding school and the ideology that these institutions espouse.
Shattering the silence: analysing the theatrical portrayal of domestic abuse in the Indian South African community - a textual study of three South African plays (between 1993 and 2002).
(2021) Pillai, Shirdika.; Meskin, Tamar.
In this dissertation, I use diasporic identity theory and cultural theory to argue that the political and social structures of the country have influenced how the Indian South African community viewed itself in relation to South African society. The race politics of South Africa played a significant role in the community closing ranks to shield itself from external criticism and ensuring cultural practices were preserved. Members of the community who chose economically advantageous pursuits, forged ahead socially while confining women to the private domain and tasking them with the role of gatekeeping culture, tradition and language. This responsibility, taken up by Indian South African women, has endured over generations and over time, many women have become shackled by this role of cultural policing. This, coupled with young girls being taught their roles are subservient to males in the home - regardless of whether he is her father, brother or husband – has seen an enabling of patriarchal practices being perpetuated. Thus, in homes where domestic abuse takes place, women have little to no agency to confront the man in the home and challenge his authority. As an Indian South African myself, I have witnessed how the social ill of domestic abuse has remained tightly contained within the boundaries of the community. It is the silence around this matter that I confront with my research. While it has almost always pursued a male agenda (as it is considered the public domain), over the years, Indian South African theatre practitioners have transformed the role of theatre to cater to the needs of the community. In my research, I have analysed three South African plays, written by Indian South African male playwrights, who have turned the public spotlight of the stage onto the private experiences of domestic abuse. The three plays are Ismail Mahomed’s Purdah (1993), Robin Singh’s Till Death do us Part (1993) and Vivian Moodley’s A Cookie in the Kitchen (2002). While written almost a decade apart, all three playwrights’ perceptions around how domestic abuse is experienced in the Indian South African community, are strikingly similar. Through textual analysis, I interrogate how these playwrights have chosen to dramatise domestic abuse. In understanding the theatrical representations of the violence - influenced by social, economic and cultural factors - interpretive assessments can be made about how it is experienced in homes in the Indian South African community. It is my belief that the medium of theatre can act as a catalyst for social change; in this regard, I use the theories of Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theatre to support my argument. Brecht believed that an active audience could be propelled to make the changes in their own lives that they wanted to see reflected on stage. My intention is to illustrate how the plays engage difficult questions around the gendered power structures enforced by the community, challenging systems like patriarchy. Through such experiences, I hope that Indian South African women may claim the agency necessary to shatter the silence.
'Summoning the healing' : intercultural performance, immediacy, and historical and ritual dialectics in Brett Bailey's The plays of miracle and wonder (2003)
(2006) O'Connor, Lloyd Grant.; Meskin, Tamar.
This dissertation examines three plays by South African theatre practitioner Brett Bailey as
Theatre roots, learning routes: educating through formal theatre productions in higher education – a self-study.
(2021) Meskin, Tamar.; Singh, Lorainne.
My study grew out of a desire to root my research in my creative practice as both drama lecturer and director of formal theatre productions in higher learning institutions. From my own lived experience, I knew that participation in such formal theatre productions as a student had played a significant role in shaping not just my drama education, but my sense of self. The interplay between these ideas generated my core research question: What is the value of formal theatre productions in a higher education context in relation to teaching and learning? In this study, therefore, I employ a personal history self-study approach to investigate the relationship between the two aspects of my role as a university lecturer in drama—teaching and directing—through interrogating formal theatre productions as sites of teaching and learning. This involves four areas of analysis: First, I explore my identity as a directorteacher, working on formal theatre productions in a South African institution of higher learning. Second, I examine the educational potential of formal theatre productions within the discourses of both dramatic education and broader educational theory in order to develop my personal educational philosophy. Third, I investigate the experiences of students who participated in formal theatre productions I directed, and colleagues who have co-directed such productions with me, using Creative Analytic Practice in the form of a data play to discover the kinds of learning that emerge from participation in such projects. Finally, I draw on these ideas to formulate a model for what I call Production-Based Learning and define a role for myself as a director-teacher. From my analysis, I identify eight different kinds of learning that emerge from participation in formal theatre productions: disciplinary, personal, interactional, emotional, expressive, responsive, cultural, and organisational learning. This demonstrates the power of formal theatre productions as facilitators of both disciplinary and life-learning, and indicates the potential of Production-Based Learning as a pedagogic practice for drama in higher education.