Dramatherapy with Homeless Clients: The Necessary Theatre

Abstract

The article presents a dramatherapy intervention with homeless clients. It introduces the concept of ‘the necessary theatre’ as a theatrical frame to encapsulate the healing potential of drama and arts practice. The term, first introduced by Peter Brook, refers to the ‘blessed moments’ of shared artistic experience by actors and witnesses in attuned presence and level of energetic presence. During the dramatherapy work with the homeless clients it became clear that the aim of the intervention was to contribute to creating conditions for such moments to occur and happen as events. The article argues that the case study with this ‘vulnerable’ client group created useful knowledge and innovative practice concerning epistemological dilemmas for arts practice as therapy. The case study reinforced the tradition of arts therapy that insists on working from within the artistic media, such as the Jungian Sesame approach to drama and movement therapy that acknowledges each individual's healthy and creative drive for self-regulation and agency.