Teaching Creative Writing in English: Students’ Performance Assessment as Learning

Abstract

Indian English drama is often accused of being exclusionary in its impact and addressing only the select few. I analyse three play presentations by my creative writing students to argue that the use of English in a play can be a mode of subaltern resistance. I describe the students as marking their identity in opposition to the adult world, and fostering the English-speaking community of students through their performances in this extraordinary time of Covid. I submit that as English is also the language of intellection and the medium for exchange of ideas among serious-minded students, it was used appropriately against conventional and regressive forces in these plays.