Play, Drama and Thought

This important reference work is essential reading for drama educators, therapists, and others in the helping professions. Part I considers drama from the perspective of the philosophers, from those of ancient Greece to modern times. Part II examines drama and play as seen by various schools of psychology, beginning with the depth psychology of Freud, Jung and Adler, and going on to discuss more recent schools, such as the drama therapy of Jacob Moreno. In Part III, the authors considers drama from a broader sociological and anthropological perspective, giving us a glimpse of its importance in cultures distant from each other in time and space. Part IV ties together the earlier chapters, and we see how drama relates to intuition, symbolism, and the fundamental structures of human thought.

The leading authority in drama education, Richard Courtney has extensively revised and updated his most famous work, Play, Drama & Thought, the definitive text on the intellectual and theoretical background to drama and the relevance of drama in education. A Canadian since 1967, Courtney was born in England, where he was the Senior Lecturer in Drama at Trent Park College, London. After serving as Professor of Drama at Victoria and Calgary Universities, he is currently in charge of graduate studies, research and development in arts and education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and is cross-appointed to the Graduate Drama Centre, University of Toronto.

Courtney has been Visiting Professor, Melbourne College of Advanced Education, Australia (1979); President of both the Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Canadian Child and Youth Drama Association; and governor, the American Council of the Arts. Courtney is also an actor, designer and director of Shakespearean, classic and contemporary plays, a poet, and the author of more than thirty books.