Acting Out - Drama Therapy

What is Drama Therapy?

Drama therapy is using the dramatic process with healing intention. It is used to transform and reflect an individual’s experiences. Drama enables the individual to express feelings and work though the problems they are experiencing. A connection is made between the individual’s inner world and the dramatic activity. The individual tries to seek new perspectives on the life experience or problem. The aim is to find a new relationship to the problem, a resolution, a new understanding or changed ways of functioning.

Activities

· Use scripted roles and characters to explore previous experiences and current issues.

· Employ the use of materials such as puppets to investigate and tr out scenario’s which look at the current issue. This helps explore feelings, relationships and resolutions.

· The exploration of the self through dramatic use of your body, mime and mask

· Explore personal problems through the use of stories and myth

· The creation of dramatic ritual to work through life experiences

Benefits of Mask Making

· Provides a concrete way of putting feelings outside yourself

· Using a mask in a dramatic improvised scene helps people find a new relationship to their trauma

· Helps people consider the way they can break free from their mask of their lives, The use of the mask to reveal not conceal.

· Using masks to depict split parts of the self

Benefits of using puppets

· Use the puppet to at out real-life problems and bring unconscious feelings to the surface. This distances the person which can help them open up and work through their problems.

· Use the puppets to act out numerous resolutions and the consequences of decisions made.

Acting out Myths and Stories

· Identification with certain characters

· Use the general theme of the story but then rewrite the story to more closely resemble their own problem/experience.

· Allows the person to take on different character roles that may help them identify with other people’s experiences.

Stories and Myths which could be used

· Anansi’s Web – clinging to people, suffocating them with your neediness.

· The man who wanted to live forever – fear of dying

· Midas – Greed

· Hera – Jealousy and Infidelity

· Osiris – Deceit, dishonesty and betrayal

Use of Script

· Scripts help distance the person from their issues while they simultaneously work through their problems

· Consequences of a given action can be explored

· Cn help person empathise with other people involved in the problem or experience

· Explore Resolutions

· Different sensitive issues can be explored though particular scripts without using the specific personal problem of the person involved/

Scripts to help with particular issues

· Night Mother by Marsha Norman - Suicide

· For the West by Michael Hastings – Racial Issues

· Just Above My Head by James Baldwin – Triumphing over life’s adversities

· Kindness by Ping Chong – Bullying and Alienation

· Disappearing to Appear by Adina Barkai – Anorexia

Use of Dramatic Ritual

· Can reproduce rituals that have been problematic in their lives and rework them. E.g., Weddings, Funerals, Birthdays, etc

· Can use group drama as a coming together experience – enhances relationships and makes people feel included. Good socialisation exercise

· Can use ritual language to express their feelings without it being personalised

· Using rituals from their own cultures help people connect with their ancestry and become self-aware

· Using rituals from other people’s cultures and religions help individuals understand each other