Towards a theatre of psychagogia: an experimental application of the Sesame approach into psychophysical actor training

By Antonia Batzoglou

My practice as research proposes a pedagogical model for supporting the actor’s inner psychological process within the area of psychophysical actor training. I ask to clarify the conceptual and pragmatic meaning of ‘psyche’ within the psychophysical process. By invoking Socrates’ concept of psychagogia, I explore the efficacy for actors of a pedagogical model derived from the Sesame Drama and Movement Therapy method, using ancient Greek myths as material that is intended to provoke both the conscious and unconscious psychic engagement of the performers and to promote their capacity to communicate ‘inter-psychically’ with an audience. Socrates describes psychagogia as the educational art of leading the psyche towards knowledge that derives from inner examination of the experience. It is Aristotle, however, who identifies the art of tragedy as the greatest form of psychagogia, and it is in this context that my work 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 testing a pedagogical model based on the Sesame methodology and structure. 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. The proposed pedagogy does not intend replacing existing skill-based actor training but rather to integrate these different trainings with a weekly complementary process of dramatherapy.  

For more information please contact Dr Batzoglou at t_batzoglou AT hotmail.com.