The
Askov Model I
Theatre
in Intercultural Education
Henning Dochweiler (Askov Höjskole, Denmark)
Aims
From November, 1, 2000 through May, 15, 2001 (26 weeks + Christmas
break), the theatre line of Askov Höjskole (Denmark) consisted
of 12 students from Denmark (4), Spain (2), France (2), Germany
(3) and Italy (1). It was instructed at least 14 lessons a week,
including a two week introduction to the Danish language and society.
The main teacher of the group was Anna Himmelstrup, herself a graduate
from Glasgow Royal Academy of Drama and Music. She was assisted
part time by drama teacher and actor Jesper H. Larsen and by mr
Allan Agerbo from our partner organisation AOF.
The aim of the course was to form a group of young Europeans to
learn about drama and theatre and to produce a play completely on
their own on adolescence and the problems of getting a grip of identity,
group belonging and cultural background in modern society.
The process of learning dramatical means of expression and simultaneously
refining the only common language – English – provoked
many confrontations in the group building and discussions on the
process. Instruction included improvisation, stunt, Mike Leigh´s
play method, work on monologues, building up a character and text
analysis.
From January
2001, the work concentrated on the main purpose, writing and rehearsing
a performance under the guidelines of the Grundtvig programme, refining
the pronunciation and planning the tour at the same time.
To help build up the dialogues, the students went through a number
of exercises, reading of youth literature and producing sketches
relating to their own experiences with adolescence and building
up relationships. A special note was of course the emphasis on the
confrontation of own identity with that of other cultures. In this
respect the teacher Anna Himmelstrup succeeded in creating a number
of challenging scenarios that really set off discussions –
and sometimes confrontations and even crises.
A special opportunity of making observations was the group of young
foreigners simultaneously studying Danish language and culture at
the school. The group consisted of students from the Czech Republic,
Lithuania, Albania, Bosnia/ Hercegovina, Russia, Japan and Venezuela.
These students contributed to the making of the play both by offering
their own observations on the behaviour and attitudes of the young
Danes (certainly not only flattering to these) and by their own
group building – of which they were only conscious, it seemed,
through the dialogue with the theatre students. The importance of
this dialogue to the school as an entity – reaching from the
seating order at table via eating and not least drinking habits
to religious discussions (Catholics vs Muslims especially) should
not be underestimated.
Gradually, a number of dialogues were created and tried on stage.
The task of refining the English wording and combining them into
a meaningful play was undertaken by Anna Himmelstrup. After a number
of discussions and changes after criticism, the play had a name
“WHO IS AFRAID OF THE WOLF?” and the final intensive
rehearsing including the making of sets and costumes could start.
Simultaneously
one of the German students in conjunction with the principal and
his class, “the cultural mediation line” started planning
the tour in details. The idea was to present the English spoken
play to young Danes and foreigners at other Folk High Schools and
then embark on a bus tour through Central Europe, again with young
English speaking people as the target group. The reason for this
geographical decision was that the principal, Henning Dochweiler,
for 13 years had been director of the Danish Cultural Institute
in Vienna, covering all Central Europe, and consequently had many
good contacts.
Best
Practices
The play premiered in Askov on April, 25, 2001, before our own students
and was a massive success. There is a recording of the play (duration
55 minutes) and a brief desription in English in the programme (enclosed).
Of course, the play itself was followed up by a discussion of the
contents among all students at the school. The problem of group
belonging or not and mobbing again proved crucial to young people.
After Askov, the play was performed in Austraia, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and Hungary until
it was shown a last time in Askov before a new group of students
on May, 14. All in all 11 performances in 6 countries, including
all 6 capitals, more than 1,200 persons, in less than 3 weeks. Each
performance was followed by a discussion in English with the group
of students watching. All the audiences were English speaking students
assembled in cultural centres or gymnasia, altogether an estimated
1,200 persons. In fact, the success criterion was the willingness
of the audience to embark on discussions – the greatest ones
occurring in Budapest and in Bratislava, where there was also a
remarkable interest from the media, including TV.
The difficulties
of this project were observed especially in the beginning, due to
the different backgrounds and attitudes to the learning situation
in a liberal, non-formal residential school, where you stay rather
closely together for half a year. But exactly these initial difficulties
proved to be of great importance to the final outcome, being part
of the process and thus of the result. In our experience, however,
there can be no doubt that a project of this kind requires a strong
teacher, who does not only have a professional background as a drama
teacher and who also commands English very well – but most
important: who can mediate, obtain the confidence of the young people
and create a positive allround environment.
There are videotapes
available of the theatre performance and the film:
please contact Askov Højskole, Maltvej 1, DK-6600 Vejen,
or e-mail askov@grundtvig.dk
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