Drama, Landscape and Memory: To Be is to Be in Place

Abstract

This paper is based on research that sought to identify the cognitive and emotive effect of a collaborative drama event that took place in a unique landscape. Particular leitmotifs emerged from the research concerning identity and groups, the resonance of landscape, collective and childhood memory and the particularity of site-specific theatre. In this paper the author deconstructs two of these: landscape and memory. The concluding theories suggest that events of this nature can offer a sense of 'being in place'. The paper draws on 2 years of qualitative research of a many-layered theatre education project taking place, annually, in Cornwall, England. Approximately 70 undergraduate students have taken this project to 3,500 primary school pupils, 100 primary school staff and 2,000 adult audience members each year; the practical research is drawn from all these participants, particularly the students