ETD Collection

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Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Drama--Therapeutic use

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
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    The application of African mourning rituals within the Drama therapy space in order to support responses to loss
    (2019) Mqwathi, Veronicah Zandile
    This heuristic research explores African mourning rituals as a possible drama therapy approach with particular attention to supporting responses to loss and grief, which are vital aspects of all human existence (Thompson, 2002). The word loss is related directly to grief and research shows that we don’t necessarily grieve over something that doesn’t have any meaning to us (Hunt, 2018). Making meaning in our lives is an important human endeavour. Both loss and grief are important building blocks of our life experiences, grief being the felt response to the factual event of loss. In addition, rituals have traditionally been used at times of loss because they intensify the intensity of a shared experience, allowing us to recognise that we are not alone but are part of an invisible whole. According to Roose-Evans, the greatest of all ritual expressions is religion. He defines religion as the search for meaning in the universe and offers a series of rituals to mark seasons or events in the life of an individual or nation (as cited in Pearson, 1996:104). This study seeks to enquire and demonstrate: in what ways can African mourning rituals be employed in drama therapy as a method to support clients’ responses to loss.
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    Disabling Discourses: Contemporary Cinematic Representations of Acquired Physical Disability
    (2019) Botha, Shawni
    Film is a powerful publicising agent of knowledge which has detrimental ideological and material implications that contribute towards the systematic exclusion of disabled people. This qualitative research study set out to investigate how acquired physical disability is constructed within three contemporary films. Using theoretical disability models and a compilation of stereotypic representations of disability in film as guidelines (adapted from Barns, 1992; Longmore, 1987; Norden,1994), the study sought to assess the discourses that are perpetuated, challenged or omitted within contemporary cinematic portrayals of disability. Further, the study aimed to address how these discourses contribute to the maintenance or subversion of ableist power. The data underwent a critical discourse analysis (CDA) guided by a broad social constructionist and critical disability theory framework. In order to investigate discursive constructions in film effectively, a multi-modal lens was adopted. The findings suggest that while steps towards more nuanced and diverse representations of acquired physical disability are evident, the films continue to perpetuate hegemonic discourses, emotionally provocative and caricatured portrayals of disability. The thesis argues that contemporary disability films are still largely produced for and consumed by abled audiences. Subsequently, recommendations for transforming cinematic representations are addressed.
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    “Using Drama Therapy as a lens, what can we learn about the intergenerational effects of political violence in communities, even through socially constructed silence?”
    (2019) Songo, Nokuzola
    In this Performance Ethnographic study, personal narrative is used to trace and analyse the various faces of trauma and its complexity. This study physically takes place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and through the mitigation of drama therapy the two geographical locations find an intersection and a language for healing. 18 young actors who live in Gauteng and are living under the shadow of a grossly violent South Africa embody the narratives from 21 mostly older people that survived political violence in Kwazulu-Natal over 20 years ago. The results indicate that even though people do not talk about the political violence, the next generation is not exempt from its traumatic burden. Using Drama Therapy tools, one begins to understand potential methods to navigate the silence with minimum exposure to traumatisation to yourself or your clients.
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    An exploration of dramatic rituals to facilitate self-reflexivity among male adolescents who are incarcerated
    (2019) Makolopeng, Boitumelo
    This empirical study explores the use of dramatic rituals to facilitate self-reflexivity in male adolescents who are incarcerated at the Bosasa Youth Centre. It examines the attitudes, emotions and behaviour of the participants through the use of the distinctive techniques of drama therapy. The research study describes a group of male adolescents who are incarcerated. By integrating several research approaches to cultivated themes. It further investigated precipitating factors of delinquent behaviour. This qualitative study also examines barriers that hinder the process of rehabilitation by attempting to dismantle the stigma attached to therapy in juvenile facilities. The research study demonstrates how the theory and the praxis of drama therapy together with self-reflexivity are fundamental tools to be used when working with vulnerable youth who have been detained. It further demonstrates how enhanced self-awareness can impact positively on the behavior of six inmates in a way that encourages forgiveness of self and others and can achieve wholeness. The term inmates and offenders are used interchangeably in the research study.
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    Investigating the affordances of drama therapy for addressing problematic behavior in a grade R classroom
    (2019) Roberts, Hayley
    In 2011, under the terms of White Paper 6, the South African Department of Basic Education adopted the principles of inclusive education, where learners were no longer to be segregated in terms of their abilities. Although largely accepted as an ideal practice, the implementation of White Paper 6 has been problematic. One of the key stressors, as identified by teachers in previous studies, is that of learner behaviour. This research, with its specific focus on behavioural difficulties, investigated the affordances of an integrated drama therapy intervention as a way of supporting inclusivity in a Grade R classroom. The intervention focused on using drama therapy to support the individual showing problematic behaviour; it investigated coping strategies for the class and considered the implications of the intervention for the schooling system as a whole. The researcher used practitioner based research as she worked with individual children and the class as a group in a drama therapy practice. This research attempted to understand the affordances of using a drama therapy practice to address the psychosocial challenges of realising inclusion in South African pre-schools.
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    Utilising drama therapeutic techniques to externalise and explore shame attached to body dissatisfaction with a group of women
    (2017) Kremer, Lindy Monique
    A signification number of women in South Africa experience body dissatisfaction. Much of the experience surrounding body dissatisfaction has been linked to shame. There is a large body of research pertaining to shame and body dissatisfaction respectively; however, there appears to be a paucity of literature regarding the relationship between body dissatisfaction and shame. Limited research has been conducted within Drama Therapy around the treatment of shame attached to body dissatisfaction in women. This research aimed to investigate the use of specific drama therapeutic techniques in the exploration of shame and body dissatisfaction with a group of women. These techniques included Role Method, Poetry, Two-Chair Exercise, Narrative and Body Mapping. Four women, between the ages of 18 and 40 participated in the intervention, for the purpose of this research. The data collected has been explored through critical analysis within a phenomenological and Drama Therapeutic framework. This research has provided an insight into the use of Drama Therapy toward exploring and healing elements of shame and body dissatisfaction, experienced by women. The techniques utilised offered the participants access to an externalised exploration of shame. Robert Landy’s Role Method produced numerous versions of shame for each participant, uncovering the complex and varying nature of shame. The introduction of the counterrole to shame offered insight into role repertoire, and access to inner resources. The aesthetic distance inherent to the medium offered a therapeutic container for the participants to explore their experiences of shame attached to body dissatisfaction, without eliciting further shame in the process.
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    Songs and storytelling – a therapeutic theatre-making process as a tool to heal the wounds of the past
    (2017) Mkhoma, Themba; Mkhoma, Albert Themba
    The main intention of this paper is to share my experiences and discoveries explored through a theatre-making qualitative research process. In this manner, I created and directed my own autobiographical play as a means of revisiting and working through specific traumatic events in my past. The aim is to share how this helped heal the wounds of the past. In this paper, I have included my personal encounters, my observations and my reflections how Therapeutic Theatre and theatre-making methodologies were used in creating, in rehearsing and in the performance of the play to facilitate the healing of my traumatic past. The play, entitled Home Is Where Pap En Vleis Is, deals with a specific event believed to be the source of the trauma I have been dealing with. I used the play as a vehicle to journey into a dark forest to face my demons. As in Psychodrama, or in Robert Landy’s Role Method, the actor who played me took an auxiliary role while I, as the director, took the role of the helper. Together, we journeyed into the dark forest of my psyche to meet the ghosts needing to be laid to rest. Apart from seeking healing, as a training Drama Therapist, I also wanted to learn about the transformative potential of Therapeutic Theatre. As in the mythological Gilgamesh’s quest (Booker 2004:72) or as in the hero’s journey (Campbell 1968: 227), I wanted to come back with the boon. I needed to collect the “valuable prize”, by contributing to the development of Therapeutic Theatre in the South African context. Sharing the play with the audience was also a way of journeying with the larger community.
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    Inner child, can we play? An ethnographic narrative enquiry of personal play histories
    (2017) Kersh, Yael Sara
    The research consists of a practical arts-based research component and a research report that surveys the practice. This document serves as the written element of the research and investigates the key theoretical standpoints, methodologies applied and creative outcomes. The research aimed to explore the dynamics of adults and play within Drama Therapy by investigating the relationship between six adult women and their personal play histories. It questioned what play meant to the individual and invited her to share her most memorable playful moments through various forms of expression in a number of individual interview-discussions. Through a practical arts-based research approach, an ethnographic narrative inquiry unfolded about women, play, childhood memory and present adulthood. The research took these shared narratives and presented them back to the six participants through various playful methods. With the use of methodologies such as inter-subjectivity, playful listening, narrative enquiry and Playback Theatre, the research offered a series of representational reflections of the shared stories. The creative outcomes were presented in a storybook representation which used imagery and poetic rhyme to document each narrative, a stop-motion film that used moving image and voice, and an presentation-installation that invited each woman to engage with her playful inner-self reflected back to her. The report is written with these playful elements which attempt to mirror the creative representational outcomes, inviting the reader to access his or her playful self. Thematically, three key factors presented themselves throughout the five-stage research process. These include the emotional experience associated with play, the notion of an inner-child or childhood and play within context. All three elements are discussed in the research report, with the use of the contextual factor symbolised by road signs to represent the intersectionality of play and its relationship to the individual. The research presents a number of key contributing factors to the discussion of adults and play in Drama Therapy. It attempts to explore alternative ways of delving into therapeutic process while respecting individual perspectives and personal narratives. It highlights the fundamental value of play within a drama therapeutic paradigm and how the notion of play and play memories contribute to the adult self. It also affirms the role of arts-based practice as a powerful tool for validation and witnessing of clients.
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    Honouring the life stage of the Crone: self-revelatory performance as rite of passage
    (2016) De Beer, Welma
    This study gave expression to my initiatory journey into the last life-cycle of my life, as archetypally represented by the Crone (Prétat, 1994:7–11). It is a personal journey that engages with a specific research question: In what ways can Drama Therapy facilitate the contemplation and initiation of the “Crone” as life stage through self-revelatory performance? Two essential questions frame this study: How can Drama Therapy help us to create a process that contains the inherent destruction that forms part of transformation? If so, what would be the elements and methods that can help facilitate such a process? These questions will be investigated through a creative project, using the method of Performance as Research and the form of self-revelatory performance. The self-revelatory performance engaged with autobiographical moments from my own life and focussed on the theme of transformation. This research report seeks to extrapolate and evaluate the process for the purposes of defining the role and function of drama therapy as self-revelatory performance. The work of Rene Emunah (2009) on the self-revelatory play as a tool for Drama Therapy serves as foundation for this research. Other writings which influenced the study were the work of Victor Turner (Schechner,1993) on liminality, Richard Schechner (1976) on ritual and performance, anthropology of performance and environmental space, Kabi Thulo (2009) on shamanism, Willmar Sauter (2000) on the Theatrical Event and Jacob Moreno’s idea of the Encounter (Kristofferson, 2014). Key concepts that will be investigated are: Jung’s concept of transformation and how it expresses itself through rites of passage, initiation and ritual, myth and storytelling, the crone archetype and self-revelatory theatre. The study’s research findings were derived from the processes of devising, performance and post-performance “insights” which form a part of this creative project. Essentially, this study suggests possible processes that can be used effectively in drama therapy to create a “rite of passage”, “honouring” a new life stage that can “reprogram” or transform us. The study posits that transformation is contained and facilitated when we are able to self-reflect on our history, thoughts, beliefs and cultural coding. Self-revelatory playmaking can be a valuable tool in drama therapy which holds the potential to assist cathartic self-reflection in a safe space (Emunah, 1994:225). This study provides a qualitative description of the phenomena of self-revelatory v playmaking and performance and grapples with how it creates a “rite of passage” to facilitate the transitioning into the last phase of life.
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    Adaptation of Mapiko elements to educative theatre
    (2013) De Abreu, Evaristo
    Mapiko is a dance that is practiced in northern Mozambique. This dance is usually associated with the rites of passage from youth to adulthood. Over time Mapiko has undergone several mutations according to the social, cultural and economic changes in the community. The adaptation described in this paper came out of many years of theatrical practice and research into the traditional values of Mozambique. The aim was o produce a theatre experience which has cultural elements that could be recognized by Mozambicans and which would link them to modern, contemporary and perhaps post-modern theatre techniques. the resulting play made use of elements of Mapiko dance, playback theatre and the text "We killed Mangy-Dog" written by Luis Bernardo Honwana. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]