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CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA MA Applied Theatre (Drama in the Community & Drama Education) 2008/2009

UNIT: THEATRE WITH VULNERABLE GROUPS UNIT TUTOR: SHEILA PRESTON

PIYARATH MARKAYATHORN
87932

UNMASKING THE MASK


Case study of art therapy projects with children living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand

Unmasking the Mask: Case Study of art therapy projects with children living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand Introduction: It has been estimated by the UNICEF (The United Nations Childrens Fund) that, in 2007, a hefty number of 370,000 children under 15 years of age all over the world were newly infected with HIV/AIDS, which was mainly caused by mother-to-child-transmission (Unicef, 2009). Specifically, in Thailand, an approximate number of 20,000 children under the age of 18 have been living with this deadly virus (Few, 2007). From this incidence, the children, as an innocent victim, suffered from both the death of their infected parents since they were young and unfortunately directly experienced this fatal illness. Having been infected by HIV/AIDS at young age, the impact of the infection on the life of children causes some physical decays such as stunted growth, increased morbidity and disability, but also creates stress from exposure to the social stigma, discrimination and exclusion (Foster et al, 2005:137). In addition, this psychosocial problem that has accumulated since the years of parental illness as an anxiety and stress could possibly be mounted as a trauma especially after the death of their parents. Therefore, to maintain a healthy psychological condition among these children, a sufficient channel for them to express their ideas and feeling is essentially needed (Unicef, 2004). In 1959, the United Nations had suggested a declaration of rights to be universally applied while working with children. These rights contained a childs basic needs such as the right to be loved, understood and cared for, the right to develop physically and mentally in a healthy manner and the right to be protected from cruelty, neglect and exploitation. Failing to do so, as stated by Cattanach (1992) is not merely caused some emotional negligence but also the emotional abuse. Moreover, another inception of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989 proposed a 2

holistic approach to be carefully considered when it came to Child Rights. This required the children to be social actors who must be engaged in and actively effect their society as well as be involved in any decision-making about their own lives (West and Wedgwood, 2004). Thus, all Child Rights is declared to ultimately ensure that every child must be protected equally regardless of ethnicity, gender, age within the childhood and state of health or impairment. Taking the Children affected by HIV/AIDS infection into consideration, it is noticeable that this group of children, made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS, is likely to be disregarded by the circumstances they have faced. They are not only at risk of emotional neglect and abuse that might either come from their family (lack of love and care or parental death) or the community (stigma and discrimination), but also exclusion that hinders them from being active social members. To investigate this issue, I am going to study the works of We Understand Group and UNICEF Thailand that have initiated art projects with the young people living with HIV/AIDS since 2004.

Drama as a therapeutic process Drama has long been regarded as a recreational interactive art form, conveying story from actor to audience; however, the participation in the drama process somehow contains therapy (Jones, 1996:4). To simply define what is drama as therapy, Jones (1994) has suggested a basic definition of this area as involvement in drama with a healing intention which consisted of four therapeutic performance processes starting from the need identifying, rehearsing, showing and disengagement (Jones, 1994:102). In this sense, the journey through all stages of this process is the main therapeutic work. However, the original characteristic of drama as something fictional also created a safe space for participants to explore their own issues. As Grainger and Warren (2000) has highlighted in their book on the chapter of 3

self-disclosure and disguise, Drama represents a distanced encounter with feelings and ideas that need to be incorporated in the way that we consciously express ourselves. It is a way of letting ourselves unmasked (Grainger and Warren, 2000:90). By disclosing and disguising self while participating in drama, it allows people to enjoy the privilege of identification without assimilation as well as the keeping at a distance that lies the core of drama as a healing experience (Grainger and Warren, 2000:9). In addition, it is interesting to note that another aspect of drama as a therapeutic process that caters to the aesthetic experience can provide a healing effect to participants. This experience has been described by Fairbairn as the experience, which occurs in the beholder when he discovers an object which functions for him symbolically as a means of satisfying his unconscious emotional needs, (Fairbairn, 1939:173). As such, the aesthetic of drama is unintentionally therapeutic approach. Interestingly, from all three different effects the participants could get from taking part in drama, we could see that the participation either in specifically formed therapy or aesthetic work, participants could enjoy more or less self-healing effect whether they are aware of it or not. Particularly, for the group of children living with HIV/AIDS, the process of drama could possibly alert their sensations of the world as well as form a necessary relationship with others that can heal socially and emotionally even if the physicality could never be entirely recovered (Herman, 1997).

Research Methodology In order to obtain necessary information for the case, there are two main sources to acquire useful data about the project with children living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand. The first one, the secondary data that gave an overall picture of all projects, were accumulated both through the website of the organisations involved in each project and from other written documents, for example, press release, projects leaflet and shows programme. Once all 4

information was gathered, it had been rearranged to form a descriptive journey of the project. Furthermore, to obtain more insightful information about the project, the attempt to conduct an interview with the drama practitioner who has been working with this group of children was initiated. Nevertheless, owing to the geographical distance between the interviewer (England) and the interviewee (Thailand), it was undeniably hard to have this interactive interview in person. Therefore, the live-email was subsequently undertaken as it was a considerably suitable and convenient way to collect the data. After all data had been gathered from each email sent, it was then translated in English since all questions and answers were originally written in Thai. Besides the information taken from the interviewee, the researcher had an opportunity to attend one of the projects with this group of children in 2006, hence, the direct experience as an observer together with the answers from the interviewee, these are a primary source of information that could possibly enrich this qualitative research.

We Understand Group and UNICEF Thailand: Art Therapy Projects with children living with HIV/AIDS. With the belief that participating in art activities can provide the children who are infected by HIV/AIDS more channel to express their feelings and ideas, in 2004, We Understand Group sponsored by UNICEF Thailand had formed a pilot project with the children living with HIV/AIDS. The total number of 16 children aged from 8 to 15 years who originally lived in the North and North-East of Thailand where the most HIV epidemic was being found, were gathered to participate in the art camp organized by the We Understand Group. In the camp, they were taught by a group of professional artists some basic skills of painting and drawing so that they could create artworks reflecting their feelings towards life. The objective of the training, as had been stated by the organisations involved, was to create a safe space for this group 5

of children so that they could express their feelings freely through the art form. Likewise, the participation in art could possibly act as a channel of expression for them. Moreover, in order to encourage participants self-esteem, all art works created by participants were presented to public in an organised exhibition on the last day of the project. By doing so, the art exhibition became a bridge that connected this group of children and the outside world. Following the success of the first project, UNICEF Thailand and Australian Federation of AIDS organisation sponsored another project from the We Understand Group in 2006. The project titled Who am I, Why I am here was formed to pursue and develop what had been done in Paint My Life. With the same participants from the previous project, added up with some new members, the number of all participants in this project had been increasing from 16 to 26 members. This time, a variety of art activities were catered as the group became bigger and it was the first time that drama was being introduced in the art camp. In order to serve the same goals as in the first project, in Who am I, Why I am here, there was a significant attempt to link the art exhibitions with the drama as it was seen from the childrens last performance to the public where all arts elements were combined together in the show. Another big step was the third project named Lifes Journey in 2007. This project was significantly bigger since it could occupy up to 100 new members in the camp. Although activities used in this project were similar to the second one, with visual arts and drama, there were another activities besides the art, for example, sex education and income generating programme. This time, 26 participants from previous projects attended this workshop as both participants and co-facilitators. They were formed as a Volunteer Peer Group, who acted as seniors who took care of new members and assisted the training. Compared to the last project, Who am I, Why I am here, the drama performance in Life Journey was being presented in various venues with a longer period of time.

In 2008, besides the art camp, which is normally held in every threemonth time, there were 20 children living with HIV/AID from previous projects that had expressed their interest in learning additional drama skills. In order to support these children, We Understand Group had sent them to an extra training with Theatre and Drama for Development Resource Centre, Knowledge Network Institution of Thailand, and faculty of music, Silapakorn University. As a result of this effort, another musical drama production titled Dragon and Naga was devised and presented in the open ceremony of the World AIDS Day in Thailand, once in December 2008 and intended to perform to the public again in October 2009.

A Play from the childrens perception of LIFE When drama has first been introduced in the art camp with the group of children living with HIV/AIDS in 2006, the facilitators had an idea of creating a story based on what these children wanted to communicate to the world. At first, it was notably hard since the children did not know what exactly they wanted to say. Thus, the facilitators asked them to reflect upon four questions about who they are, what they perceived as their happiness, suffering and hope. All answers were then thoroughly being noted down in a journal by the child psychiatrist from the We Understand Group and the story was simply devised by rearranging those original statements into a play. After the story was being created, most of dialogues were assigned to the person who actually said those sentences. However, the practitioner had intentionally swapped some lines over, for example, the line to warn everyone to take the medicine (antiretroviral medicine to keep their immune system functioning) had been given to the child who always avoided taking pills. From the live-email interview, the facilitator had mentioned a significant result after the line had been swapped over. She highlighted that the habit of taking medicine of this particular child had been obviously improved since he showed more discipline in taking his pill on time as well as alarmed his peers to do the same. 7

Fortunately, I had an opportunity to observe their performance in 2006, in which the play called Who am I, Why I am here when it was being presented to public for the first time. To recall my memory, I found myself being fascinated by the show from this group of children and I had to admit that at first I did not expect much from their performance, since I thought it might turn out more like a typical charity show. Apart from the drama which mainly consisted of dialogues about fear of loneliness and rejection, daily medical treatment and hope in life, I noticed that these children had invested their time in practicing some useful drama skills, for example, movement and mime. It was apparent that those skills were practically assisting the way these children living with HIV/AIDS performed their stories to the audience. From the success of the show, Who am I, Why I am here, it led to another performance in the following year. The show called Lifes Journey in 2007 adopted the same devising model as the previous one. However, the beginning was slightly different since this time the children were the one who wrote all statements that they would like to deliver and let the facilitators make up the story out of it.

Gaining and Encouraging Trust with a Touch After the story had been created, the drama workshop with the group of children living with HIV/AIDS was then initiated. Activities, for example, body movement, voice projection and concentration exercises had been scheduled in the art camp. By beginning the workshop with some drama activities that encouraged a physical contact between participants and facilitators as suggested in the interview, the children who had been suffering from social stigma and discrimination would feel safe and more confident to interact with others. The reason behind a simple touch as described by Jacques Derrida (1976) is In the experience of touching and being touchedthe surface of my body as something external must begin by being exposed in the worldwhat is outside the sphere of my own has already entered this field of autoaffection (Derrida, 1976:16). This, perhaps, could clearly explain how the 8

interrelation between participants and facilitators had emerged after the physical contact had been undertaken. In addition, Diamond (2006) noted that Biologically, touch plays a key role in bonding, establishing and relational tie and, developmentally, for specific modes of interaction (Diamond, 2006: 90. As such, to touch and to be touched is to share self and interact with others and it might be a good explanation why the facilitator in this project highly recommended the very first activity with the group of children infected with HIV/AIDS with a physical contact.

Masked to Unmask From the performance I had an opportunity to observe in 2006, it is noticeable that all actors were wearing masks throughout the show. The reason for using masks in the performance, as given in the interview, was a thoughtful way to protect these children living with HIV/AIDS from exposing their identities that might possibly lead to social stigma and discrimination. However, the benefit of the mask might exceed what was initially expected. As Dorothy Langley (1983) suggested, masks are basically used to reveal rather than conceal, so the principle of the mask lies in the distance between the real self and the performing self. Interestingly, this notion has been supported by Grainger and Warren (2000), who had put an effort to find the interrelationship between mask-principal and theatrical principle that is: Concealing in order to reveal, the process whereby we strike at the heart of something by deliberately turning our attention elsewhere, is the essence of theatrical representation. The mask-principle and the theatre principle are the same (Graniger and Warren, 2000: 85). Likewise, while actors were putting their masks on, no matter what the story was; real or fictional, they could enjoy a safe space that enabled them to freely express feelings and ideas. Consequently, masks potentially put our internalized feelings outside ourselves and once outside they could be worked with rather than remaining locked inside (Jones, 1994:2). This was considerably very important, especially with this group of children made

vulnerable by HIV/AIDS who were at risk when it came to the self-exposure to the public. They required a room for expression and at the same time the space to ensure their protection. Therefore, in this situation, the masks were a considerably a useful tool to encourage self-confidence in a respectful manner. Real life to Fictional story The journey from the first drama project, Who am I, Why I am here (2006) to the recent production Dragon and Naga (2008) had implied a significant development in the process of story selection. In the first two projects, the play merely based on the problems regarding life of the people living with HIV/AIDS whilst the story used in the last project was dramatically changed to the fairy tale. As from the interview, the facilitator explained that the first drama project, intentionally, was set up for two particular reasons. Firstly, to let the children release their suppressed emotions by the use of performing art and secondly, to communicate their issues to the audience in an artistic way. As such, the story required what is REAL in order to serve those objectives stated. In exploring the performance in Dragon and Naga, it is obviously seen that the children who took part in this project were a selective group of children who wished to pursue additional dramatic classes. With a specific need addressed, this would somehow provide a room for both practitioners and participants to enjoy a variety of approaches to a play. However, having been participating in either a non-fictional or fictional story, participants could eventually connect to their unconscious and emotional needs since theatre is both an activity set apart from everyday reality, which at the same time has a vital function in reflecting upon and reacting to that reality (Jones, 1994:3).

Degree of processs ownership One problematic issue that has been argued in the area of applied theatre is the ownership of the drama work. Though many practitioners claim 10

to undertake the participatory approach, the degree in which the participation and ownership was shared is still ambiguous. This, perhaps, puts some practices into a dilemma as the facilitator at some point strives to keep the theme he perceives in order to get more funding (Prentki and Selman, 2000:183). From the interview about the ownership of the children living with HIV/AIDSs project in Thailand, the facilitator argued that this drama workshop, with this particular group of children intentionally emphasized the therapeutic drama process rather than the product. Hence, the theme and story mostly came from the practitioners. However, to encourage the sense of ownership in the process, more responsibilities were assigned to the participants who had been taking part since the first project and who were also expressed interest to in furthering some drama skills. This attempt led to the mobilization of the Volunteer Peer Group in 2005 where the children were trained by practitioners from the We Understand Group to act as either co-facilitator or leader of some easy activities with their peers. In this sense, the degree of empowerment could suggest the extent to which participants exercise their ownerships in the projects.

Conclusion Drama has a potential not only to cater more opportunity for people to actively participate in the world they live but also contains a powerful potential for healing (Jones, 1994:1). It suggests the healing value of creative expression by conveying issues and emotions that can eventually change participants relationship to the problems and feelings they initially have (Muller-Thalheim, 1975:166). The projects with the children infected with HIV/AIDS in Thailand gave an example of how the people made vulnerable could be more expressive whilst their protection was still being ensured. In addition, mobilization of the Volunteer Peer Group also addresses how the project could provide sense of 11

ownership through the empowerment. Yet, when it comes to the story selected for the show, it might have been difficult and arguable to define if the presentation of own story is more or less appropriate than the representation of the fictional one. And since each approach holds different potential of healing, for instance, personal issues could encourage a channel of selfexpression where the wound is a source of stories, as it opens in and out, in, in order to hear the story of others suffering and out, in order to tell its own story (Frank: 1995). It is, then, interesting to see how individual story-telling has an impact on participants in a relatively different or similar way with the fictional one that gives participants more room to enjoy the role-distance and challenging area that allows them to behave more courageously (Landy: 1993). However, from the benefits that both approaches might generate, another question arises, How can the drama practitioner define which approach (own story or fiction) is best appropriate with a particular group at particular timing? To answer this question, an in-dept investigation is needed in order to compare possible effects from each approach and decide an appropriate sequence when the fiction and non-fiction should first be undertaken.

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<http://www.uniteforchildren.org/files/Early_Infant_Diagnosis_Briefing_Note_F eb_2009.pdf> United Nations Web Services 2002. Declaration of the Rights of the Child, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, accessed 6 April 2009, <http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/25.htm> West, A., and Wedgwood, K. (2004). Children Affected by AIDS, Orphans and Impacts Mitigation in China, Save the Children UK, China Programme, accessed 6 April 2009, http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Children %20Affected%20by%20AIDS,%20Orphans,%20and%20Impact%20Mitigation %20in%20China.pdf

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