Ideas for a trauma-informed performance practice

This was written after a session of ‘Bubble Baths for the Soul’, a group of queer artists using talking therapy to process issues around our practice, facilitated by Lou Platt, Artist Wellbeing; initiated by Tom Marshman; funded by Theatre Bristol and LGBTQ+ Voice & Influence.

The context of the discussion was about work in which the performer/s are dealing with themes that have a real emotional weight for them personally - which is often expected of live artists without necessarily any structure in place to deal with the aftermath.

• Use the process to deal with emotions around the themes

Maybe theatre/art making processes already have a structure that we can use to somewhat-resolve our personal feelings about the material, before we put it on stage?

I think there is a pressure within the theatre/art making culture in the UK to push personal feelings aside and be ‘productive’ in the rehearsal room - also extreme time pressure and limited budgets make it hard to make space for each person’s emotions. So often instead of using this time to slowly process whatever comes up, I was pushing feelings aside and trying to ignore them, racing to the end goal of having ‘a finished show’ or something to put onstage.

Titration: gradually increasing dosage to allow you to get used to it and find the right dosage for you. In medicine this is used for drugs, in trauma therapy this is a technique used by therapists to help clients approach traumatic themes/memories in small chunks which can be tolerated, and then move away from them again. The idea is that this allows the body/mind to slowly increase the window of tolerance for dealing with this theme, without getting triggered/retraumatised and causing further harm.

Perhaps the theatre making process (ideas > discussions > improvisations > feedback > scratch performances > feedback > final performance) actually is already structured to allow quite a lot of titration. Maybe we can just change the focus, to use that space for the performer/s to process anything that comes up & consider how manageable the performance feels for them, so that by the time we get onstage we feel somewhat resolved and don’t have the fear of a surprise trigger and mental health risk.

• Structure the performance to safely take you out of that space before the end

Jesse* said he often does this in his work - telling a story and then changing to a new scene, much lighter, and incorporating the perspective of ‘now’ as well as ‘then’.

What can we do in the structure of our writing / composing that creates a safe trajectory for the performer? On both a nervous system and conscious level. Do we need to regulate with the audience after visiting a challenging place?

This makes me reflect that I have often structured my work with only the audience in mind, and never thought about my own needs as a performer or how to write them in. Which seems silly when I am basically designing the work.

*Jesse Cooper, Bristol-based performance artist

• ‘Professionalism’ - what does it mean for a performer?

I think the reason I have often suppressed emotions in the past, is to ‘be professional’. But is that really what ‘professionalism’ is, in performance?

To me, professionalism would mean arriving onstage feeling somewhat resolved around the themes of the show, knowing that I can hold space for them and that I know how to regulate and give myself what I need, if it does get too much unexpectedly. That makes it safe(r) for me, and for my audience. And I believe that being at a slight distance, or knowing how to visit and connect to an emotional place and come back out of it, often creates work where the audience can go with the performer on their journey. Maybe that isn’t possible without having some space to deal with emotions around the topic and build skill around coping strategies.

So, maybe trying to share this idea of professionalism which actually includes emotions and discussion of what comes up in the rehearsal room, and necessitates that as part of the show-making process, could help to create better working conditions and safer, happier performers.