Theatre, Education and the Making of Meanings: Art or Instrument?

Art or Instrument? studies theatre’s educational role during the 20th and 21st centuries. It examines the ways theatre’s educational potential has been harnessed, the claims made for its value, and the tension between theatre as education and theatre as "art." Following key theoretical approaches to aesthetics, the study is organized into two chronological periods: early developments in European and American theatre up to the end of world war two and participatory theatre and education since world war two. Topics covered include an early use of theatre to campaign for prison reform; workers’ theatre, agit-pop, and American living newspapers in the 1930s; theatre’s response to the dropping of the atom bomb; post-war theatre in education; theatre in prisons; and the use of performance in historic sites.