Drama Therapy: one doctor to bring Shakespeare to Rio de Janeiro.

Vitor Pordeus an actor and mental health activist found a unique way for treating patients Suffering from severe Schizophrenia and chronic Psychosis, from Nise da Silveira Psychiatric Hospital by enacting theatre routines, singing and chanting rituals from Shakspeare’s famous plays “Ser ou nao ser, eis a questao!” – “To be, or not to be. That is the question!” bellows a rugged, masked Hamlet, against the stunning backdrop of the Brazilian city’s golden Ipanema beach.

Exploring feelings by acting different roles is recognised as helping people with mental health problems. Vitor believes the theatre routines are better cure to treat his patients with mental problems than conventional drugs since exposes relationship to debate.

“We can work on emotions, identities, family relationships, memories, cultural relationships. By exploring, reflecting, debating, we can decrease the power and mental weight of frightening thoughts and images lurking in a person’s mind,” he explained.

The Madness Hotel is part of a Brazilian tradition of alternative therapies based in performance, social empowerment, and interaction. In a really interesting piece for Aeon, Beth McLoughlin discusses the work of psychiatrist Vitor Pordeus to transform suffering in creativity with his patients:

“The idea of using theatre as a tool for change was pioneered in Brazil by the late director and activist Augusto Boal who in the 1950s created the Theatre of the Oppressed, now world-renowned. In the Theatre of the Oppressed, drama became a framework in which people could visualise and understand the power dynamics at work in society and explore new possibilities through role play. These Boal-inspired ‘dress rehearsals for real life’ have been used in strife-torn locations such as Israel and Palestine, as well as all over Latin America and Europe. Boal believed that everyone is a self-contained spectator, actor and theatre in one; if we start by observing our actions and interactions, we can then go on to do things differently in the future.”

Vitor’s collective, known as the Madness Hotel, rehearses in the grounds of the hospital where he works,

Caio, (not his real name), a patient who has long suffered from severe schizophrenia, says: “When I first got here I was in a really dark place but now I can express myself, and I just love singing and dancing. Theatre has helped me open my mind.”

He has been told his Theatre therapy techniques are overly simulating or agitating for the patients; others say his performing among them blurs and breaks down clear doctor-patient boundaries that patients rely on in times of need.