The drama studio as pedagogical space : rehearsing the whole teacher

Abstract

A drama studio is an open space. Without desks, rows of chairs or a fixed front, familiar expectations of teaching can be noticed and reconsidered. Student teachers enter carrying memories, habits and images of the teachers they might become. This reflective, practice-based chapter asks what becomes possible when these dimensions are given space within initial teacher education. Drawing on over thirty years in theatre and teacher education, including thirteen years in an ensemble theatre laboratory, it reflects on drama workshops and the Teatru Qroqq productions with student teachers in Malta. These experiences show trust developing as participants contribute, take creative risks and respond to one another. Read alongside scholarship on presence, creativity, ensemble and dialogic education, the studio becomes a pedagogical space where habitual actions can be interrupted and possibilities emerge. Rehearsal is understood not as preparation for a perfected teacher-self, but as a practice of attending, imagining and responding responsibly to others.