Abstract:
This thesis examines eight Theatre and Well-being research papers in an investigation of the quality of evidence produced by the field. Theatre and Well-being is a burgeoning area of study within the wider interdisciplinary field of Arts and Health. The field of Arts and Health has arisen primarily in response to the understanding that the arts possess a unique power for healing and the potential to generate creative solutions to complex and enduring health challenges. The evidence produced in the research is, however, subject to criticism and is vulnerable to being regarded as being of poor, if not dismissible, quality.
The eight Theatre and Well-being papers examined are linked by the aim of evidencing the impact of participating in theatre practice on well-being. This investigation finds that some of the criticisms of wider Arts and Health research, namely, terminological inconsistencies, and the insufficient provision of details regarding the theatre practices and the methods employed, stand true for Theatre and Well-being research. In addition Theatre and Well-being research only intermittently identifies the mechanisms through which theatre practice impacts those who participate.
Beyond these issues, this thesis does, however, find a wealth of evidence within the research for theatre’s capacity to generate positive outcomes and improve the well-being of those who participate in theatre practice. In analysing the eight papers, the role of the facilitator is identified as being unique to Theatre and Well-being practice and the skillset required of a facilitator as being theatre-specific. The facilitator is shown to be an important mechanism of Theatre and Well-being practices and as employing three fundamental theatre mechanisms, play and imagination, trust, and embodiment, to produce these well-being outcomes.
In order to produce higher quality evidence for the impact of theatre practice on the well-being of those who participate, this thesis posits that Theatre and Well-being research should focus more on the role of the facilitator and the theatrical mechanisms a facilitator employs.