Theatre and drama education and populism: The ensemble ‘family’ as a space for dialogic empathy and civic care

Abstract

This article, understanding populism as an essentially undemocratic ideology, argues that the pro‐social theatre education approach of ensemble pedagogy can offer a model of educational practice which counters these anti‐democratic rhetorics by creating a shared space for the enactment of empathetic discourse. Via an ethnography of the UK Shakespeare Schools Foundation festival project, the notion of the theatre education ensemble ‘family’ as a model of civic caring is offered as an alternative, feminist ‘care perspective’ on civic and political rhetorics, in contrast to the patriarchal ‘justice perspectives’ which facilitate the reductive anti‐democratic rhetorics of populism. Thus, this article concludes that ensemble approaches to theatre education, viewed through this feminist pedagogy lens, hold rich potential for developing learners’ capacity to resist populism and act in socially hopeful ways.

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