This paper reflects on the use of image theatre (Boal, 2002) in research in a UK inner-city secondary school classroom. It is exploring the use of critical and collaborative, body-based theatre exercises to research the multitude of classroom experiences around inclusion, and its possibilities of changing the terms of engagement (Gallagher, 2008) in the learning space. This research is set in the context of soaring exclusions of students from marginalised backgrounds or with diverse learning needs. The aesthetic space of theatre invites for other ways of inhabiting the classroom, and its playful nature offers the possibility for students to explore different subjectivities through which to engage with the institution (Youdell 2006). In research this offers the possibilities for different narratives to emerge. I argue that image theatre explored through a critical spatial lens is a productive research method and can be a way to access emotions and experiences not expressed through interviews, whilst engaging with the very power dynamics the research focusses on. Methodologically, there is an argument for using theatre in research, in particular participatory theatre, as “it helps us to re-look at content to draw insights and make new meanings” (Norris, 2000, p.44). In the process of generating data, participants engage with their reality and open it up for a discussion. The aesthetic space allows for actions which otherwise might feel impossible (Popen, 2006). Image theatre is one of the key methods within the critical and participatory theatre form Theatre of the Oppressed, in which participants critically explore their experiences through collectively created body images (Bogad, 2006). Throughout my classroom visits I facilitated a series of image theatre exercises as research interventions, in order to create participatory spaces for reflection with students and their teachers on their spaces for learning. Through the theatre space, participants could explore different performativities (Madison and Hamera, 2007; etc.), and participate in the shared knowledge production in a different way. In this presentation I am going to reflect on the creative space image theatre proposes, its potential as a research intervention in a classroom and its impact on the research relations and specific ways of generating knowledge and data. Specifically, I am going to look at how its invitation to other ways of inhabiting the classroom allows for changes to institutionally rendered roles and routines to emerge, and its potential in turn shift the institutional space of the classroom.

Boal, A. (2002) Games for actors and non-actors. Routledge. Bogad, L.M. (2006) Activism - Tactical carnival: social movements, demonstrations, and dialogical performance. In Cohen-Cruz, J. and Schutzman, M. (eds) 2006. A Boal companion: Dialogues on theatre and cultural politics. Routledge, pp. 46-58. Gallagher, K. (2008) The art of methodology: A collaborative science. In The methodological dilemma (pp. 83-98). Routledge. Madison, D.S. and Hamera, J. (2005) Performance studies at the intersections. The Sage handbook of performance studies, pp. xi-xxv. Norris, J. (2000) Drama as research: Realizing the potential of drama in education as a research methodology. Youth theatre journal, 14(1), pp.40-51. Popen, S. (2006) Aesthetic spaces/imaginative geographies. In Cohen-Cruz, J. and Schutzman, M. (eds) A Boal companion: Dialogues on theatre and cultural politics, Routledge, pp.125-32. Youdell, D., 2006. Subjectivation and performative politics—Butler thinking Althusser and Foucault: intelligibility, agency and the raced–nationed–religioned subjects of education. British journal of sociology of education, 27(4), pp.511-528.