Voices: Drama and the development of speaking and acting in public spaces

This chapter raises questions on the role of ‘voice’ pedagogies through engagement with the work of Freire, Butler, Boal and Lessac. The chapter begins by interrogating different ways in which ‘voice’ have been conceptualised within citizenship education. This leads to a consideration of the theoretical and practical synchronicities of ‘voice’ and ‘performance’ including the question, can citizenship education approach speaking/acting in public spaces as a performative practice? Contrasting examples from Chile and Brazil, the chapter then briefly examines the pedagogical relationship between speaking/listening to question how discussions about drama education can help us to build equal dialogues. Performance is then first reconceptualised as ‘voice’ in terms of a physical and abstract presence within socio-political discourses that allows an inclusive realignment to the practise of participation itself through dramaturgical methods. The chapter concludes rereading voices in relation to Boal’s ideas of a sensitive and symbolic thinking, and questioning how, through ‘voice work’ social and ideological forces in our bodily manifestation can be explored, identified, and contextualised.