Devising in the Twenty-First Century University: Contexts, Constraints and Creative Messiness

This chapter considers the impact of the increasingly stringent institutional constraints that shape pedagogical strategies and creative outcomes in a unit in devised performance within an undergraduate drama degree. It unpacks the pedagogical problems generated through our ensemble devising approach and speculates on why it is challenging for some students and engaging for others. We reflect on our own teaching and artistic practice and evaluate the strategies we use to manage student expectations concerning issues of agency and ownership within creative ensembles. More specifically, we pose the following questions: what is it about students’ perceptions of collective creation, their entitlements as fee-paying students and their current and future aspirations that generates responses like those shared below? How might creative pedagogy absorb the kind of concerns expressed by some students who experience anxiety about participating in an open-ended creative process? How can we provide a flexible and engaging devising environment for this diverse cohort – supporting those who require a firm directorial hand, whilst making space for the creative possibilities that our more independent students crave?