Polycarpou, Charis (2002) (RE) creating a theatre of myth : pedagogy and cultural heritage in a theatre for Cypriot youth. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis will argue that the contemporary educational system of Cyprus denies
young people opportunities to participate in the creation of their culture, which can
provide the nest for the exploration and understanding of their individual and
collective lives. Culture, in schools, is treated not as a dynamic process in which the
young people can play the main role but instead as a static field of knowledge that
should be studied and learnt. This approach, however, contradicts the same principles
that were the foundations of the ancient culture that the young Greeks have inherited
from the past whose performative and participatory nature ascribed to it a proactive
and democratic public life that guaranteed everyone the right to speak and act. This
thesis argues that the Greek young people of contemporary Cyprus should be entitled
to participation in recreating and reconstructing the meanings and values of those
stories that have inherited from the past and that bind them together as one people in
ways that help them make sense of their contemporary private and public roles. The
thesis argues that the myths of the past should be reinterpreted and repositioned again
in the present to respond to the immediate social context of the young people in a
participatory and democratic way so as to enable a progress of this culture and a
connection between the past, the present and the future. The thesis shows that culture
is under continuous reconstruction taking on the example of fifth century BC Athens
where theatre and public life fed one another and developed to respond to the current
socio-historical context of the time. Throughout, the thesis shows in what ways
theatre can provide the means for the investigation of the inherent meanings in the
myths of the past and also its significance in playing the role of the social agent that
can enable transformation and progress.
The thesis consists of an introduction, eight chapters and a conclusion. In the
Introduction I identify the problem that exists in the contemporary educational system
of Cyprus concerning the way that the field of culture is approached and present the
conceptual framework that provides the foundation for proposing a new Theatre of
Myth. Chapter one provides a critical reflection on and analysis of the oral culture of
Homer to the democratic fifth century BC Athens and the birth of tragedy. Chapter
two studies, both from the ideal and the material aspect, the social role of the
Athenian tragic theatre and its polis during the fifth century. Chapter three seeks to
base the arguments made in the thesis of the educational and political role of the fifth
century theatre through a critical analysis of its form and content. Chapter four
identifies and supports the principles of the proposed Theatre of Myth, drawing from
the twentieth century developments in Modem Drama whilst chapter five shows how
the Drama-in-Education tradition attempts to bridge the practices in the Modem
Drama paradigm to come closer to the proposed theatre model. Chapter six provides
the methodology followed for a pilot case study that attempts to transfer the Theatre
of Myth into practice, which is the preoccupation of chapter seven. Chapter eight
discusses and analyses the findings of the case study to inform the theoretical lines of
the model of the Theatre of Myth. Some conclusions are discussed concerning the
potential and the limitations of the Theatre of Myth in the end of the thesis.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Drama in education -- Cyprus, Culture -- Study and teaching -- Cyprus, Cyprus -- Civilization
Official Date:	June 2002
Dates:	Date Event June 2002 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Neelands, Jonothan
Extent:	[vii], 265 leaves
Language:	eng

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