This paper looks at the power of professionals and carers' beliefs systems and how these can cause ‘problem saturation’ for a teenage girl, in addressing her difficulty with managing her anger. The study illustrates how the client was able to utilise the concept of externalisation in Narrative Therapy to revise her unhelpful and problem saturated story. By using the Dramatherapy notions of embodiment, story and role, a re-authored narrative was created to help the client to separate and distance herself from the dominant story. Through the dramatisation of a fairytale, the client was able to author a new story that enabled her to have a different perception of herself and increase her range of self-expression.

The article reflects on practice as a playback theatre practitioner using the research methodology of autoethnography. The paper explores how generosity can help alleviate egocentric tendencies as an actor and overreliance on technique as a conductor. It considers generosity as central to cultivating the playback spirit and evidences how their understanding of generosity has impacted on their development as a playback practitioner. Generosity is considered as the catalyst for being able to forge more honest relationships with the teller and audience. The article furthers the thinking on how focussing on others helps facilitate ‘letting go’ of habitual patterns in the different context of dramatherapy practice. The therapeutic dynamic is considered, reflecting on how the author is more open, vulnerable and honest with clients as a consequence of their learning as a playback practitioner.

IntroductionIn this particular study, the focus illuminates the creative process of two teachers devising and performing a piece of theatre that was filmed and witnessed by theatre based students, looking at the impact of this on student learning. Both authors of this paper are teachers in a Higher Education Institution (HEI) as well as researchers and theatre practitioners. The premise of this paper is to illustrate how to encounter and potentially deepen one's understanding of teaching practice through the research methodology known as a/r/tography. A/r/tography is an arts based methodology used to explore teaching practice (Siegesmund, 2012) by engaging in the researcher's art form to generate new perspectives on teaching practice.The rationale for the research was to explore a new way of communicating with students to help with their learning and development for their final year project, a solo performance informed by autobiographic material. As teachers, researchers and theatre practitioners we wanted to experiment with our teaching practice using theatre arts. We wondered whether a solo performance by one of their teachers might communicate in new ways to help students develop their skills as performers. Presented here through an a/r/tographic lens are our reflections and findings from this process which we have arranged in terms of two relationships; that of the performer/director and also the student/teacher.A solo performance was developed, utilising the teachers' interests and skills as performer and director. Initially the performance took place in front of a fee paying public audience that was also filmed. The film was shown to students on the theatre based course to inform research and teacher development eight weeks later. Students were able to access and watch the recording individually before the focus group that was facilitated by both researchers. Following the focus group students completed a questionnaire that was anonymised. After the collection of the data from the focus group, questionnaire and researchers' written reflections, thematic analysis was carried out that fell into two categories, performer/director dynamics and student/teacher dynamics. Performance OverviewThe performance was a one man show with a running time of around seventy minutes. In terms of stagecraft, a 'poor theatre' (Grotowski, 1991) approach was used as there was very little on stage except the performer. No props were used and the stage itself was left completely bare. The rationale for adopting this minimalist style is that leaving things blank, visually, helps the audience to engage their imagination and project their own ideas into the space about what each scene 'looks like'. The style of theatre perhaps also mirrors the authors' teaching approach as audience members, like students, are invited to construct and develop their own meaning and understanding.The costume was formal with a loose, plain looking suit with a black t-shirt underneath and smart black shoes. The main character, a game show host, attempts t...

This article explores the role of the art form in both research and teaching practice for the delivery of an MA drama therapy program in the United Kingdom. A/r/tography as the chosen research methodology makes central the artistic process to inform teaching and research through ongoing reflexivity using dramatic improvisation. Seven phases (renderings) illustrate the development towards formulating a drama therapy pedagogy. The authors explore disseminating the research through performance as another form of praxis

This article explores how Heuristic Inquiry (HI), harnessed for arts-based research using solo performance, deepened the author’s understanding of the therapeutic relationship. The research explores the rehearsal and devising process of nine performances to explore barriers to a playful encounter with the audience and client using the myth of Psyche and Cupid. Themes of seeking approval, technique and shame are considered as potential obstacles to forging a co-creative therapeutic alliance.