Dramatherapy - Volume 41, Issue 1, 2020

A magical, transitional space connects Dramatherapy and Fairytale. A space isolated, consecrated and forbidden, within which special rules occur. The description of this space talks about “temporary worlds,” as Johan Huizinga describes for Play, “within the usual world, dedicated in doing an act independent from our everyday practical lives.” It is there, that the dramatherapeutic stage allows us to enter this magic, transitional space that transforms itself from a wooden floor into a space where important and serious acts happen—even if they make us cry out with laughter. Therefore, within the context of Play, Fairytale, and Dramatherapy, the dramatherapeutic stage allows the person to exit, for a while, its real life and routine, and enter a magic world, a world that allows the unconscious to be expressed and relieved in a safe way. In this article, the author will explore the way Dramatherapy and Fairytale interconnect through the mediation of aesthetic distance which in both disciplines allows the clients and the dramatherapist to enter the liminal space of fantastic and/or dramatic reality and explore traumatic and painful events and issues of the clients’ life.

This case study shows how Dramatherapy can engage clients with communication difficulties, which exclude them from standard mental health pathways in early intervention in psychosis services. Deliberately prioritising the client’s newfound modes of expression to shape the narrative within, it is evident Dramatherapy processes; embodiment, projection and role enabled this client to create and then inhabit his own playful metaphors. These metaphors continued to facilitate every-day life challenges.

During his Dramatherapy relationship, the client within this case study transitioned from supported accommodation to his own property, progressed to residential rehabilitation for alcohol misuse and finally engaged in cognitive behavioural therapy. From feedback interviews we know he continued to create and use his own protective metaphors 10 months after drama therapy ended. He returned to education as part of his plan to seek appropriate employment and was discharged to his GP.