Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This thesis aims at tracing dramatherapy as a subcategory of drama in selected plays: Edward Bond{u2019}s Lear (1971), Frank McGuinness{u2019}s Carthaginians (1988) and Femi Osofisan{u2019}s Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels (1988). In Dramatherapy, the dramatist projects to the audience what they face in their daily lives as well as their inner thoughts. In other words, the dramatherapist uses theatre as a means not an end, to stimulate ideas, to heal, and to encourage the spectators to change. The present thesis argues that though the selected plays belong to different cultures, their dramatists have employed various dramatic techniques to shift the role of their plays from entertainment into psychotherapy.Therefore, a Semiotic approach is adopted against the backdrop of Postmodernism to highlight the role of the dramatic elements in unveiling the psychological dilemma of Postmodern man

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