Persona and Performance: The Meaning of Role in Drama, Therapy and Everyday Life

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Preface. A journeyer to the spiritual mount. 1. The Origins of Role. Hamlet's soliloquy and the paradox of drama
Role ambivalence
The origins of role in drama/theatre
The origin of role in the social sciences
The origin of role in art and literature
From role metaphor to role concept. 2. The Development of Role. The human being as role recipient
The human being as role-taker
The human being as role-player
The role system. 3. The Drama Therapy Role Method. The invocation of the role
The naming of the role
The playing out/working through of the role
Exploring alternative qualities in sub-role
Reflecting upon role-play: discovering role qualities, functions and styles inherent in the role
Relating the fictional role to everyday life
Integrating roles to create a functional role system
Social modeling. 4. The Case of Michael. The treatment: Beginnings
The three bears
The Lawyer
Black rage
The boy who learned to burn
Fathers and sons
The judge and the raincoat
The mask of the actor
The critic
The blind girl
An integration.
5. The Case of Michael
Part II . The kiss
The wooden clogs and the rubber boots
The marriage proposal
The glass heart
Bugs
More glass
Me vida abajo (My life down there)
The confused searcher
The beat of black wings
My father's body
Mickey and Jake: you dream at your own risk
Victor/victim
The ring
Postscript. 6. The Case of Hansel and Gretel: An Example of a Drama Therapy Group. Implications of the role method for diagnosis
Evaluation. 7. Role in Everyday Life. Role type and archetype
Somatic roles
Cognitive roles
Affective roles
Social/cultural roles
Spiritual roles
Aesthetic roles. 8. A Taxonomy of Roles: Building a Theatrical Archetype System. The form of the taxonomy: The taxonomy of roles. 9. The Taxonomy: Cognitive and Affective Domains. Domain: cognitive
Domain: affective. 10. The Taxonomy: Social Domain Domain: social. 11. The Taxonomy: Spiritual and Aesthetic Domains. Domain: spiritual
Domain: aesthetic
The use and significance of the taxonomy. 12. Conclusion. References. Appendix.

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The metaphor linking the world with the stage is one that has captured the imagination of philosophers, poets and social scientists for millennia. In Persona and Performance, Robert Landy shows that drama provides not only a metaphor for everyday life, but also a means of self-examination and life-enhancement. Encompassing the full range of human experience, role allows us to conceptualize the personality, which Landy views as a system of roles. He suggests that emotional well-being depends upon an individual's capacity to manage a complex and often contradictory set of roles, demonstrating the way in which role offers a uniquely effective method for working through significant personal problems when used as an element of drama therapy.

Combining theoretical discussions with practical clinical illustrations, the volume opens with a review of the origins and development of role in drama and the social sciences. The author draws upon theoretical, clinical and anecdotal evidence to show how the concept of role connects the three domains of drama, therapy and everyday life. He then extends C G Jung's system of psychological archetypes, derived form character types repeatedly found in Western drama. Exhaustive in scope, the taxonomy was created as a means of analyzing both everyday life and the types of therapeutic performances that occur within the process of drama therapy. Ways we can learn to live with role ambivalence, complexity and contradiction are discussed in the final chapter.

The work is illuminated by the inclusion of an extended single case study and a group case study, both of which clearly illustrate the use of the dramatic role method of clinical treatment. Laying the groundwork for an aesthetically based role theory, this volume is destined to become a classic in the field.

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