TIE programmes

THEATRE IN EDUCATION PROGRAMMES  

“TIE manages to come near to the great notion of modern theatre in a modest way, without any avant-garde glitz: it creates real community theatre. The guests become participants, they get initiated; the performance provides more than pure entertainment, it might affect the life of the participants. The TIE group invites and addresses communities (usually school classes), and it also generates a collective spirit during the programmes. Playing together creates the common language, collective mythology and symbols for an authentic encounter.
We want to have an effect with our theatre, to have an effect through action.”
Balázs Perényi, director, drama teacher

The most important characteristics of our theatre in education programmes are the following:
•    they examine human problems formulated in an artistic way, with the help of theatre techniques, and situations evolving from these problems; the analysis takes place interactively, through applying drama methods;
•    the programmes are led by professionals trained in the fields of theatre and pedagogy;
•    the programmes have a coherent structure, they are made up of theatre scenes and analytical sessions applying the techniques of dramapedagogy;
•    every programme has clearly defined pedagogical aims and objectives;
•    it is always a group or class of students that we invite to our programmes;
•    the participants become partners in the creative process, their ideas are fully integrated into the programme.

On weekdays, during school time, an elementary or secondary school class visits our company. The young people take part in a theatre session taking two or three hours (the schoolteacher becomes a passive observer here). The TIE group “leads the participants through” such a theatre programme where they are not only observers but at some points, also the writers of the story created through thinking over, analysing, condensing, reshaping, and in many cases, through acting out given situations.
Besides the aesthetic experience, if all goes well, such a programme might become memorable for these young people by giving them the chance to experience the pleasure of thinking together.
Theatre in education programmes focus on moral problems, on micro- or macro-social issues. The method uses theatre and drama as a tool to find ways to a deeper understanding of given problems.
Our programmes provide the participants with the pleasure of discovery, where they can learn something important about themselves and the world around them.

Our programmes are approximately 120-180 minutes long. Schools do not pay a fee for participation, we operate with the help of national and international financial support.  
We realise 110-130 TIE programmes per theatre season / school year.

The short description of some of our complex TIE programmes:

The Savage: for children aged 7-8, focussing on the problem of violence, using one of Grimm’s little-known tale.
The aim of this programme is to approach human aggression from a new perspective, one that is quite unusual in common pedagogy: aggression should not be suppressed or stamped out, instead, we should try to understand its source and get closer to its nature. This programme is also presented in the form of family theatre.

Puppets: for children aged 14-16, focussing on the problem of freedom.
Our theatre play is centred around the themes of freedom and compromises. In relation to the problem of freedom, the participants and the drama teachers think over the questions of responsibility, of duties, rules and of compliance with expectations. The following question lies in the focus of the programme: how far are we willing to go to meet other people’s expectations?

Fatherlabyrinth: for children aged 14, focussing on parents-children’s relationships.
Is it really inevitable that parents become ‘father-machines’? What happens if we cannot find the ways towards each other within the family? The speciality of this programme is that every word uttered comes from on the spot improvisation, and some of the characters appearing on stage are young people, being of the same age as the participating students themselves.

Obstacles: for young people aged 15-16; focussing on traps and on the relations between democracy and schools. This programme has been realised in cooperation with Krétakör. The play always takes place inside the host school. This model programme consists of a preliminary interview with the representative of the school, an introductory play, the main play, and a follow-up session where reflections can be formulated.

DIGO: for young people aged 14-16; focussing on the themes of xenophobia and aggression. The play of Fassbinder is cut to three parts. All three episodes reveal a new perspective, new key figures and new details of the story. Theatre scenes are followed by analytical sessions, where we examine who these characters are and what were the motives of doing what hey have done. If any of us could be Gunda, Paul, Erich or Bruno, then how can we possibly live together with the beast inside us?

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