Playback Theatre: Group, stories, and stage as elements of change

Abstract

Playback Theatre (PT) is a modality of improvised theatre that uses the personal narratives of the audience as the basis for dramatic representations. There have been empirical studies on its benefits at both the individual and group levels. The aim of this study was to understand the subjective experiences of participants in a PT group and to explore the therapeutic qualities of this method. An intervention was organized, consisting of 12 weekly PT sessions in a closed group. Ten participants agreed to participate in a Focus Group session, which was recorded and transcribed. Thematic Analysis of the interview found three main themes: the Therapeutic Dimension of the experience, the role of Story Sharing in terms of group creation, cohesion, and empathy, and the Stage dimension that allowed for materialization, interpretation, and perspective taking concerning the personal narratives. Data suggest that PT can be a useful and important tool, with an intimate relationship with psychotherapeutic practice, enabling encounter, creation, sharing of subjectivities, and construction of new meanings.