Putting on a show in the ol' barn? : Understanding student learning through practical drama performance

One of the fears that confront lecturers working with university drama students in non-acting courses is that the students see the practical performance component of their studies as nothing more than “putting on a show in the ol’ barn.” There is so much “fun” and raucous behavior taking place in rehearsals that it is difficult to see whether any serious tertiary level learning can be taking place. This paper investigates the learning experiences of a team of advanced drama students from Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. Several key themes emerged from this research into the ways that students learn through practical performance. Some of the ideas that will be explored include that students suggest that if something is fun then it is more likely to sustain their interest and that the students identify significant benefits from learning from more experienced peers who are a part of the group. The primary benefit of practical performance that the students identified was the deep learning that was only made possible by physically embodying the concepts and ideologies presented in the performance.