Pushing the boundaries: an exploration of the impact of actor training, based on the practices of Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux, on the creativity, health and wellbeing of older people

Kemp, Sarah Caroline (2022) Pushing the boundaries: an exploration of the impact of actor training, based on the practices of Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux, on the creativity, health and wellbeing of older people. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the experiences of older people participating in drama workshops, based on the physical theatre actor training practices of Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux. It examines older people’s perceptions of the impacts of their drama experiences on their creativity, health and wellbeing. The study addresses a lack of research on the creative and cultural value of older people’s theatre-making. The findings also make a significant contribution to the limited research on the impact of drama on older people’s health and wellbeing.

Four groups of older people (42 participants) in North East England participated in physical theatre, drama workshops, over one year. The workshops were designed to, give participants a practical introduction to key elements of Gaulier and Pagneux’s work: Le Jeu (play), complicité (collaboration and rapport) and disponibilité (openness). These tenets underpin an approach to theatre-making that Pagneux describes as ‘lifeful’. Participants’ responses were collected through questionnaires, focus groups and journals. The data were analysed within a heuristic and hermeneutic phenomenological framework.

Key themes identified from the data were grouped under the headings: The Physical Self; The Mental, Psychological and Emotional Self; The Individual and the Group. The findings indicate that participants particularly enjoyed the collaborative and improvisatory nature of the workshops, learning and developing new theatre-making skills. They found the work to be integrating and holistic, encouraging them to take risks and step out of their comfort zones through creative movement and play. Several participants described the workshops as enabling them to express parts of themselves that, as older people, might often be hidden from public view. This was a freeing and liberating experience. Additionally, many participants also reported improved posture, balance and range of movement, as well as enhanced mood, confidence and cognitive stimulation.

This research contributes original knowledge as to how physical, playful and improvisatory approaches to theatre making, based on Le Jeu, complicité and disponibilité, can support older people to stay active, engaged and ‘lifeful’, regardless of any physical or mental limitations they might experience. These approaches build older people’s skills in creative expression which can also engender experiences of empowerment and agency, thereby challenging individual and societal perceptions of ageism.

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