Batzoglou, Antonia (2012) Towards a Theatre of Psychagogia: An Experimental Application of the Sesame Approach into Psychophysical Actor Training. Doctoral thesis, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.

Abstract

This thesis based in practice as research proposes a pedagogical model for supporting the actor’s inner psychological process within the area of psychophysical actor training. By invoking Socrates’ concept of psychagogia, I critically examine key aspects of psychophysical actor training in order to clarify the conceptual and pragmatic meaning of ‘psyche’ within the psychophysical process. Socrates describes psychagogia as the educational art of leading the psyche towards dialectical examination of the good. It is Aristotle, however, who identifies the art of tragedy as the greatest form of psychagogia, and it is in this context that the thesis re-introduces psychagogia for actor training. My research investigates in practice the application of a modified Sesame Drama and Movement Therapy approach for actors. It entails a series of projects and workshops exploring a pedagogical model based on the Sesame methodology and structure, and using ancient Greek myths as vehicles to encounter conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche. The research addresses the necessity for an embodied experience and awareness of the psyche by confronting creatively its conscious and unconscious aspects. I aim to show how a Sesame Drama and Movement Therapy approach facilitates this process in a safe and reflexive way, raising the actor’s awareness of this tacit and intangible inner quality.