Abstract
This chapter defines and builds an argument for the concept of the play as client in the creation and performance of autobiographical therapeutic theatre. Drawing upon the experiences of the authors, all drama therapists, who were source, director, and actor of a single research project using a therapeutic theater process, the chapter considers how the play as client establishes aesthetic distance and contributes to the discourse on therapeutic and self-revelatory theater. The authors explore the ethical perspectives of this concept. By demonstrating the parallel process between caring for the play and caring for the human client, the authors examine the function of the drama therapist as a theater maker.
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Hodermarska, M., Benjamin, P., Omens, S. (2016). The Play as Client: An Experiment in Autobiographical Therapeutic Theatre. In: Pendzik, S., Emunah, R., Read Johnson, D. (eds) The Self in Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53593-1_18
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