The experience of drama: Why do people become involved with it? A phenomenological investigation of individuals’ involvement with drama and its meaning

This study attempted a phenomenological investigation of theatre-involved individuals’ accounts of their experience with drama. The authors’ aim was to explore the experiences of individuals involved with drama in order to understand the needs behind this choice and subjective rationale of this involvement. Twelve participants with varied involvement and experience with drama were interviewed and transcripts were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Adopting an existential perspective on existence and authenticity, an attempt was made to interpret participants’, often contradictory, ideas about their experiences. Findings highlighted two important trends. First, people choose drama because it provides them with a place with flexible rules and sense of reality where they could risk their existence as individuals and their identity – something that gives them meaning and a feeling of being alive. Second, they do this by voluntarily confronting the ‘look of the others’, which they simultaneously crave and are averse.