From Dérive to Drama: Using Futurist Performance to Deconstruct the Modern Metropolis in the Scottish Secondary School Drama Classroom

This article argues for reclaiming Futurist theatrical techniques as powerful, contemporary tools in the secondary drama classroom. While acknowledging Futurism’s fascist, misogynistic origins, the study adopts a framework of critical recontextualisation, focusing on adapting its performance strategies—sintesi (very brief plays), illogic and simultaneity, heightened actor–spectator interaction, and scenographic experimentation—for ethical, reflective, and critical exploration of students’ own urban environments. Drawing on Guy Debord’s notion of the dérive and psychogeography, students undertake guided ‘drifts’ through their city as stimuli for performance. This article argues that Futurist performance techniques, recontextualised through ethical critique and psychogeographic practice, offer highly effective strategies for creative urban inquiry in drama education.