Comparative Study of Two Therapeutic Performances: Poor Theatre and Zar Ritual

Psychodrama is a new way of therapy in psychology. It is a practical way of engaging patients in the process of healing. In this way, a play based on the patient's life will be performed. The patient will play the main character of the performance and other patients will play roles affecting the patient's life. Recreating the traumatic situation is supposed to force the patient to see the situation from different angles, to find the root of their problem to solve it. This play could be performed in a room or on a theatrical stage. This essay will prove that the new way of therapy in psychology has been used in the southwest of Iran in a ritual called Zar for centuries. It is also a way that a theatre artist, Jerzy Grotowski, utilized to establish his laboratory theatre

Keywords:

Therapy , Therapeutic performance , Yerzy Grotowski , Zar ritual , Psychodrama