Browne, R. (2007) Directing Sociodrama British Journal of Psychodrama and Sociodrama Vol. 22,Number 2, pp. 3-17

Directing Sociodramai

Rollo Browne

AbstractThis article describes the structure and steps of a sociodrama, thevarious techniques and interventions used, what signs to look forand recognise and, generally, what a director might do whendirecting a sociodrama. Short case scenarios are included todemonstrate different aspects of the work.

Key words phases of sociodrama, director-directed and group-centred warm up,enactment, exploration and analysis, protagonist-centred and group-centredsociodrama, the system-as-it-is, systemic statements, the critical moment,sociodramatic question, integration phase, sharing, articulating the learning.

IntroductionWhile a sociodramatist may never actually direct a group sociodrama,there is considerable learning to be had from a well directed enactment.This article takes the reader step by step through the production of asociodrama. The various techniques and interventions are described asare what signs the director might look for and recognise and, generally,what they do when directing a sociodrama. There are three distinctsections which focus on:

1. Agreeing on aims and objectives: identifying the purpose of thesociodrama

2. Planning a sociodrama: deciding how to use Morenian methods toachieve your goals

3. Conducting the session: what the director pays attention to in asociodrama

Agreeing on aims and objectivesThe first step is to work out the purpose of directing a sociodrama in thespecific context in which you are working. Generally, there are two maincontexts. Firstly, someone asks you to do some work in theirorganisation or community group; your starting point is what theorganisation wants to achieve. The second context is when you offer aworkshop and so define the purpose; this will be based on who you wantto attract and what you want to achieve. Once your purpose isestablished you can go straight into the planning phase. However, thisnext section explores the processes of negotiating with a clientorganisation.

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Negotiating the brief

Before planning a sociodrama, the director has to meet with the clientorganisation to take the brief and work out a contract. The organisationwill describe the context and what they want to achieve; on discussionthis gets refined so that you, the director, have a workable contract. Thisis one where you both know what is expected and where there is a goodchance of success, taking into account the context, the relevance of theissue, the people who need to be involved, their willingness to addressthe issue and the learning required. The contract you reach with themmust also be one that the intended participants can support otherwise itwill need to be adjusted or renegotiated when the group meets.

During the discussion I am assessing whether a sociodrama will achievewhat is being asked. The most crucial question for a director is: “What isthe objective of doing a sociodrama on this topic with this group ofpeople?” It is here that the working assumptions I make about whatsociodrama is and how it works influence whether it can be effectivelyused with this group. A second question is “Will participants warm up tovaluing action-insight from their experience of the social system as it is?”This indicates whether they are likely to mobilise their own spontaneity tointervene in that social system and reconfigure it. The third question is“What is the sociodramatic question?”

Case scenarioAt a meeting with the manager at a large engineering workshop Ilearn that team dynamics in the senior team keep getting boggeddown in recrimination and blame. The brief is to clarify roles andcommunication in the team. As a sociodramatist I picture the systemsurrounding the team and imagine who might be involved and whatconsequences might be. I ask the manager if the team dynamics arehaving an effect on the way the maintenance workshop operates andon their customers and if this too is part of the brief. “I hadn’t thoughtof that, but yes” is the reply. So the brief is expanded beyond thesenior team. When I picture what it would be like to set out the keyplayers and customers in the system and have them interact I realiseI need to find out a bit more about their business. For example, whatongoing issue really gets the team dynamics polarised aroundrecrimination and blame. As the meeting progresses I further refinewhether a sociodrama will serve their needs.

Once there is a workable contract in place, the director can start to planfor the session and explore how best to achieve the outcome andconsider whether sociodramatic enactment is appropriate or not in thiscontext and for this contract.

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Planning a SociodramaThere is a structure to a sociodrama that is similar to enactments in allMoreno’s applied methods. The sociodrama typically unfolds in asequence of four phases from the warm up to the integration of learning,as seen in the diagram. This diagram assists both in planning and in theconduct of the sociodrama (see diagram 1 below).

Diagram 1: The four phases of a sociodrama

It is not possible to plan much beyond the warm up phase because thedrama will be a co-creation. However, the director pays particularattention to getting the warm up right so that the objectives can be met.The director plans the initial events in order to create a positiveenvironment and sustain a suitable warm up to doing the work of thegroup. The director builds the warm up around the work focus of thegroup, the degree of warm up, how people will hear about the session,the roles to evoke in participants, the language to use and thesociodramatic question.

Close of action

Move to action

1

2

3

FurtherEnactment:Analysis andexploration

InitialEnactment:

Setting out andmobilising the

system

Conclusion:Integration

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The WarmUp

Focusing thegroup

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Warm Up (Phase 1) the director is concerned with heightening theattention of group members on those things that are relevant to thepurpose of the group. Some of the warm up occurs prior to the sessionand some occurs at the beginning of the session itself.

Initial Enactment: setting out and mobilising the system (Phase 2)the action begins. Those involved in the sociodrama, the stakeholders,are ‘brought onto’ the stage using auxiliaries and the system is set out.Group members see how these stakeholders interact. This continues todeepen the warm up in the participants.

Further Enactment: analysis and exploration (Phase 3) in which theparticipants make an analysis of the system. The group members drawon their spontaneity and enter the surplus reality of the enacted system.The enactment takes on a life of its own and the unexpected can andoften does emerge before our very eyes. At a suitable point the directorends the enactment.

Conclusion: Integration (Phase 4), here the group members makesense of what happened, what was learned and how this might apply totheir everyday lives. The session concludes although integration of theexperience continues afterwards.

Conducting the sociodrama sessionIn this section the phases are expanded upon and explored from thedirector’s perspective.

Warm Up (Phase 1)At the beginning of the session the director builds on the warm up whichbegan prior to the session. They link participants together and warm upgroup members to their purpose for being there and how they will worktogether.

The director gives an introduction which frames the session and outlinesthe sociodramatic question. They conduct the warm up phase so thatmembers are engaged and warmed up fully to the work they are there todo. The warm up phase can be done either as a director-directed warmup of structured and sociometric activities towards a specific presentingissue or through a group-centred warm up where the director identifiesthe issue or theme from participants’ interests or concerns. Once thegroup has a unified focus and the warm up to purposeful action issufficient the group moves into an exploration of the issues.

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Case scenarioIn organisations I typically conduct a director-directed warm up toemphasise the purpose and orient the group to working together.With 60 leaders of a large utility company focusing on leadershipchallenges we enacted a short sociodrama about a situation thatfaced a typical manager. This session followed work on theirleadership charter, what it meant and on the values they wanted tocarry forward into the next phase of the organisation. The purposewas carried in the sociodramatic question “How can we bettermanage conflicting pressures so that our leadership is based on ourvalues”.

In this phase it is helpful for the director to stay aware of• Managing the warm up so it is both personal and socially focused• Maintaining their purpose as director

Managing the warm upAfter framing the session the director works with what the participantsbring forward in the context of the purpose of the group. The directorrefines the sociodramatic question so that there is a clear group focus.The point is that the director manages the level of warm up so it iscongruent with the group purpose.

Case Scenario

In the example of the utility company the level of work is with themas leaders. There is a social focus on them as leaders in theirorganisation and a personal focus in the situations they face. In thewarm up they discussed in pairs a situation they faced thatchallenged their leadership and the kind of pressure they were underas they did so. In the large group a number of them spoke aboutsituations they faced. This oriented the group to the reality ofleadership and to working together. The paired discussionemphasises their personal link to the question and in the large groupthey warm up to the situations they have in common. I subsequentlyselect the scene we will enact so that it carries the social focus andthe sociodramatic question.

Sometimes individuals warm up in ways that go against the groupnorms, or contradict the group’s purpose, or something unexpectedhappens. When this occurs it is important to maintain your purpose asthe director so that the warm up phase continues and the group reachesagreement as to how the work will proceed.

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Maintaining purpose as director“Warm up is quite often incongruent. To get a congruent warm up you [thedirector] need to fill yourself with a single purpose”.

Parry (1985)

As we have seen, focusing on the sociodramatic question is a way togive the group a sense of single purpose. This is also true of the directorwho at any moment has to be able to build on what is happening in thegroup and link everything back to the work. Once clear about thesociodramatic question and how it links to the purpose of the group thedirector is less easily distracted by the range of things that occur ingroup life. It is helpful to be able, and prepared, to articulate thepurpose of what is happening at the drop of a hat. This acts as acompass and assists the director to hold the purpose as ‘magnetic north’amidst the chaos of group life, the multiple possibilities inherent in ascene and the sheer complexity of social issues. Knowing ‘magneticnorth’ helps the director assess where and how to intervene in theenactment.

Initial enactment: setting out and mobilising the system (Phase 2)Once the group is unified around a single purpose the move to actionoccurs. Often the starting point for exploring the sociodramatic questionis a scene where the social dilemma is most acutely felt. This may bethe real life situation of one of the group members. If the presentingsituation is carried by (known to) a single individual the enactment is aprotagonist-centred sociodrama. If the situation is more generallyshared across the participants then the enactment is a group-centredsociodrama (Parry 1985). This influences how the director makes themove into action and how the elements that make up the social systembeing investigated are set out. In a protagonist-centred sociodramathese elements are drawn from the individual protagonist. Theprotagonist is working on behalf of the group. In a group-centredsociodrama these elements are drawn from group members; in whichcase the group itself is the protagonist.

Setting out and mobilising the systemThe purpose of the initial enactment is to set out the system andmobilise it so that the group can experience it. The director uses the fullrange of dramatic production techniques (such as placement on thestage, interview for role, asides) to bring out and make visible thesituation as it is. Once the scene is set and the roles are clear, thedirector mobilises the system by asking everyone to act their rolesimultaneously. This is a depiction of the cultural conserve around the

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presenting issue or dilemma in the group so that the group can make ananalysis. In this phase it is important to bring out all the significantelements in the system otherwise the analysis will be inadequate and sowill any intervention into the system. These may include aspects ofsurplus reality such as absent or ‘ghost’ elements that are nonethelesspresent, for example, people who have been sacked or the ideals of along dead founder. Setting out and mobilising the system areexperienced in action. In itself the setting out of a system is a powerfulevent and contains both thought and deep feeling. However themobilisation of a complex system is often chaotic and can be daunting.Consequently, this can be experience this is the phase where manysociodrama enactments fail. The director may lose his or her nerve inholding the group long enough to experience deeply the system as awhole, especially if that experience is unpleasant or depressing.

Case scenario

In a scene about the aged care system there were participants withparents in care who found the enactment excruciating because theyfelt they could do nothing to change how aged care works. Thedirector experienced the anxiety of the group and its desire to moveon but did not do so. By holding the group at this point and askingparticipants to stay in touch with their responses to the whole systemthe group was faced with its despair at changing large bureaucraticsystems. Only when the depth of feeling was acknowledged at agroup level could the group mobilise its spontaneity andresourcefulness to address issues in a way that was enabling.

Initial impatience with enactment and the speed with which blame ispassed to someone else are some of the restrictive solutions that maybe enacted by group members to avoid the discomfort. One ofMoreno’s operating principles is that group members experience thesocial system as-it-is in order to mobilise the spontaneity and creativityneeded to begin healing, learning or generating options for change.

If the director sets out limited aspects of the system as a whole, thisreduces the ability of the group to get in touch with their hopes and fearsabout the situation. Consequently, this will skew the group’s ability torelease creativity and spontaneity into creating enabling solutions.Sociodrama offers a method of experiencing both hopes and fearsdeeply enough to apply these life processes to larger social issues – aslong as directors can hold their nerve. This involves the director holdingonto their role in the face of the potential chaos of the mobilised system,the sheer unpredictability of what might emerge and the disturbance of

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deep and, perhaps, unwanted responses to the system and then linkingwhat is happening in the group back to the purpose for being there.

Further Enactment: analysis and exploration (Phase 3)This phase involves the analysis and exploration of the system. Thedirection of exploration depends on the analysis; but in practice theserun hand in hand. The logic of a sociodrama is clear enough. Thesystem is set out and mobilised, the group members experience thesystem as-it-is, make an analysis and then further explore the system onthat basis. The purpose of this phase is to release the group spontaneityso that group members find a new response to the situation, one whichgoes further than existing conserved responses.

The purpose of the analysis is for group members to make collectivesense of their experience of the system, understand how social forcesshape system behaviour and to develop a fresh perspective. Actuallyparticipants begin to be affected by and think about the social forces andsystemic patterns on the stage as soon as the enactment starts. Onceenough of the system as a whole is mobilised the director seeks to bringout the group’s responses to the system as-it-is. The question for thedirector is at which point to focus the group on analysis. The extent andquality of the analysis may vary but the point is that the group comes toan awareness of what is happening and what their responses to it are.They may or may not have ideas about what to do about it.

It is important that there is a collective analysis. If the group is notinvolved in the analysis then participants are less likely to warm up toworking collaboratively on an effective response to the issue. Anysubsequent exploration becomes skewed and, most likely, away fromdeep feeling. A full response to the system as a whole is part of ananalysis and is part of bringing the spontaneity of group members tobear on the group issue.

Sometimes the director may make an analysis of what the system needsand therefore only sets out that aspect of the system that fits theirconclusions. In this case the director is making a more targetedintervention consistent with ‘sociodramatic role training’. There isnothing wrong with this. It may be perfectly in tune with the purpose ofthe group and exactly what is needed.

In practice the logical sequence, outlined above, of analysis followed byexploration is not always so clear cut. Once the system is mobilised theenactment often evolves organically as group members act from their

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roles and new aspects of system life emerge. Group members respond,make their analysis on the run, bring their understanding into their rolesand a fresh interaction develops. This is all ‘grist for the mill’. Analysis isgoing on all the time; the point here is to make collective sense of whatis happening in the system. There can be several points of analysiseach followed by further exploration.

Case scenarioIn one sociodrama, after the system in an office was set out andmobilised several participants immediately began trying interventionsto address the core issue as they saw it. They had clearly formedtheir own individual analysis and were acting on it. The groupappeared interested in what might happen. As director, I followedtheir warm up and as a group we then focused on the response ofoffice members and the system as a whole to their intervention. Inthat case there was no collective analysis beforehand, we hadmoved quickly to test some interventions and learned about theoffice system as we went along. In this case, exploration first –analysis afterwards.

There is no one right way to do this. Each sociodrama director needs tofind their own way. Social systems are dynamic and individual and groupresponses do not follow a logical sequence, so the director, while clearlyholding the purpose for the group, needs to stay fluid about the way thesystem is explored.

Interventions to deepen understanding of social systemsNevertheless the loose sequence of analysis followed by furtherexploration is useful because it allows us to clarify how we deepen ourunderstanding of a social system. There are a number of interventionsavailable to the director. The first three more obviously lend themselvesto collective analysis.

1. Systemic statements2. Focusing on subgroups and their relationships3. Stop and reflect4. Continuing the enactment5. Testing the system6. Trialling interventions

1) Systemic statementsThe director creates an awareness of the culture being enacted throughthe use of systemic statements. Participants benefit from developingtheir role as systems analyst through making sense of what is going on.

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One powerful way to warm them up to their experience of the system asa whole is for the director to make systemic statements about what isbeing enacted. Group members also make their own observations ofwhat they see happening in the system. Observations take a number offorms. They may:

i) Relate to posture and distance. “There are four subgroupsstanding a long way from each other. All are facing inwards.”

ii) Name explicit behaviour, “There is a lot of glancing around butlittle contact.” “Everyone is looking for someone else to speakfirst.

iii) Name values and worldviews in different parts of the system.“This is a world in which ... suspicion is rife.” “The worldworks best when ...”

iv) Speak the unspoken. “Tension has suddenly risen. No-one isprepared to name the real issue.”

v) Link the experience in the enacted system back to theirworkplaces. “This is exactly what happens in your executivemeetings. Everyone shuts down and bitches outside themeeting.”

2) Focusing on subgroups and their relationshipsThe director can deepen the exploration by explicitly drawing out theworldview and values of significant subgroups as to how they seethemselves, others and the system as a whole. Typical questions mightinclude: “Who are you? What do you promote? What do you stand for?How do you relate to others?” This intervention brings out some of thepatterns in the group that will assist group members make a runninganalysis of what is going on.

3) Stop and reflectAt times the multiple interactions happening at once can be confusing oreven overwhelming. One way to contain this is to stop the action andhave the participants take stock of what is happening. The director canuse a series of questions to help participants to focus on what they needto develop the drama further, or in some other way link to thesociodramatic question. As participants discuss their experience theyare of course making an analysis of what is going on and clarifying theirresponse to the system.

During this discussion participants clarify their responses to the systemas it is and in so doing have made some analysis of the patterns ofbehaviour and system dynamics, perhaps deciding what interventions to

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make to reconfigure the social system or adjust the roles they havetaken. This does not always need to be expressed to the group as awhole. The action can simply continue. In this case, the next step is toset a scene in which to explore how the system responds to thesedevelopments.

4) Continuing the enactmentOnce the system as-it-is is mobilised the simplest thing for the director todo is to be curious about what is happening and produce furtherenactment. In this way the values and dynamics of the system becomemore evident. This is done using the range of Morenian dramatictechniques, such as placement on the stage, interview for role, buildinginteraction between elements of the system and creating a new scene.The central techniques of doubling, mirroring and role reversal are usedto extend awareness. However these look different in a sociodrama.

As the focus is on working with social forces, and frequently subgroups,doubling occurs when a subgroup gets together and works out their corevalues. Having a number of people enter the social role of, say, irateparents at the closing of a child care centre, allows those people toextend their experience and learn more about that world than by simplyusing a single person in the role. Likewise mirroring and role reversaloccur in entire subgroups so that the collective as well as the personalnature of the role is experienced.

5) Testing a SystemA lot can be learned about how a system operates when the systembecomes stressed. One method is for the director to introduce a crisis inorder to see how the system as a whole responds.

Case ScenarioIn a hospital scene, evidence is found that a batch of blood theyhave been using is contaminated. Subsequently, a demonstrationtakes place outside the entrance to demand change. The press andTV cameras arrive. How will the subgroups and the system as awhole respond?In a workplace restructure, the boss announces that 4 positions willbe cut and that the team should decide who will go. The staffmembers hold a meeting. “It’s just before the scheduled time, in yourroles warm up to yourself and the situation and come and take yourplace in the meeting room.”

Each of these stressors is designed to bring out more of the system’sunderlying characteristics.

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6) Trialing interventions into the system

Case scenarioA staff group decides that one intervention to solve the situation is tosend a delegation to the boss about the restructure. A new scene isset and the interaction is played out.

At this stage there is potential for learning here as it refines the issuesthe delegation need to take into account when planning to take effectiveaction. This is a similar phase to role test in a role training session.Does the group have the necessary roles to transform the social system,reconfigure it or learn how to manage it better? Such roles may emergenaturally out of the group experience or the group may want toexperiment with a variety of approaches and learn from each other. Forthe director, the choice of this intervention depends on whether this willmeet the objectives of the session. This stage is close of the actionphase of the sociodrama.

The critical momentSometimes during an enactment the unexpected emerges; a moment ofmagic, where in the controlled environment of the sociodrama, the groupproduces something so true that it captures the life of the system beinginvestigated. The director’s role is to bring this out and direct theparticipants’ attention to it. The key is to name what is happening andlink it to the purpose of the exploration.

Case scenarioAbout forty minutes into a sociodrama on bringing spontaneity backinto life in the classroom, a participant in the back of the class burstinto tears. At this point the director takes up the role of ‘socialsystems teacher’ pointing out what is significant and why.“So this is it. This is exactly what happens in schools. There is a lotof grief here and nobody seems to know what to do with it. We areall shocked. And we’re about to carry on as if nothing hashappened.”

These kinds of moments are like jewels in the life of a sociodrama if thedirector can grasp them sufficiently to anchor the whole experience backinto the life of the group. There is deep feeling and there is insight intothe system as a whole what can be crystallised into significant learning.The director links what happens in that moment to the individual andcollective concerns of the group. At that point the sociodramaticquestion again becomes a potent guide. “Yes. How can we bring lifeback into a system where we are engaged in just surviving?”

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It is possible to miss such moments but when captured and named theeffect is profound and the learning palpable. From this point thesociodrama may move into further exploration, or even trying out variousinterventions to see what might be learned about how to reconfigure thesocial forces involved.

Ending the actionThe director ends the drama when the exploration has reached its peakor after there is some action-insight related to the purpose of the dramaand the sociodramatic question. Sometimes it is not easy to tell; thisusually indicates that the level of the drama has not been very deep. Adirector has to believe that whatever happens in the enactment there issufficient learning, which is of value for participants. Part of thedirector’s role is to be confident that participants will take what they needand learn from their experience. The articulation of learning occurs inthe next phase of the sociodrama.

Conclusion (Phase 4)Following the enactment the phase of integration occurs. This bringsclosure to the piece of work and reconnects group members with eachother. It reminds of the purpose of the exploration – the sociodramaticquestion – by anchoring the experience through sharing what waslearned and their insights into the situation.

In a sociodrama the director invites a range of sharing from participantsincluding

• From their personal experience in role. “As a student I gotoverwhelmed by all the others.”

• From their experience in role about the system and social forces:As an isolated student I began to realise how important theteacher’s perception of me was. I felt trapped by my peers judgingme and no-one else realised this.”

• From themselves as a group member relating to their personal life.“While it was going on I found myself getting more resentful andrebellious. This relates to my conflict with authority figures – apattern in my working life.”

• From themselves as a group member relating to social systemsthey are part of. “As a parent I see that my school is not thatinterested in feedback. Parents like me, who are concerned aboutwhat happens in class, end up acting alone. It’s the same in myworkplace. Even when I know that I ought to tell my managerabout the effect of his decision, I hesitate because it’s too easilytaken as criticism and then dismissed as my problem to solve.”

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Although the group is the protagonist, it is helpful to bear in mind thateach participant learns as an individual. Hence learning will bemaximised when group members bring out the implications of what thesociodrama means to them and they identify their next steps. Often thisrequires extensive small group discussion to make sense of theirexperience of the system as a whole and to make action plans.Integrating learning from a sociodrama requires reflection time for eachindividual. The director must allow for this when planning the sessionotherwise the learning from the experience will be diminished.

Though this article has sought to describe the steps that a director mighttake when directing a sociodrama and what they pay attention to in eachstep, it is not meant to be prescriptive. In practice the director, whilegrounded in Morenian principles and methodology, improvises andshapes the work to suit the group and its purpose. In the end everydirector has to work with the group and its current issues in the moment.

References

Hutt, J. (2001) Exploring the Impact of Cultural Norms on Creativity atWork, Thesis, Australian and New Zealand PsychodramaAssociation.

Mindell, A. (1995), Sitting in the Fire: Large Group TransformationUsing Conflict and Diversity, Lao Tse Press, Seattle.

Parry W (1985), unpublished transcripts and papers, The TrainingPracticum (Sociodrama), The Wasley Centre, Perth WA.

Whittaker, D. and Lieberman, M. (1964), Psychotherapy through theGroup Process, Atherton Press, New York

About the authorRollo Browne is an organisational consultant, and sociodramatist basedin Sydney. He is well known for applying action methods where issuesof power, identity and peer relations are central to behaviour. Theseissues occur in team dynamics and organisational life as much as theydo in schools except the boys now wear long trousers. He runs targetedcourses in “Masterful Facilitation” and “Action Methods in Organisations”and has been on staff at the Psychodrama NSW Training Institute since1997. In the 1970’s and 80’s he taught in indigenous communities in theNorthern Territory where he first learned about the power of learningthrough action, authentic relationship and improvisation. Later he workedwith change-agents of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (1997-

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2000). He is co-author of “Boys in Schools” (Finch 1995). He is currentlyeditor of the Australia & New Zealand Psychodrama Journal and on theANZPA Executive. His sociodrama thesis is called “Towards aFramework for Sociodrama”. He continues to teach and write. He isrunning a pre-conference workshop at the BPA annual conference inLiverpool 2008.

i This article was drawn from Browne R (2006), Towards a Framework for Sociodrama, Thesis,ANZPA