Drama and Mental Health

Overview

This module will explore the relationship between Drama and mental health regarding the historical development of both subjects and their interrelationship in contemporary healthcare practice. Students will analyse key theories and practices in Drama by variously engaging with both canonical and contemporary plays that engage with mental health and its vicissitudes. Students will be trained in key aspects of acting that pertain to the on-stage performance of the interior life of characters constructed for performance. Students will engage with the intersection between aesthetic performance and professional training in health and social care to gain a unique insight into how dramatic art can impact positively on mental health.

Learning Objectives

In completing this module, students should be able to demonstrate, where appropriate, knowledge and understanding in a range of the following areas:

• critical awareness of research methodologies and methods used to investigate Drama and mental health;
• a range of key components of performance within Drama to include: ideational sources, body, space, image, sound, text, movement, environment;
• applications of performance in educational, community and social contexts and pedagogical perspectives as appropriate to Drama education;
• the use of group processes in the creation of work including working collectively, co-creation and hierarchical and non-hierarchical structures;
• the interdisciplinary elements of drama and how to apply appropriate knowledge, concepts and skills from other disciplines.

Skills

Students will be able to demonstrate the following:

• engaging in performance and production, based on acquisition and understanding of appropriate performance and production vocabularies, skills, structures, working methods and research paradigms;
• describing, theorising, interpreting and evaluating performance texts and events from a range of critical and technical perspectives and using appropriate subject-specific vocabularies;
• analysing the role which drama may play in contributing to debates on mental health;
• questioning the ethical implications and appropriateness of performance work to ensure activities are undertaken in safe and supported environments for specific audiences and participants.

Students will have the ability to:

• work in planned and improvisatory ways, to anticipate and accommodate change, ambiguity, creative risk-taking, uncertainty and unfamiliarity;
• operate and think reflexively, creatively, critically and technically to develop ideas and construct arguments;
• effectively lead, facilitate, participate, and problem solve within team working contexts;
• recognise situational and interpersonal factors and how these can be effectively accommodated to facilitate productive working relationships;
• articulate ideas and communicate information comprehensibly in visual, physical, oral and textual forms;
• critically use information retrieval skills, involving the ability to gather, sift, manipulate, synthesise, evaluate and organise material.

Assessment