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1981
Volume 41, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0263-0672
  • E-ISSN: 2157-1430
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Abstract

This article describes how the happenstance discovery of my mother’s 1950s Windrush Generation suitcase, led to a devised cathartic ritual theatre performance and a reimagining of my past future present. Acknowledging the suitcase as a heritage object, I hoped to safely locate myself with inter- and transgenerational trauma, and dialogues about racism in relation to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. First and foremost, this work is informed by Dramatherapy. It also holds in mind the research of Jungian analyst, Brewster, on ‘archetypal grief’, and the socio-political activism of Sharpe’s, ‘wake-work’. Its conclusion is twofold: First, that with the use of the suitcase within ritual theatre performance, alongside the devised metaphoric story and character of Black, I was able to accrue a significant means of resilience to meet with effects of racism worthy of further investigation. Second, that the performance provided a deepened dialectic and cathartic experience between performer and audience above and beyond cerebral language. Three stand-alone performances of ‘Being With Black’ took place at the British Association of Dramatherapists Conference at the University of Chester in September 2018, and later at the University of Roehampton, London in February and March 2019.

© The Author(s) 2020
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC), which allows users to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the article, as long as the author is attributed and the article is not used for commercial purposes. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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2024-06-07
2026-04-22

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/content/journals/10.1177/0263067220964432
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Black British; Dramatherapy; inter- and transgenerational trauma; racism; Transatlantic Slave Trade; Windrush Generation

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