M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A research report submitted to the Drama for Life division of Wits School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities, for the award of the degree of Masters in Applied Drama at University of the Witwatersrand, 2015 / This research report evaluates an exploration of how Applied Drama methods can aid the pedagogy of Human Rights and encourage an attitude of responsibility towards human rights among young adult caregivers at the Rena la Lona Creative Centre in Soweto, South Africa. Human Rights are basic standards which inform the standard of living among people so that they live in dignity. In the context of this study, Human rights education through Applied Drama methods is the means through which people are empowered and are given a sense for responsibility. The study consisted of the use of Applied Drama methods to articulate the education of equality and Human rights. This was done through a practice-based research framework wherein the research is informed by collective practice and also relies on theoretical findings. The first chapter articulates the background and justification of study. Chapter two focuses on the literature and methodology that inform the study. Chapter three explores the research findings through an analysis of the methods used and the learning derived from the practice. Chapter four concludes with the reflection around the research results. The conclusion asserts that the explored Applied Drama methods can be used as a tool for holistic education of the South African Bill of Rights within an informal education setting such as the Rena la Lona Creative Centre.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Drama Therapy), 2017 / 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. / XL2018

A research report submitted Welma de Beer, student number 1296294, to Drama for Life, Wits School of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirement of a Master of Arts in drama therapy degree by course work and research report. / 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. / GR2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Drama Therapy) November 2017 / 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. / XL2018

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Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / In Britain provision is made for students with a low Basic Skills level (literacy and numeracy) to continue with their post-GCSE education in a low level vocational course. These low level courses aim to teach students basic, life and vocational skills necessary to progress to the next level. This study aims to find a pedagogy which is suited to the needs of these marginalised students and transforms them from spectators into spect-actors. Two programmes were designed, implemented, managed and measured by this study in order to find the pedagogy best suited to the needs of these students. Programme 1 was based on ideas by the educationalists Kolb, Petty, Honey and Mumford; and aimed to empower students with the basic and life skills necessary for progression. Programme 1 failed as the mostly narrative pedagogy was associated with a similar pedagogy used in schools. Assessment methods were unsuitable and the course paid more attention to the needs of the group than the needs of the individual. Programme 2 aimed to actively involve students in the learning of skills essential to progression and was based on theatrical techniques. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, especially Forum Theatre, formed the basis of the student-centred programme. Boal’s interactive theatre techniques, together with ideas taken from Aristotle, Artaud, Brecht, Heathcote and Freire formed the pedagogy of an interactive course where the focus fell on the needs of the individual student. This study found that Programme 2 was successful. Students took to the taskbased interactive course where all solutions to problems were found by means of active investigation, no theorem was learned without application and no action took place without a purpose. Students changed from spectators into spectactors with a view that the world is not stagnant but transformable. Achievement and success rates back up the findings. The interactive pedagogy using theatre techniques to teach can be applied across the curriculum and it is suggested that such courses should run alongside main stream academic courses to accommodate the learning of all students.

D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / This research was done in response to the need of educational psychologists to intervene on a sensory integration level as it affects learning and behaviour, which falls within the scope of practice of educational psychologists in South Africa. The research study aimed to explore the research question: how sociodrama could be used as a therapeutic intervention to address the sensory integration of adolescents who present with mild intellectual impairment. The study is situated in the interpretivist-constructivist paradigm, using sociocultural theory as theoretical framework. I therefore commenced with the research with the assumption that the six participants each had their own cultural stories and background within which they functioned, and that they could learn from one another in the sociodramatic group setting. The sociodrama sessions were conducted at a school for learners who presented with mild learning impairments. The participants of the research study attended the bridging class of the school, where the focus is on basic literacy and mathematical skills. Thirteen sociodrama sessions were conducted, where the focus was on the development of sensory integration skills. A qualitative research approach was followed and a case study design was chosen for the inquiry. Data collection included the use of sensory profiles, a background questionnaire, context observation, participant observation, visual journals, reflections, video-recordings and an interview with the educator. I utilised the steps suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) to thematically analyse the qualitative data and to identify themes. The aim of the research study was to firstly be of benefit to the research participants, creating sociodramatic opportunities through which their sensory integration skills could be developed. The research inquiry furthermore aimed to contribute to the field of educational psychology as it allowed for the development of knowledge on sensory integration and provides a unique therapeutic approach to develop sensory integration skills in adolescents who present with mild intellectual impairment.

A Multi-Lingual Performance-as-research project submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Drama Therapy at Drama for Life, A division of the Wits School of Arts Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, March 2017 / This multi-lingual autobiographical performance-as-research (PAR) project critically analyses self-revelatory performance as a drama therapy method that can be used to effectively mitigate the lingering effects of a negative self-concept of Afrikaner identity brought on by the collective trauma of our past in South Africa. The research enquires and demonstrates; in what ways the method of self-revelatory performance is effective in mitigating the effects of collective trauma both on intra-psychic and interpersonal levels through the lived experience of the researcher, training drama therapist and client-performer who underwent a process of devising, scripting, rehearsing, and performing a piece of autobiographical theatre in front of an invited audience. The methodology is firmly located within, and founded on the core principles of art-based research and more specifically, PAR; this choice of method of enquiry is as a result of the performative and embodied nature of the method of self-revelatory performance. The findings of the research are a collaborative process of practice (performance), self-reflexivity and theory working together to answer the research question. The research demonstrates the need for performative methods of drama therapy, such as self-revelatory performance, to be explored within our South African context. The research illuminated the need to adapt the methodology when working with collective trauma in our South African context and the need to clearly define the role of the audience, and the conditions of collective witnessing that determine psychological safety and containment, in the method of self-revelatory performance within our socio-cultural context. / XL2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Drama Therapy), 2017 / This mixed case study used a traditional umgidi (stamping ritual) as a dramatic re-enactment within drama therapy to provide a therapeutic space for fostering wellbeing of cultural beings with an African worldview (CBsAW). Culture is considered as a critical resource because it guides individuals in how to achieve wellbeing by using resources from their context. The praxis of umgidi wokulingisa was used in sessions as per guidelines offered through interviews with izinyanga (traditional healers). One session was conducted with two participants in Moutse East. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Anyalysis (IPA) to discern emerging themes. Two superordinate themes emerged: experiences of a contextual self; and creative and flexible self-regulation. Experiences of a contextual self represents the participants’ cultural context and value system. Creative and flexible self-regulation is the developmental process of musicking in the therapeutic space that allows a participant to be self-conscious. By experiencing umgidi wokulingisa, the two participants appeared to shift their perspective on the accessibility of drama therapy within their cultures. The study was not able to explore the act of ukugiya due to a reluctance of community members to participate in the study. As a result of reluctance to participate in the study, I recommend a community intervention to ascertain how umgidi wokulingisa within drama therapy can manage expectations and concerns of the community within their cultural context and value system. / XL2018