The Self in Performance : Autobiographical, Self-Revelatory, and Autoethnographic Forms of Therapeutic Theatre

This book is the first to examine the performance of autobiographical material as a theatrical form, a research subject, and a therapeutic method. Contextualizing personal performance within psychological and theatrical paradigms, the book identifies and explores core concepts, such as the function of the director/therapist throughout the creative process, the role of the audience, and the dramaturgy involved in constructing such performances. It thus provides insights into a range of Autobiographic Therapeutic Performance forms, including Self-Revelatory and Autoethnographic Performance. Addressing issues of identity, memory, authenticity, self-reflection, self-indulgence, and embodied self-representation, the book presents, with both breadth and depth, a look at this fascinating field, gathering contributions by notable professionals around the world. Methods and approaches are illustrated with case examples that range from clients in private practice in California, through students in drama therapy training in the UK, to inmates in Lebanese prisons. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi The Self in Performance: Context, Definitions, Directions....Pages 1-18 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 Influences of Experimental Theatre on the Emergence of Self-revelatory Performance....Pages 21-35 From Behind the Scenes to Facing an Audience in Self-Revelatory Performance....Pages 37-53 The Dramaturgy of Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance....Pages 55-69 Surprise and Otherness in Self-revelatory Performance....Pages 71-84 Relational Aesthetics in the Performance of Personal Story....Pages 85-95 Intersubjectivity in Autobiographical Performance in Dramatherapy....Pages 97-110 Front Matter....Pages 111-111 Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance as Individual Therapy....Pages 113-127 Embodied Life Stories: Transforming Shame Through Self-Revelatory Performance....Pages 129-139 Restoried Script Performance....Pages 141-154 The Performative: Life-Changing Moments in Autobiographical Performance....Pages 155-168 Heuristic Methodology in Arts-Based Inquiry of Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance....Pages 169-179 A Retrospective Study of Autobiographical Performance During Dramatherapy Training....Pages 181-197 Personal Theatre and Pedagogy: A Dialectical Process....Pages 199-211 Autobiographical Therapeutic Theatre with Older People with Dementia....Pages 213-226 The Unheard Stories of Those Forgotten Behind Bars in Lebanon....Pages 227-239 Reflections on terrorists of the heart: A Couple’s Performance on Loss and Acceptance....Pages 241-253 The Play as Client: An Experiment in Autobiographical Therapeutic Theatre....Pages 255-267 Back Matter....Pages 269-271