Celebrating Playfulness in Theatre – and Reflections on the Development of Theatre Education in Hong Kong｜DaTEAsia Vol. 1

APA Citation

Cheung, P. (2010). Celebrating Playfulness in Theatre – and Reflections on the Development of Theatre Education in Hong Kong. The Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia. 1, 25-35.

Confucius said ‘let us play with the arts.’ This notion of playfulness can well be construed as in the very nature of Chinese aesthetics. Furthermore, to make students enjoy learning through playing, to entice them to participate actively, is the primary responsibility of any teacher.

Playing has never been considered taboo in Confucianism; Dutch scholar Johan Huizinga has even suggested that the art of playing predates cultural activities. That children naturally learn from playing and that the Chinese have long used the classical theatre to develop collective ethical values are testimonies to the educational value of playfulness.

Playing allows one to momentarily escape from the present and to enter another realm of existence, thus allowing one to experience spiritual reprieve and joy of liberation. This liberation is not only intrinsic to the participant and audience, but also intrinsic to the nature of playing itself. Drama/Theatre being a form of arts, owes much to this playfulness in aesthetics. Through a regime of artistic dialogue, and a dash of spontaneity, the performers and the audience interact, breathing life into a script, giving it a presence – complete with life’s unpredictability, suspense and excitement. This unpredictability is integral to any game or any play. The relationship among plays, playwrights, and audience are therefore inter-subjective.

As drama/theatre is being integrated into the secondary school curriculum, would educational guidelines, assessment criteria and teacher’s training nip away the beauty of playfulness? The success of drama/theatre education, including all kinds of drama-in-education programmes, rests, therefore, on whether teachers and students are allowed enough room for celebrating this subjectivity of drama/theatre : liberty, thus playfulness.