Editorial: Summer Term 1 2021-22

On 23 March we celebrated the Music & Drama Education Awards 2022 with a ceremony at a London hotel, and on so many levels it was a remarkable and joyous occasion. Two years ago, in March 2020, the MDE Awards took place at the very last moment before, really very suddenly, everything shut down and we found ourselves in the throes of a global pandemic which had a profound effect both on live performance and education. To be back in a room with 150 people celebrating the extraordinary achievements of companies, charities, school departments and individuals in keeping music and drama education alive as a beacon for countless learners of all ages through very dark times, was not only enjoyable but truly moving.

While there is (tentative) cause for celebration - Covid-19 is certainly not behind us, and indeed case numbers are on the rise, but life and many of the things we hold dear have resumed to a great extent what might be referred to as ‘normal service’ - there is also immense sadness as the world reels at the shocking and horrifying humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine.

Drama is an incredibly effective means by which to engage young people's minds and hearts with realities present in the world, and current affairs. Projects such as Company Three and Nick Hern Books’ award-winning When This Is Over, which uses drama to facilitate young people's explorations of their own responses to everything from Covid-19 to the climate crisis, make perfect use of the medium's capacity to encourage self-expression, a sense of community, mental health benefits, and much more. Teachers of Drama also have the opportunity to open up perspectives for young people on ways of life, cultures, religious and national identities that are different to their own: and to do so in a way that is uniquely experiential, with all the attendant positive effects on those young people's capacities for empathy.

In this issue of Drama & Theatre, we turn the spotlight on Ramps on the Moon - a collaborative initiative designed to normalise the presence of deaf and disabled people on stage. We learn about Ardent8, making careers in theatre a real possibility for young people from parts of the UK where such opportunity is hardest to attain. In our drama strategy this issue, students are encouraged to build and codify their own imaginary culture - the ideal setting in which to overcome any differences which they perceive between their ‘real life’ communities. And in our opinion column and a feature we introduce the Drama and Theatre Education Alliance: a coming-together of a host of stakeholders in drama education, which aims to ensure that access to live performance, and drama in education for young people, is accorded a new and greater respect at government level, so that the decision-makers of the future are given the tools to exercise the empathy which it feels the world is badly in need of today.

Sarah Lambie, Editor