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Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

approach problems from various angles and generate creative solutions.
This is possible because being familiar with languages of the people
means knowing their culture and their values, including what is and what
is not acceptable. This simplifies the process of searching for solutions.
Good command in several languages creates friendly environment for
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theatre artists to harmoniously and pleasantly work with different people
from diverse cultures. Knowing languages of other people helps theatre
artists to brainstorm, exchange feedback and refine creative concepts with
minimum challenges towards creating a performance that will reflect
audience’s demands and appreciation.

(e) A poor language command can limit creativity of theatre artists: This
is especially the case when theatre artists choose to depend on spoken
language alone to communicate their thought and views about the world.
Words can fail to fully capture the richness of certain experiences or
concepts. Thus, theatre artists have to be creative in using body language
and other means of communication to send intended messages to audience.
This includes the use of visual forms of arts such as music, props, costumes
or make up to communicate thoughts and emotions.

Exercise 6.1

You have been invited to a workshop to give a speech on the relationship
between language and creativity in theatre context. Highlight five main
issues that you will point out in your discussion.

Connection between language, culture and theatre performance
Culture and language are like two sides of the same coin. When one side is
removed, the coin is meaningless. Language and culture depend on each other in
various ways. Language serves as a primary vehicle for communication within
a given culture. More importantly, language shapes the cultural norms, values,
beliefs and traditions. When artists use language in a theatrical performance
within a specific cultural context, there are important factors to consider in order
to create an authentic theatrical performance as follows:

(a) Language variation in a given culture: Theatre artists need to be aware of
variations existing in languages they use in their creative works. Different
communities or social groups have distinct languages, vocabularies and

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