Ideology, Practice and Evaluation: developing the effectiveness of Theatre in Education

ABSTRACT The evaluation of Theatre in Education (TIE) programmes raises a number of interesting questions. This article describes and analyses the process of evaluation of phase two of ‘Forbidden Fire’, a Theatre in Health Education project developed by Rent‐a‐Role Theatre Company at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth and presented in local primary schools. The authors explore some of the difficulties inherent in using qualitative approaches for the purposes of evaluation. They show what can be done with reference to an evaluation of ‘Forbidden Fire’ that was undertaken for a multi‐agency steering committee in Plymouth, UK. After briefly describing the TIE project, reference is made to examples of qualitative data from the evaluation report to show how theory was developed. An argument is developed about the art experience, resulting in an emergence of powerful moments or moments of cognitive illumination. This observation is related to the way TIE might contribute to promoting moral development in the classr...