Psichodrama defined

In this section, I will introduce the concept of psychodrama as theorized in the 1920s by Jacob Levi Moreno. I will use elements of this therapeutic system in the process of designing my performance. In particular, I will focus on the ‘auxiliary ego’, which I will delve into after giving a general definition of the discipline and its relationship to performance.

Psychodrama has been defined by Renè F. Marinau as "a therapeutic method developed by Moreno consisting of exploring life situations and conflicts by enacting them rather than talking about them. Psychodrama aims at uncovering the “truth” of each person’s life in relation to other people and the environment. A psychodrama session is divided into three parts: warm-up, action or enactment, and sharing […]. Even though psychodrama is usually done within a group of participants, individual psychodrama has also been developed, especially in cases of severe mental illness"1. This definition stresses the fundamental feature of representation which is found in psychodrama as opposed to other therapeutic methods. In representing their ‘life situations’, patients dramatize them, usually within the context of a theatre which includes an audience of fellow patients, who in turn take part in the therapy actively in various ways that will be explained below. Other important components of Marineau’s definition are the three phases of a psychodramatic session.

The Warm-up

The first one, the ‘warm-up’, is the phase where the protagonist is selected from the audience and the scenery for the second phase, the enactment, is introduced, described, and prepared. In addition to describing the actual details of the episode, 'prepared' also refers to the examination of the action's location (scenery), including the positioning of the main character, supporting actors, and inanimate objects like furniture, trees, or columns. Therefore, it is important to determine the time of day the event takes place, known as temporal reconstruction, to recall the subject's state during the episode (e.g., feeling tired at night or experiencing hunger during lunch). In recreating the experience actively instead of simply recalling it, the patient is prompted to explain the current action, temporal, and space elements, rather than narrating in the past tense.

The Action

The second section, the ‘action’, is at the heart of the therapeutic process: "here the patients physically act situations from their lived or imagined experience, in an attempt to gain insight in a context where the situation is re-experienced and thus, according to Moreno, bears less emotional charge and can be looked at from a distance."2 By using a variety of directing tactics, the psychotherapist may now better comprehend the action and help the patient and patient group understand it as well. As the ultimate purpose of this research is not to go into all the various tecniques of psychodrama now in use, let us use one of the simplest and most basic approaches as an example: role reversal. In this technique, two patients or characters are requested to reverse roles, as the name suggests. Using a single instance from Moreno, let us say that "the patient, in an interpersonal situation, for example with the mother [...] represents the mother and the mother represents the son (patient ed.). Interpersonal perception distortions can thus be brought to the surface, explored and corrected, in the course of the action itself.”3 Simplifying, this technique, in this case, enables the primary patient (son) to actively understand the words being spoken to him and to shift the perspective of the conversation from that of the secondary patient (mother), who might find it easier to inhabit the role.

The Sharing

The third phase of the process consists of the vocalization of the feelings and emotions experienced by the protagonist in the second phase. The participants in psychodrama sessions are the patients, divided into active and passive patients, and the therapist, who takes the role of stage director. Patients can be characterized in two ways, as active and passive. The former are performing individuals, while the latter are part of the audience only. Performing individuals can moreover take two different roles: they can be either the protagonist, whose experience is analyzed onstage, or the ‘auxiliary ego’, a psychodramatic tool that will be expanded upon below. In this final phase, the community component is essential, as Moreno describes it: "The director must make sure that the group finds itself partially in the subject's story; when there is no viewer who finds himself partially in the story depicted, the protagonist feels robbed of his personal psyche."4 To allow for the greatest number of viewers to be able to consider the story as a part of their own personal experience, the director actually needs to first empathize with the subject and make it universally accessible. It could be argued that the key to this therapy lies in the mutuality, in the equality of the participants, because only the reflection in the group makes it possible to universalize the trauma and therefore to solve it. Only then can each person's story serve as a window into the present, a cautionary tale for the future, or an explanation of the past.

"Auxiliary Ego" as the public's mirror

In this chapter, I will define the auxiliary ego and I contextualize this role in the context of the psychodramatic session. To simplify this definition I will also report a small excerpt of dialogue that occurred in a therapeutic session with J. L. Moreno himself reported in his psychodrama handbook. Finally, I will explore how this therapeutic tool and its philosophy of application becomes the creative motive force of my performance form.

The Auxiliary Ego, according to Moreno, is one of the fundamental instruments of the psychodramatic realm because it gives the protagonist's world a real, substantial, and solid sense.5 Literally ‘auxilium’ (Auxilius, auxili from Latin) is a help, a relief: placed side by side with the name Ego, it becomes a helping entity. So we can define as Auxiliary Ego all the secondary characters who help the protagonist patient carry out the action of his therapeutic session by impersonating realistic characters. This tool is typically distributed to other patients who are in the therapeutic session (keep in mind that initially this is group therapy) upon request from the primary patient and by the psychotherapist director (whom we will refer to as director from now on). With the development of psychodrama, it has been preferred to choose professional actors or other directors as the Auxiliary Ego, in an attempt to get more precisely into how things are in themselves, even though "calling from the audience" also serves a therapeutic purpose for the patient called to the stage as actor as connection to others’ experiences in the context of group therapy can foster an empathetic and enriching environment (see above ‘psychodrama defined’). In fact, keep in mind that the Auxiliary Ego only has access to the protagonist patient's warm-up and guiding tactics, which happen spontaneously during the session itself. The Auxiliary Ego can't prepare its character before the session. Implicitly, then, the Auxiliary Ego can play multiple roles in a single session, necessitating considerable mental elasticity and theatrical improvisation skills.

Using a session described in the Handbook of Psychodrama as an example, we can see that the protagonist patients are a couple experiencing a relationship crisis: Michele and Paul. In the following dialogue, the sentences in round brackets are my contextualizations of characters or actions to facilitate the reader's understanding; inside the square brackets, on the other hand, are my summaries of conversation to streamline the text. Among the issues raised throughout the session is the complex connection that Michele has with her mother-in-law, Mrs. Mark. At this point, the session's director, Jacob Moreno, decides to bring in an Auxiliary Ego to play Mrs. Mark and craft a potential future dialogue to pinpoint the precise nature of the conflict between the two characters:

MORENO: Who would you like to choose as your mother-in-law? (addressing Michele) Let's see. Zerka (psychodramatist and other author of the book) would you like to represent her? (Zerka Moreno comes forward).

ZERKA: All right.

MORENO: Now this is what in psychodrama we call the Auxiliary Ego. She is not his real mother-in-law (addressing Michele talking about Zerka). However, she will try to represent her as best; I would be grateful, Paul, if you would sit on the couch for a moment and leave the two ladies (Michelle and Zerka in the role of Mrs. Mark) alone. Now, Michele, you went into your mother-in-law's apartment in New York, okay? You flew Air France to New York, and now you're in your mother-in-law's apartment. [some elements to reconstruct the setting] Now you're just walking in; you're taking her by surprise. [elements to reconstruct the time setting] and here is your mother-in-law.

ZERKA IN THE ROLE OF MRS. MARK: Michele?

MICHELE: Hello, eh...

[Generic conversation of introduction and greetings].

MICHELE: I thought I would visit you and try to see if there is a way to improve our relationship.

MRS. MARK (ZERKA): I've been thinking about that terrible scene between us. I'm really very, very sorry. (refers to an incident recounted in the previous warm-up)

MICHELE: I am ashamed of that. I shouldn't have said what I said. But at the same time, I thought that you were so aggressive with me because you felt that I had stolen your son from you. I couldn't stand your aggressiveness for so long and at the same time I felt that my husband was angry with me because of you.

MRS. MARK (ZERKA): Is he?

MORENO: Is that how your mother-in-law would act toward you like the lady does now?

MICHELE: Well she speaks very frankly. At the same time, my mother-in-law is more aggressive.

MORENO: More aggressive? Reverse the roles (directing technique ed.) and see how you perceive her. You take the role of your mother-in-law since you know her, and Zerka will take your part [secondary elements to empathize with the audience]

ZERKA IN THE ROLE OF MICHELE: You know you made me feel very bad, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said the things I said and maybe you shouldn't have said some of the things you said to me either. But why do you hate me so much? What have I done? I only married your son. Millions of young women marry men every day.

MICHELE IN THE ROLE OF MRS. MARK: Yes, but Michele, in my opinion, you are too nervous. It's your fault.6

I selected this instance because it demonstrates how the Auxiliary Ego, portrayed by the skilled Zerka T. Moreno, must quickly switch between two characters: Mrs. Mark, who is not there, and Michelle, the main character, within a brief exchange of lines. Since Mrs. Mark is not a present figure, it is hard even for professionals like Zerka Moreno to highlight her character nuances. Accordingly, Moreno chose to adopt the 'reversal roles' approach (a technique introduced above). Rather, assuming the character of the protagonist, who has previously articulated herself multiple times, enables a more lively and authentic dramatization. In turn, Michele, Mrs. Mark's daughter-in-law, will shape the character of Mrs. Mark through her performance. This will enable Michele to give the audience a clear understanding of the character, which will then allow the actual roles to be re-established and provide future Auxiliary Egos with the chance to fully inhabit this new role.

One of the aspects that I personally find most intriguing when dealing with the Auxiliary Ego is the relationship between truth and reality that arises from using it as a therapeutic tool.  We observe that "Morenian approach" holds that the "here and now," or the aspect of actuality, is essential to the patient's ability to reflect as best he can on the narrative he has selected. Despite sharing his personal story, the patient will nonetheless offer his interpretation of reality. Thus, the Auxiliary Ego—a person endowed with its own experience and, consequently, perception—will find itself assuming the role of a character belonging to a different perceptual dimension (that of the patient) and attempting to decipher the perceptual dimension of the new, unknown character from the few details that are given in order to reconstruct reality. To be sure, this reconstruction of reality is not only important for the end of the main patient's therapy; indeed, it is also what enables other patients, and thus the audience, to recognize in it their own reality, to recover the fragments of their own experience, and consequently to be able to reflect on their own questions and, ultimately, perhaps, succeed in obtaining their own closure, since as we have seen, this need not be the last resort. I find the relationship between truth and reality - as it arises from the employment of the Auxiliary Ego - interesting because it can be successfully employed in other performance art forms. 

If members of the audience are able to project their own inner image onto the stage, even to a limited extent, it implies that they are able to choose which character to identify with. It may seem more appropriate to find a character in the primary patient with whom to identify, but the most seductive force, in my opinion, is the Auxiliary Ego, since it is the other narrative element that drives the action and the dramaturgical engine. As we previously observed, this role is seemingly neutral but has the ability to take on any number of identities, including that of the protagonist. One could argue that the protagonist is capable of changing over the session, but let us not forget that this is still his story, and the Auxiliary Ego exists entirely outside of the real world of the facts. Since the Auxiliary Ego is a member of the audience, it is therefore in the same position as the audience from both a spatial and a social perspective. This is because both the audience and the Auxiliary Ego are presented with the same story, the latter having been born as an individual within the audience. Since it is the one who portrays the various realities, by portraying the protagonist, it is as though he has the ability to play any version that could arise. Consequently, since any person on stage could be an Auxiliary Ego, and any Auxiliary Ego could portray any person, we can say that the Auxiliary Ego can serve as a theatrical representation of the audience. With this silogism we can therefore proceed to the next chapter, where we will find the roles and sections of psychodrama can be applied to an artistic performance. 

Blending Psychodrama: Unifying Roles in Performance Art

This chapter explains how the psychodrama's roles and structure, which were covered in the first two chapters of this section, will match with my performing approach. Specifically, a lot of the logic and connections stem from the examination of the Auxiliary Ego figure, particularly from the presumption that the Auxiliary Ego can represent the audience on stage. The psychodramatic sections and roles will then be compared to the roles in my play. This will highlight any similarities and, when applicable, the differences between the two performances, which are primarily caused by the fact that one is a type of group therapy with the aim of healing while the other is a performance with the purpose of entertaining (by informing).

Psychodramatist => Musician/ Director: He will build the performance, using the information gathered during the social interview to create a scene for the performer. The chosen repertoire for the scene will serve a scenographic purpose because, as we have seen previously, it is crucial to the construction of a realistic narrative that the temporal and space context be as detailed as possible. As a result, the music will help to define the auditory environment that will aid the public in understanding the dramatic action. In the case of this performance, the musician will share the stage with the actor/actress, unless the psychotherapist's presence on stage is optional.

Main patient => Performance's Social Element: Thus, the Social Element is the theme to be investigated and subsequently represented within the performance. In this research, as mentioned in the Introduction, the Social Element is going to be the story of my friend Clara regarding her father's suicide. The tale will be gathered during the social interview, where the actor will be better prepared to perform her character by deepening her understanding of the moods and feelings in addition to the story itself. She will not take part in the stage production, in contrast to psychodrama, because the aim of the performance is to elicit personal reflection from each audience member and not to treat her medically or therapeutically as a person.

Auxiliary Ego => Actor: So, while adhering to the script and adopting specific cues from the character and emotional aspects she can extract from the sociological interview research, the actor would play Clara as the Auxiliary Ego on stage. Using Moreno's remarks from the previous discussion, the actress will introduce herself as the Auxiliary Ego in the character of Clara. This is a paradigm that must be honored as Moreno said "She is not his real mother-in-law. However, she will try to represent her as best”.7 The actor can only play Clara to the best of her ability since she is an individual with her own identity and worldview; she can never be the real personality of Clara. Because everything that is depicted is done out of respect for Clara's person and her story, the audience is both aware of the staging's creation and able to see the action as real.

Therapy group => The Audience:  the audience is being served by the concert, it is the center of attention, and is the group of individuals that needs to be allowed to relate to the action and music to feel even somewhat represented in the function of the "Auxiliary Ego."

Warm-up => Social Element Interview and Warm-up: The social interview is where the information is gathered to depict the story that the respondent has decided to tell, as was briefly mentioned above and will be covered in more detail in the following section. But the warm-up will also happen before the concert so that Clara's story and the process of reciprocity with the Auxiliary Ego can start. In this way, both the Social Element, which will characterize the performance, and the Auxiliary Ego, which will represent the story, will be presented.

Action => Performance: is undoubtedly the center of the process; the only distinction from psychodrama is the absence of stage improvisation, as the Auxiliary Ego follows a script and, more crucially, gets to act out the part it is supposed to.

Sharing => Reflection after concert: Zerka Moreno stated in the psychodrama handbook that "the protagonist (patient) does not owe you a catharsis"8, therefore, the time of reflection should not aim exclusively at obtaining definitive answers. This stage, more than structurally speaking, is an invitation and, above all, a hope that the audience can and will reflect on the performance they have watched.The moment of such reflection will be indulged by the total darkness of the room, obviously explaining to the audience during the warm-up not to clap until the lights come on. As Moreno puts it "A meaningfull silence charged with emotion is often the most appropriate way to share an experience with a protagonist"9.