‘I hear and forgot; I see and remember; I do and understand’, says a Chinese proverb. Choosing drama as a pedagogical tool serves the purpose of including a learner into the journey of learning. “Experience is at the centre of learning” [1] according to the theory of experiential learning. The experiential learning theory of David Kolb. The major argument of the current study is to suggest ‘Drama’ as an effective pedagogical tool for teaching non-verbal principles of communication, punctuation and literary theory to law students. Language, Literature, Society and Law, all these four entities are interconnected. Ubi societas ibi ius, i.e., where there is society, there is law. Where there is a society, a group of people living together, they connect with each-other and to make things happen between them smoothly, rules and regulations are required. When people dwell together, they connect and communicate with each other through a language, be it verbal or non-verbal. To make rules, disseminate them, language is required, codes are required. Law is needed for the functioning of a society and language is needed to codify those laws. Literature showcases the realities of a society and law tells how-to live-in harmony within the society. Language binds all these elements together and through language all these nodes communicate and connect with each other.

The codified law then is needed to be not only studied by law students, but by the people who dwell in the society. Law, which is considered as a helping profession, needs to act very closely with the society. Law students are the ones who study law so that they can help the common masses in attaining justice. It becomes of utmost importance for the common masses to equip themselves with their duties and rights. It becomes important for the institutions which are providing legal education, to make their students not only aware but also sensitive. Drama can solve two purposes, one-making the students sensitive and then using this for creating awareness among the masses. Empathy is an essential skill a lawyer needs to attain. While interviewing their client, i.e., during ‘client counselling’, a lawyer tries to connect and understand the problem her/his client is facing. Drama helps in developing this attitude while adapting the character of the drama.

It can also act as a simulator for mooting; a must skill every lawyer needs in her/his profession. The examples chosen for the study both have court room scenes and a problem at hand. The language teacher in collaboration with a moot court teacher can work together with students and prepare an adaptation. The text can be used for various purposes. The same drama can be used as a street play for creating awareness among the common masses. Caste-based discrimination, gender-based discrimination, are the two major issues deeply rooted in our society, especially in the rural settings. The binary of the oppressor and the oppressed is curbing the society from development. For the upliftment of a society, it needs to be function in a way that everyone gets an equal opportunity. By including drama in the curriculum as well as in the pedagogy, can act as a multipurpose tool. 

The present study proposes using drama, an important form of literature, as an educational tool for law students. The other forms, prose and poetry also have their own significance, but drama is an amalgamation of both, is proposed by considering various aspects discussed in detail in the current study. The non-verbal principles of communication-kinesics, oculesics, haptics, proxemics and so on are extremely important for law students. Drama can be an effective tool to teach these principles to the law students, not only theoretically but practically. The attention towards paralinguistics can easily be drawn through the dialogue delivery of the characters. The principles of semiotics and pragmatics can be discussed while discussing the motifs and symbols used in the play. The themes of the prescribed play can be taught using the literary theories. The study proposes to teach all these important aspects of language through this important form of literature. Not only limited to literature and non-verbal principles, but the dialogues of the play would be helpful in teaching punctuation, an extremely important element lawyers need to have a command upon. Action and dialogue-the two major elements of a drama can act as a powerful and interesting tool to make learning fun. Critically studying a prescribed text inside the classroom boundaries is not sufficient, keeping this in mind the study proposes to use this tool in a way that the content is prepared/modified and performed outside the classroom and used as a tool for creating awareness among the masses. Two plays chosen for the study are ‘Silence! The court is in session’ by Vijay Tendulkar and ‘Court Martial’ by Deepak Swadesh. The chosen plays are from an Indian setting so that the students as well as the common masses can connect easily with the settings, themes, dialogues and so on. 

In this background, the paper starts with a discussion on drama for teaching non-verbal principles like kinesics, oculesics, proxemics, haptics and paralinguistics. It thereafter discusses how drama could be used for teaching punctuation and paralinguistics through dialogues. The paper also discusses the role of drama in discussing literary theories like feminism and post-colonialism through the text. Thereafter, the paper provides an insight into the role of drama for the wider public and common masses and ends with the concluding remarks.

Drama for Teaching Non-Verbal Principles-Kinesics, Oculesics, Proxemics, Haptics and Paralinguistics

While communicating, we interact not only using words but also using our whole body. The nodding of a head, the pointing of a finger and the rolling of eyes communicate lot more even before we utter a word. Animals, insects and plants also communicate through their gestures. A dog marks its territory through urine and defecation-proxemics. A touch-me-not plant shrinks when someone touches it-haptics. An ant touches its antenna to provide information about a food source-haptics. All these examples demonstrate the importance of non-verbal communication in life around us. Similarly, for humans, these non-verbal principles play a crucial role while communicating. A lawyer needs to be using her/his body language during client counselling, while interacting with the clients. They need to pay attention to their content delivery inside the courtroom as well. “Eyes are the windows to your soul”, says William Shakespeare. Making or avoiding an eye contact expresses a lot about one’s personality; be it during client counselling or inside a courtroom. Oculesics, the study of eye-contact while communicating. Paralinguistics, which helps to make a monotonous reading into an interesting one is extremely important while delivering anything, be it a lecture, speech, presentation, argument and so on. Law students need to articulate their arguments during mooting, during client counselling, inside a courtroom, no matter what the setting is, no matter how relevant the content is, if it is not delivered properly, it loses its essence. If an argument articulated in an assertive manner, the impact would stay longer. Drama can be an effective tool to develop this skill. During the covid times, all non-verbal communication principles got side lined. During a virtual meet the principles of paralinguistics played an important part where haptics and proxemics got side-lined. Teaching these principles with a context, would make the process interesting, impactful and the students would not only learn the theoretical part but the practical part also. Bridging the gap between theory and practise is one of the major goals behind choosing drama as a pedagogical tool. Using the inductive method, a teacher can use the text first and later explain the theories and the students after understanding the concepts of Oculesics, Kinesics and so on, apply these theories into their own fields. A few examples from ‘Court-martial’:

• “This witness box can be made from rope or bamboo [2]” principle of proxemics and haptics. Making a safer distance from the person standing in the witness box

• “Standing on his own place, Colonel Surat Singh looked around with a harsh look in his eyes. His face was completely expressionless, hard as a stone”, Principle of Oculesics

• “A man in his mid-fifties with a strong built, got up and came close to the witness box with fast pacing, confident stature”, Principle of Kinesics

• “Balwan Singh: (Broadening his chest) sir! My eyesight is perfect, I do not wear spectacles”, Principle of Kinesics

• “This person is sitting in a winner’s posture”, Principle of Kinesics

• “His chin was almost touching his chest. Eyes down, because he knows that all people sitting inside the courtroom are staring at him”, Principle of Kinesics

Using the drama as a pedagogical tool, the law students can be acquainted with the non-verbal principles and their significance in communication. The uniform, the body language, the facial expressions of a person be it an army official, doctor, lawyer and so on, physical appearance plays a vital role. 

Drama for Teaching Punctuation and Paralinguistics through Dialogues

Punctuation and especially comma, is an extremely important component for a law student or a lawyer. While speaking, a comma acts as a short pause, while writing it does the same. While reading aloud the script of the drama, the students can be taught about the pauses, silences and they can adopt it in their writing. Grammar which is generally considered as a monotonous component to teach in isolation becomes interesting when while reading and discussing the play, the punctuations can be discussed and taught. The principles of punctuation (needed while writing) and the principles of paralinguistics (needed while speaking) can be taught hand in hand using drama. A few examples from ‘Silence! The court is in session’:

• “SEMANT (with concentration): this is my tongue. Look it’s cut! Now What? It’ll bleed. There must be something for it in hypnotism-that is, some trick. That’s why it doesn’t bleed. Nothing happens, nothing at all” [3]

• “BENARE: In school, when the first bell rings, my foot is already on the threshold”

• “BENARE: Right. You seem to be very bright, too! His name is Balu-Balu Rokde. Who else? Well, we have an expert on Law. He is such an authority on law, even a desperate client won’t go near him”

Using such examples and explaining the use of punctuation while writing as well as speaking, would help the learners to understand the usage and they can practise it on their own. A few examples from case laws can be given to explain the importance of comma and oxford comma to the learners. Also, the uses of dashes, semicolon, colon, writing complete words instead of abbreviations (would not, instead of won’t), the role and usage of brackets and so on can also be discussed easily. 

Drama for Discussing Literary Theories Such as ‘Feminism’ and ‘Post-Colonialism’ Through the Text

Both the plays have a central theme of social Issues: Gender discrimination in, ‘Silence! The court is in session’ and Caste discrimination in ‘Court-martial’. A thematic analysis can be done and the themes can be discussed with the law students. Social justice is one of the major goals of legal education. It becomes very crucial to make our learners sensitive towards the prevailing problems in our contemporary society. Discrimination based on religion, gender, caste, creed and race is something which needs to be eradicated from the society. It impacts an individual not only physically, but psychologically also. The status and location of a gender, caste and religion plays an important role to establish the power dynamics inside a society. These issues need to be discussed with students and students need to disseminate the acquired information into the marginalized sections of the society. Drama, therefore, has been used by feminists to develop feminist theatre which portrays the issues and concepts of feminist ideology through drams e.g., Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls is a non-linear plot that follows the story of a career-driven woman and the challenges faced by her. The portrayal helps one to develop and display the emotions and therefore, the audience is able to perceive the feminist ideologies with more acceptance since there is greater understanding. Further, the performance can be instrumental in resisting the effects of imperialism as was evident in the studied plays. Thus, it also contributes and enhances the theory of post-colonialism. While displaying the harms of imperialism and colonialism, such performances also contribute to the development of multi-cultural and inter-cultural discourse. For e.g., Court Martial is a clear indicator of the flawed British system of using summary trials and outdated laws even today. Also, in Silence! The court is in session there is a display of patriarchal conspiracy to silence the voice of a woman in the name of social justice and ideology. Such studies also help to provide a critique of the role of ideology of judges who are presumed to be behind the veil and hence, displaying objective detachment. A client centric approach in justice delivery could be easily displayed.

Using such texts inside the classroom and then taking them out of the classroom boundaries, not in theatres or big stages, but taking them out on a common platform where a common person can be made aware about these dynamics and understand their own value in the society. They need to become aware, empowered and confident. The law students can do this while they are in their student phase and can continue it once they enter their professional world. The positive emotion of Empathy can be aroused in learners so that they can work for the personal as well as social well-being of the society.

Discussing Various Acts and Articles after the Performance with the Common Masses 

The issue of discrimination based on caste, can be discussed inside the classroom as well as outside the classroom boundaries. Awareness can be created on two levels, one-the students residing in the urban India can be sensitized about the caste issue deeply rooted in the rural India. At the second level, they can prepare a street-play and during their performance they can focus upon the articles of constitution which provides them various rights. After the performance, there can be a discussion with the common masses about their rights. ‘Social Justice’ which was one of the major themes of the play can be discussed. 

Using the play ‘court-martial’ various acts of army and especially the army acts of summary court-martial can be discussed. There are ample cases available, where the act made during the British colonial era still exists and many soldiers have lost their jobs. Similarly, after performing the play, the discussion with the common masses can be done about the articles of constitution which gives them the right of equality.

Therefore, drama goes beyond role playing as in done in moot courts and mock trials. It can used to portray an issue and act as a tool of legal education and subsequent wider awareness. An example of how drama could go beyond role playing was seen in the Chinese University of Hong Kong which experimented with Active Learning Process where students staged food for thought to understand the common law tradition values for common people. It could be used for both incoming and existing students and provides student spectator participation to a large extent.

Drama as a pedagogical tool can enrich the study of law and other disciplines substantially. It assists in teaching non-verbal principles like kinesics, oculesics, proxemics, haptics, punctuations and paralinguistic. Drama has already been used as an important tool to discuss the literary theories like feminism and post-colonialism and therefore, it provides an outlet for discourse and discussion on socially relevant themes. 

Not only does it provide a practical view of different aspects but also showcases the loopholes in the system, outlining the need for systemic and substantive law changes. It is the aim of education to study and bring about social change and hence, drama could provide inputs both inside and outside the classroom. This could be done through engagement with the wider community through legal aid clinics e.g. nukkad natak and clinical legal education. Evidently drama can contribute to classroom discussions on criminal law, evidence law, family law, constitutional law. The multicultural approach could help understand different court systems and justice delivery models. 

Hence, drama could be experiential learning at its best. Drama can be used to impact education as well as awareness. It can contribute to moot court, legal reasoning, critical analysis, feminist studies, legal aid and many other subjects where inter-disciplinary approach can be adopted. “Hamlet says in his famous speech to the actors that theatre is a mirror in which may be seen the true image of nature, of reality [4]". It not only displays what one must change but also how things are. The reality is therefore, displayed for all to accept or challenge. 

1. Boal, A. legislative theatre: Using performance to make politics. Routledge, 1998, p. 9.

2. Chopra, D. Court martial. Juggernaut Books, 1991, pp. 3, 7, 12, 15, 17, 22.

3. Kolb, D.A. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT Press, 2014.

4. Tendulkar, V. Silence! The Court Is in Session. Oxford University Press, 1978, pp. 57–59.