The Engendered Spectator and the Transformation of the Client’s Themes

The Engendered Spectator and the Transformation of the Client’s Themes

by

Ronith Heymann- Krenge

This article suggests an analysis to check how clients’ personal themes are transformed during

a dramatherapeutic process when the therapist aims to awaken the client’s engendered inner

spectator. In the article “The Engendered Spectator” (Dramatherapy 2006), I suggested

arousing an inner present spectator in the client during the dramatherapy enactment to

support completion of the separation which is needed to create an inner change. The

engendered present spectator is an inner spectator who is purposely activated in the client,

and takes an active role in the action itself. It is a kind of inner active presence which is

clearly and consciously felt by the client.

The engendered inner spectator will be aroused by the therapist and be immediately present,

focused, and awake in the middle of the action.

This present engendered inner spectator is not only to be distinguished from the conquered

spectator, (who represents the inner introjects’ voices for example), but also from the

retroactive inner spectator - which reflects on what happens after the action ends, and even

from the present inner spectator who is active in the action itself but acts “ in the dark.”

Three groups of methods are described to address the engendered present inner spectator:

1: Double attention situations.

2.Observer status situations.

3.Situations of empty space.

I argued that an empty space appears clearly when one moves from one artistic medium to the

other, so that by moving from one medium to the other the engendered spectator will be

activated. In the therapeutic work that is described here, I used this method to awaken the

client’s engendered spectator and I will discuss how it takes an active participation in the

therapeutic process on the client’s theme and influences his relationship with it.

For this purpose I dedicated 3 sessions.

The Participants

Ety: male, 43 years old, artist, single

Elya: female, 43 years old, single mother with two children, artist

Son: female, 33 years old, single mother with one child, librarian.

Before I go further, I want to illustrate what I mean by ‘the client’s theme’.

A theme of a person can be described as: a life theme, a basic conflict, or a basic question

which he has to deal with. This theme has a core which is surrounded and wrapped by

stories/narratives. The core of the theme is generally abstract. These narratives, which take

place in life or fantasy, are interpretations or trails to resolving the core conflict or question.

Here I argue that when the present inner spectator in the dark supports the unfolding of these

stories, the inner engendered spectator, in the light - when it is purposely aroused - pushes

development through the stories from one layer to another till the person reaches the core of

his theme. Revealing the core of the theme enables a separation process in which the client

can internalise and perceive the essence of the theme and separate himself from the parts of

the theme that he does not need anymore or that do not belong to him. This is the process I

would like to expand on in this article.

I will show how the therapeutic process is directed; which ‘ present spectator’ is being

activated and what happens to the theme. This work is based on pictures and metaphors and

takes place in the fantasy world, and does not deal with analysis of real events.

Group of three sessions – 1 ½ hours each

The sessions are built in five stages; each stage uses a different artistic medium. The

transitions from one artistic medium to the next, and thus from one stage to the next, provoke

the present inner spectator to be engendered and active.

it in : a story (written text): the participants choose an object and write a story about First stage

4 chapters.

At the moment they choose the objects, I suggest that the engendered spectator is awakened

and present. Then, when they are writing and developing their story, the engendered spectator

declines and the present spectator in the dark is activated.

: the participants make a performance based on the story; feelings are expressed Second stage

through objects, without dialogue or words.

The transition from the written story to performance without words at once provokes the

engendered inner spectator. Then, during the choosing of clothes and objects, the engendered

spectator subsides and “the present spectator in the dark” accompanies the creative process.

ss, : the participants paint their performance with a special awareness of the proceThird stage

or development, which the performance describes.

This shift from performance to an abstract two-dimensional presentation provokes the present

engendered spectator to action. Then, when they started to paint their picture the engendered

spectator subsides and the “present spectator in the dark” accompanies the creative work .

: the participants take a detail of their picture, which I suggest to them (a small Fourth stage

part in the picture that seems unnoticed by the painter, or that shows an unexpected meeting

between two or more painted elements), and expand it in a further painting.

Here, rather than a change of medium, there is a change of perspective or concept, and at this

moment the engendered spectator is briefly aroused.

ipants write a story about the picture of the expanded part. Then the : the particFifth stage

process is complete.

When changing from a picture which is abstract to a story, the engendered present spectator

will be immediately awakened. Then, as the writing begins, he declines as “the spectator in

the dark” takes his role.

Diagram:

In the first stage the theme’s core is hidden. Its traces will be hinted at as disappearing spaces

within the image. I call them ‘disappearing spaces’ because they are not noticed by the client-

artist; but the therapist can recognize them. These ‘disappearing spaces’ are best seen as art,

and not used to interpret the content of the work. They are often gates through the story-

layers leading to the core. The transition to the next stages is directed by the therapist to

reveal these disappearing spaces. When revealed, they are turned into an empty space for the

client. An empty space is observed, but the contents are still unknown. The transitions will be

then felt like a shift or a jump. This provokes the arousal of the inner spectator. The

engendered inner spectator, when aroused, registers and pictures the image and transfers the

development to the next stage towards the theme’s core.

STAGE 1-

spectator in

the dark

STAGE 2-

spectator in

the dark

STAGE 3-

spectator in

the dark

STAGE 4-

spectator in

the dark

STAGE 5-

spectator in the dark

Arousing an

engendered

spectator

The Personal Theme: its development and transformation

Elya

First stage: The Story

There is an old wall built of square stones with a shadow from the top of a tree. The stones of

the wall are built around a pool of clear, dark water. There are sounds of birds chirping and

the rays of the sun penetrate the leaves in the cold, clean air.

A child leaves the forest, and goes down the steps to the water. He calls his friends and two

come.

Do they swim? It becomes colder and darker. The three of them want to go home to the

warmth, clarity and light. There are many voices around. The voices are those of animals,

and are frightening. The path leads to the forest. There is red light from afar, like fire. The

three wander as one.

They build a shelter because it has got darker, and they want to stay on the path. Planning

and building the shelter makes them feel good.

They lie down to sleep on their backs, and again hear the noises. In the morning, there is a

golden line in the sky; it is like returning home. They wander further, until the forest ends and

opens. They talk among themselves. They do not want to return, and instead go to the sea,

which is visible from afar.

At the sea, the sky is coloured red, gold, and blue. The child becomes a sailor or kitchen boy

on a sailing ship.

The first step of the theme:

A journey through the night towards the open sea. The story starts with the child reaching

a pool; with two friends, he decides to wander further; the three must stay overnight in the

forest It ends with a decision to make a journey to the open sea. The theme’s core can be

hidden in the darkness of night.

The story starts with curiosity, then ‘survival’ and ends with ‘release.’

Second Stage: The Performance

Starting with a green cloth; she raised and lowered it while moving in a circle, and folded it

in a half circle. She put a blue cloth inside it, over which she sprinkled buttons, handling

them carefully. She played on the music box and asked us to support her on the other

instruments, which she gave us before the performance. Slowly, the music stopped. Suddenly,

she covered the buttons with the green cloth. She wrapped two of them in a red cloth and then

in a blue cloth, walked around the chair on which there was a black coat, and hid behind the

black coat.

After a while, she stepped out, first with a scarf, on which she laid the bound- up materials

and walked around. She intensified her movement and sound, and her powerful movements

made the cloths fly. The buttons flew. It was an expression of joy and release. She intensified

her playing, closed at the zenith and put the drum down.

It is interesting that Elya hid herself behind the chair exactly at the moment of the darkness in

the story. After the performance, Elya said that she hid herself because she did not know

what to do. “Longing for release” came out in the performance as its central theme and

emphasised not only the participant’s tremendous will for cure and release, but also her great

fear of her theme’s core, shown in the performance as a disappeared space, when she hid

herself behind the chair. Elya said that if it had not been pointed out to her, she would have

forgotten about it. At the moment it is skipped over, there is no present inner spectator, or it is

dormant.

Painting the performance presented and summarised the whole process of the story and the

longing for release quietened down. In the middle, (possibly representing the same point

where Elya hid herself), the disappearing spaces were shown as an empty part in the painted

picture.

Fourth Stage: Expanding the detail.

I recommended enlarging the small empty part in the picture; enlarging the empty space can

reveal its content. Elya reported that painting the enlarged part seemed to her to be impossible,

but as the picture developed, she used the expression “spring”.

The change from ‘impossible’ to ‘spring’ shows that the inner spectator is aroused and active.

This is the fourth step in deepening the theme.

Fifth Stage: Story of the expanded part:

The new story about the last painting told about a child who wants to jump from a high

mountain. When he jumps, he suddenly starts to fly. This expressed a transition from death to

life.

This is the theme’s core: there is a jump to the death, which transforms itself towards free

flying. In the first story the hero finds himself in the night and helps himself by building a

shelter. A creative act helps to survive- here the hero jumps and he flies and he transforms the

death itself into flying .

, a . In a “dead” momenttransition from death to creative spring equals lifeThe theme here is:

creative strength can be evoked and transformed into a renewed choice of life. Fear also exists

here in the core of the theme: When fearful of dead moments, Elya would act by escaping

towards something new, where something of the old seems to die. Here we encounter the

personal theme in its archaic structure in the depth of its paradox, when death turns into a life

spring. The experience is simultaneously personal and mythical .

The inner spectator is aroused through the transitions from one step to another and registers

the metaphors of the theme. This allows the theme to be unfolded and simultaneously

developed into new metaphors. The theme of survival and longing for release develops into

the core of the theme: “death turns to the creative spring of life”. The first form of the theme

which we see in the story - and stronger in the performance - expresses the wish for a cure;

the last one shows the point where transformation takes place. We can see how through

activating the engendered inner spectator the theme leads to a perception and separation is

enabled. The separation process internalises the power of this transformation as a spring of

strength and prevents fear from abusing it. Arousing the inner spectator builds steps, not only

towards penetrating the core, but also to settle, or plant, the presence of an inner engendered

spectator precisely into the theme’s core.

Ety

First Stage: The Story

There is a rich land, wavy, with many glowing angels. Everything is lit up, with a river and a

village on the river’s bend. There are trees, a chimney on one roof, an electric pole and

wheels. There are small storks. A bird with large wings flies in very large circles above the

earth. Another bird cannot fly, and does not need to fly at all; it holds hot coals. The flying

bird returns, as it always returns after its distant trips. The bird that stays behind holds onto

what exists. It remains, gets warm, worries and takes care from a deep inside place, but does

not want to go at all. The flying bird flies in large waves to every place above the earth and

always returns. They are happy.

Two figures, different in their qualities, are in the story. Each one is complete in itself with its

qualities, and they have some unclear connection between them.

being separated versus being united –ep of the theme The first st

Second Stage: the Performance

There are two chairs. Ety stands on one. With paintbrushes in his hands, he is wrapped in a

cloak of colourful cloth. He runs, flutters, flies, and rings a bell. Then he stands on the other

chair with a coat, plays on a music box, collecting wood together for a small fire on the chair,

and then sweeps with a broom – which is always on the chair, with paintbrushes he cleans,

unfurls the coat, and goes back to the first chair. Again he puts on the cloak, and makes a

flying movement like in the beginning.

In the performance, a complete break between the figures was exaggerated. In the story, one

figure always came back to the place in which the other was, but in the performance they were

in separate places. The completeness of each individual was damaged. The homely, stable

image was not as stable as it appeared to be when the actor was on his chair, and the flying

.image could not actually fly

. The connection between the figures is not observedd lackingThe second step: separation an ,

but is rather a disappearing space.

Third Stage: Painting the Performance

In the performance’s painting, the connection between the figures appeared as one colour

covering the other. That was the third step: approach and intermixing. The relationship

between the figures can now be observed, but there is also fear hidden in it – the fear of being

intermixed.

Fourth Stage: Enlarging the Detail

I suggested expanding a small part of the colour’s encounter in the painting, because the

colours represented the figures. In the expansion, each colour was significant and the

connection among them received the quality of a dialogue based on functions and roles. When

hanging the picture, the participants, and Ety himself, described their associations with the

picture. Ety noted this as a turning point. The associations mentioned were a boat and the sea,

sun and lake.

separation and dialogue: forth stepThis is the .

The first theme showed a conflict between being separated and being united, the last one

showed a possible process between separation and dialogue. “Being separated” is transformed

from loneliness to independence, and “being united” is transformed from loneliness into

dialogue .

Fifth Stage: Story of the Expanded Picture

In the new story, written by Ety about the expanded picture, each figure did not show specific

qualities. The two figures were together within the various qualities.

s core is to establish unity through . The theme’unity with dialogue, fifth stepThat is the

dialogue.

The first step showed the theme spanning between a situation of being separated and the

longing for unity, in which there was, perhaps, a fear of being lost when uniting by merging

with the Other. One could say that a lack of success in establishing dialogue separates

although there is a wish for being united. The theme is transformed through “being separated

but lacking something” into the existence of unity with or through dialogue so that being

united goes together with being independent.

Son

First Stage: The story

We will take the story of the Snow Queen, and let it start there, where Kay was frozen by the

Snow Queen. This world is strange, very far away, within a secret world full of light and

illuminated like ice. Gerda goes on her way. My body is like this – with the head, neck,

accompanied clearly in light, via the chest cavity, beating heart. The small girl playing has

courage. The upper abdominal cavity carries fear, with tightened muscles it wants to crush.

The obstacle opens from time to time; the way to the lower abdomen is freed, the way inside,

to the middle of the beauty. Now, in this place, I notice that Gerda is walking on the path

exactly in the opposite direction from what is described above: she’s coming from below and

climbing up, finds the frozen Kay there, frees him and returns with him below – the meaning

of which is to be home.

: the conflict between First step of the themeThe story was one of release from freezing.

active and passive, ozenrelease and being fr.

Second Stage: The Performance

Son built a tent from Bedouin black cloth. At its entrance, she placed a pitcher with a drink,

biscuits and a glass, then she poured the drink into the glass. She played on the music box

very quickly, banged on the drum with a stick with more and more vigour. She dressed herself

in the cloth with which she had made the tent and tied it around herself. She took the red cloth

and held it tightly to the structure of the tent, and taped it with masking tape, in quick and

forceful movements while she continued to bind. Ety banged the drum for her, under her

instruction, with increasing force. Son tore the red cloth in a stormy movement and threw it.

With quiet movements, she laid a white cloth on the structure and a blue cloth on top of that,

and blew, making the sound of wind, slowly and softly playing one note on the music box,

removed the cloths from the structure, removed the black cloth with which she had covered

herself, and laid it down again as it had been in the beginning – again the tent was created.

She put the pitcher, the glass and the biscuits down. This time she did not pour the drink or

play any music.

In the story, a witch froze the hero. In the performance, Son was the one who captured, and

the one who released. This was the second step, on the way to deepening the theme of

“releasing and binding” as two actions.

Third Stage: Painting the Performance

In the performance’s painting, red and black were painted very lightly. In the performance,

what happened between binding and releasing was a disappearing space. In the painting, the

disappearing space turned into empty space: The space between the red and the black was

observed and empty.

The third step: revealing the empty space.

Fourth Stage: Expanding the Detail

Expanding that empty space in the picture brought out the power of the red and black colours,

as well as direction and form. But the space in between remained untreated.

The fourth step: “releasing” and “binding” as two forces turned into partners. Between them

continued to be an empty space.

Fifth Stage: Story of the Expanded Picture.

In the story told about the picture, Son discussed red and black as figures that go out dancing

and are mischievous. Then they return home and go out again. Their stay at home is not

described at all, but the play outside is described in detail. Their stay at home became a

disappearing space. I asked Son what happened between going out the first and second time.

The question surprised her and she suddenly saw the disappearing space.

The fifth step: the quiet places are freezing, binding and can even be dangerous. That is why

they keep staying as a disappearing space. The theme’s core is: Relaxation and gathering

together, when inwardly directed, are interpreted like a paralysis and death. Activity, when

outwardly directed, is life. Son activates the first theme “release from being frozen” as a

defence against the danger that she had identified in the theme’s core.

All quiet can raise fear of death and all activity then can become coercive and exhausting.

Therefore, all “quiet” can be destroyed by an action.

It was hard for Son to look at the theme’s core and to face her fear. Son touched the core of

her theme when this missing part, the disappeared space, was revealed and observed as an

empty space. The metaphors registered by the engendered inner spectator can be newly

developed and unfolded to reveal what there is in the empty space. Here, too, the theme is

simultaneously both personal and a myth, abstract and real.

Summary of analysis

Each transition from one artistic medium to another aroused an engendered inner spectator.

The present active inner spectator carries the metaphors and images related to the client’s

theme, created in the artistic work, forward to the next step where they are transformed. The

inner spectator registers these images for the future, so that when they are transformed they

are not lost. In this way, the artistic drama-therapeutic enactment will be led to the

development and transformation of the metaphors and images and more closely touch the

hidden core of the theme. Without an active engendered inner spectator, the different

therapeutic enactments, in spite of their creativity, can actually hide the core of the theme and

can function as creative variations of the very first step of dealing with the personal theme.

“… The principle is to succeed to register or to encode, like in a book of musical notes,

what is not described in words” (Artaud: 144). The registration and development of the

metaphors and images through the steps with an active engendered inner spectator reveals the

foundation stones of the personal themes to extract its essence. When the theme comes to its

essence, the client can isolate this from the transference to which it is attached and internalise

this essence renewed. This process is the separation phase and is called “refining the image”.

This is not a distanced and cognitive process. Rather, it is a process that is built through an

engendered inner spectator.

The themes’ essence presented above, primarily with Elya and Son, touch on the subject of

life and death. With Elya, the first step was the wish for release, the last step was the

transformation strength that turned death into a spring. With Son, the first step was also the

wish for release, the last step was the theme of death and life: The quiet threatened a sort of

paralysis or death and was juxtaposed with activity in the outside world, symbolising life.

With Ety the first step was seeing separation as a threat to inner unity, and created a big fear,

but in the last step an image of dialogue was created. Dialogue enables being united and

separated simultaneously, and is related to the potential space of Winnicott. Duggan also

backs my findings up in this quote: “Thus the images of living and dying that make up our

works of art are themselves the reflections of an internalised other” (Duggan : 83.)

The role of the therapist is to repeatedly direct the gaze until it arouses the inner

spectator to participate in the process. Due to his fear, the client will hide the core of the

emotional theme from himself even while being creative. It is important, therefore, that the

therapist ensures the arousal of the client’s inner spectator to be active in the therapeutic

process so that it may: collect and reveal the pictures that are emerging towards the core of the

client’s theme; enable the transformation of these images, and lead towards the separation

process by perceiving and refining these images.

The next section will suggest theory which can support the ideas I argued above. The theory

makes references to Schaverien’s dual stage process, Winnicott’s transitional object,

Husserl’s horizonalisation, and the inner engendered spectator in dramatherapy.

First, I discuss the dual stage process as suggested by Schaverien. I show the

connection to Winnicott’s transitional phenomenon. Then I argue that these models work in

drama therapy and connect it with the inner spectator.

The Dual-Stage Process

Schaverien describes a two-stage process regarding the image which is expressed in

artistic work. The first stage is the one in which the image is discovered. This is a process

towards assigning a scapegoat, and is developed through infusion in the artistic action. The

scapegoat was used as a symbol in the Bible to carry all the sins which are made by the people

and as carrying all these sins it will be sent away in the desert. Here Schaverien speaks about

the role of the work of art as a scapegoat which carries the transference of the client and in so

doing frees the artist-client. The experience at the beginning is not discerned: “Assigning the

talisman is an early attempt at discernment – it is the beginning of differentiation and

separation from a state of fusion” (Schaverien 1992: 82). It is a process in which the artist

simultaneously observes what is created and continues to create. The image in this process

interprets itself and feeds back to the artist. This phase is like the creative phase in the

dramatherapy when a story, a performance or a painting is created. In this phase I maintain

“the inner present spectator in the dark” is involved. Schaverien calls this stage “the

embodiment of the talisman”. Talisman is a work of art not only in its role as scapegoat but as

an aesthetic form. Unlike the scapegoat, where sins are symbolically projected onto the goat

which is sent away, here there is a dialogue between the artist-client and his work which will

carry his projections but will also embody an aesthetic form which looks back at the artist and

requires to become known. This is the second stage of the process: the image returns the gaze

to the client-artist.

In this stage, when the image returns its own gaze and becomes independent from the

artist-creator, a separation process starts between the artist-client and his independent image,

through which the artist-client disposes of his talisman.

As an aspect of the transference the client may have a counter

transference to his/her own image. The aesthetic counter

transference in this case is a response to the complete art

object. It is his/her own image, familiar and yet not known. When we first step back to regard our own picture, we see

something new. This is different from our perception of the

emergent image seen in the process of creation. The artist is

thus affected by the aesthetic effects of her/his own picture,

and this too has a bearing on the therapeutic interaction.

(Schaverien 1995 : 207) When the transference devolves on the therapist, the client cannot be free to dispose of

it, but when the transference is projected on the work of art, he controls the art object and can

decide whether to destroy the object or to keep it. There is a clear link here to Winnicott’s

transitional phenomenon.

Winnicott: Transitional Phenomenon.

The transitional phenomenon refers to the process of transition of the infant, from

complete dependency to relative independence; from the stage of dependence, which is

indiscriminate self-object, to the stage of achieved separation and recognition of notme. The

latter involves reorganization of the ego and thought processes (Machado : 74.)

This process is related to the potential space and takes place in the relationship between the

mother and child. Into this process between the mother and child, Winnicott introduces a third

factor – the transitional object. “It is a symbol of the journey the infant is making from the

experience of his mother’s adaptation to his needs during the time of absolute dependence,”

(Abram 313). A classic example for Winnicott’s transitional phenomenon is using the

dummy-teat or a puppet as a transitional object, on which the child transfers his needs for

attachment to his mother. Concerning the transitional object, the infant, “… will (…) be

replicating what is initially the disassociated (…) either excessive conflict, with the principle

of definitive reality,” (Machado : 73). This object will serve him as a transitional object until

he internalises the attachment in him and becomes independent.

The developmental process described above is parallel to the process of creating an

artistic image in the therapeutic process when investing and embodying the image-talisman

So a conflict can be formed into an image. The image serves as a definitive reality,

with which the client can deal .

Schaverien’s second stage of disposal of the talisman is called in Winnicott’s language

the “transition to object usage”. The transitional object enabled the child to practice his

existence when the mother is not physically attached to him. Then “the transitional object is

no longer needed…. By now the small child is able to distinguish between me and notme and

live in the third area, keeping inside and outside apart and yet inter-related” (Abram : 316-

317.)

When the child reaches this point he will be able to separate himself from the object.

The essence that the object symbolised is internalised, and it is as if the object is emptied of

its essence and remains in its transitory form, which can then be thrown away. This is also

true of the artistic object’s image. After perception and internalisation, the artistic object can

be thrown away, or its aesthetic value can be appreciated and kept. The artistic image, in

reality or in the mind, is like a transitional object.

By means of this parallel, the developmental process that Winnicott proposes can be

repeatedly seen as a process that exists in arts therapeutic work concerning the image-picture.

It can be seen not only as the infant’s development but as the essence of a developmental

process. “Rose describes the process of the view of art as moving from a temporary sense of

fusion with the work to re-separation and then finally to a re-definition of boundaries” (Spitz :

21). This is also the artist-client’s process .

In Dramatherapy

Dramatherapy often contains a primer phase in which embodiment takes place; the bodily

identification stage occurs as the client acts with her body. The first stage described by

Schaverien takes place in dramatherapy when the creative image is discovered and created.

Then the present inner spectator in the dark acts via the dramatic distance and enables

development and embodiment of the image, prompting the beginning of separation. One can

see here the creative work (story, performance, and painting) as the transitional object of

Winnicott’s idea. But the second stage noted by Schaverien, when the image is completed,

which is named by Winnicott as “object usage”, may be lacking in the dramatherapy. That is

because, in some forms, dramatherapy may have no finished product, no image that can be

seen. I argue that this lack of the “image returning its gaze to the artist-client” can block the

completion of the separation process, which takes place at this phase and which is needed to

create an inner change. Arousing an inner engendered spectator will enable a response to this

deficiency.

The Inner Spectator and the Image - Horizonalisation

Let us assume now that I perceive this particular house from the street in front

of it so that I can effectively see only its facade. If, subsequently, I want to learn

more about this house‘s exterior appearance, then the only possibility is to have

recourse to ever-new “partial-perceptions”, each of which will manifest

separately a certain aspect of this house…the perceived thing clearly does not

exhaust itself in any one of its individual profiles, but that which is intended in

each of the concrete acts, without, however, being effectively and as such

perceived in any particular act whatsoever remains the same in all cases. In

this particular act of perception or noesis this house effectively manifests itself

always in this particular profile when this particular standpoint is assumed; but

nonetheless, each concrete act intends more than this particular profile and

aims at the house as a whole (Gurwitsch : 140-141).

Schaverien (1992) writes, “Perceptions are pictures… we picture each other.” The

situations arousing an inner spectator are created when, at the point of shift in the spectator-

oriented process, the gaze is turned toward the image, and metaphorically, a photograph is

taken. At the moment during which the image is gazed, there is a photograph of it, a

registration of it as a certain picture. The collection of these “photographed” pictures of the

image is an act of horizonalisation (Husserl by Moustakas, 1999), constructing the perception

of the image as something beyond its included characteristics.

So the client will, through an active participation of his inner spectator, build in his mind a

perception which will remain there when the dramatic enactment ended. With these collected

inner pictures, the client can continue his dialogue with his image, complete the separation

phase, and internalise a new perception. Grainger wrote, “The theatre itself … is a machine

very like a camera: … it is the device for achieving the clearest available perceptual image

(Grainger 1990 : 19). The “photograph” is the aroused inner spectator.

When the created image in theatre and dramatherapy is not only visual but involves all the

senses and sometimes disappears, I see the inner engendered spectator as being very

significant in the developmental process vis-à-vis the image. This is similar to the gaze

(turning towards the work of art and back from the work of art) in the sense of Schaverien’s

idea in art therapy, which is primarily visual.

Refining the Image

When combining Schaverien’s “disposal of the talisman”, Winnicott’s “object usage”

and Husserl’s “horizonalisation towards perception”, I propose replacing “disposing” with

“refining”. This means a refinement process in which the narrative transitive elements of the

image will get separated from the essence of the image. The image can be then revealed in its

own perception. The difference between image and perception is defined by Husserl in his

description of a tree: “The tree plain and simple can be burned away, resolve itself into the

chemical elements … but the meaning of this perception, something that belongs necessarily

to its essence, cannot burn away” (Moustakas : 70.)

Grainger quotes Rollo on the same subject: “Rollo may describe it as a way of

becoming aware of the essence of an object” (Grainger 1990: 18). I argue that from the

moment the image is present and returns the gaze, a process of separation between the

transference and the essential parts of the image begins; the essential parts have to be re-

internalised separate from the transference. If we see the narrative, the transitory material, as

the transference and the essence of the image as its perception, then the process, taking place

between the client and his image, can be seen as a refinement of the image from its transitory

materials and internalisation of its perception. The inner spectator photographs all the facets

of the image and refines the picture of the image.

Grainger quotes Rollo in his explication of Cezanne’s tree:

This vision involves an omission of some aspects of the scene

… and ensuring rearrangement of the whole…. Primarily, it

is a vision that is not now tree but Tree. The concrete tree

Cezanne looked at is formed into the essence of tree … it is

still a vision of all trees triggered by his encounter with this

particular one (in Grainger 1990 : 18.)

This description brings Grainger to point out the strength of the theatre in defining the

essence of the subject. The strength of the participant’s inner spectator, working vis-à-vis the

participant’s own image works this out towards the completion of the separation from the

transference, and unification with the perceptive essence.

If we gather the pictures that the inner engendered spectator photographs, the creation

of a whole picture of the image is enabled. “This is the application of the gaze in its widest …

free-floating sense – the whole forms a picture in the mind’s eye” (Schaverien 1995: 204.)

Turning the eye’s gaze is done to arousal the engendered inner spectator.

Ricoer wrote: “Works of art … are not simply projections of the artists’ conflicts but

the sketch of their solution,” (Spitz: 8). This adds another dimension to understanding the

importance of the aroused inner spectator’s photographing the image, so that one can always

return to that “photographed” image after she leaves the dramatic space to find other

solutions. The engendered inner spectator can be described as a third gaze, as a third place

within the self, and can be seen a connection to an inner potential space.

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