Going beyond the text to appreciate literature: How drama can help

Abstract

This paper will discuss how school-going children can be made to relate to a number of universal issues in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" by reflecting on them and going beyond the contents of the text, with the assistance of drama techniques. For example, an awareness of cruelty to animals, • the negative effects of alcohol, male dominance, marital tension, stress, and hate and violence can be raised through drama-based immersion. The paper will initially deal with the advantages associated with drama-based strategies, and will make mention of how the average Malaysian school-child could benefit from exposure to learner-centered activities. It will go on to discuss how the text can be brought to life through learners developing materials for performance purposes, while focusing on the notion that they can learn about, and understand, cosmopitan ssues in an organic, hands-on fashion. An example of a play-excerpt based on "The Black Cat", written by my students, will be provided as an illustration of one of the products of drama-based learning.