Learn to Play the Game: Learning and Teaching Strategies in Ann Jellicoe's The Knack

Learn to Play the Game: Learning and Teaching Strategies in Ann Jellicoe's The Knack LAURA SNYDER Ann Jellicoe's recent work on community plays leads us to re-examine her earlier productions at the Royal Court Theatre during the 1950S and 1960s. Her community plays involve large casts of both theatre professionals and community members, and are generally historical in nature. Often, the audience is involved as part of the cast. For example, during a crowd scene, the cast may encircle or enter into the audience, making the audience a part of the crowd. In a sense, the audience is asked to imaginatively participate in the historical moment of the play. In this way the audience learns about that history through experiencing it. With this in mind, if we tum new eyes to Jellicoe's previous works, such as '(he Knack, we may realize that learning·through experience has been Ann Jellicoe's goal for her audience all along. Most critics interpret Ann Jellicoe's The Knack as a play about "sexual callousness ,,1 or "love, sex, and ... power.,,2 Certainly the play seems obsessed with sex and sexual stereotypes. Colin is always running about, asking how to "get a woman" and Tolen is always answering "force," "authority," and "domination." Even Tom, whose dialogue often seems quite irrelevant, explains himself in sexual terms: "We're all of us more or less total sexual failures,"3 he tells Colin. And this obsession with sex is certainly a valid aspect of the play. However, sexual obsession only comprises a superficial level of the play. If we only concentrate on what is talked about, then we deny what actually happens, and in a Jellicoe play, action is often more important than dialogue. What happens is not primarily concerned with sex. The action in the play is centered around a series of attempts to communicate and receive knowledge, with the students, Colin and Nancy, caught in a tug-of-war between their teachers, Tom and Tolen. The knowledge being conveyed is sexual knowledge, and the two teachers battle over whether the students will see sex as a natural aspect of human interaction, perhaps love, or an unnatural aspect of power. But sexual knowledge is simply the goal in the play, not the Modern Drama, 37 (1994) 451 452 LAURA SNYDER main theme. Tom's and Tolen's teaching strategies and Colin's and Nancy's learning styles actually define the action in the play. Nancy is a naIve country girl who proves herself a natural student. She is very young - seventeen - and "her personality ... is still blurred and unformed" (4). Her language and behaviors imply only a basic educational background. The play, however, suggests that this naIvete is actually an asset to learning: Nancy is very open to instruction from Tom. Unfortunately, she is also receptive to Tolen's attempts to subjugate her. On the other hand we have Colin, who proves himself rather inept as a student . Paradoxically, he is a teacher, yet his sexual insecurity has placed him in a position where he feels he needs instruction. A product of traditional schooling , like many system-trained students he wants his answers spoon-fed to him. He asks Tom, "How d'you get a woman? How can I get a girl?" (16). When Colin first sees Nancy outside the window, Tom pushes the bed (on which Colin is sitting) to the window. Colin is so nervous he can't speak, and he turns to Tom, saying, "You - please." Tom responds, "I can't do it for you" (22). Because Tom won'tgive Colin all the answers or show him what to do, Colin turns to Tolen, who agrees to teach him. Tolen represents the type of teacher often called a "gate keeper." As such, he is willing to share his knowledge as long as he has absolute control of both the student and the subject. At one point, Tolen says, "People like to be dominated ... They ask to be relieved of the responsibility of deciding for themselves ... They don't want to think for themselves" (27). This explanation is highly indicative ofTolen's teaching philosophy: the student should not make any decisions...