ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relation between HRD practices and managerial identity construction through an analysis of the observations of a theatrical coaching event. The aim is to investigate the capacities theatrical training methods may provide for identity construction of managers. The analysis builds on an analogical framing of theatrical coaching as a ‘liminal space’, a state of in-between-ness in which managers, stripped of their managerial positions and responsibilities, are offered freedom to experiment with different identities through the medium of theatre. As a result, two contrasting images of theatrical coaching are portrayed: the chapter demonstrates that use of theatre as a coaching device encourages reflexivity and facilitates creativity in experimenting with different identities. The analysis however, also demonstrates that theatre may be used in rehearsing certain organisational identities, of rational members who are able to manage their emotions, make objective decisions and act with confidence and self-awareness in the face of complex, tensioned and unpredictable realities of everyday organising. The chapter thus concludes that theatre may be employed in HRD in order to regulate and construct managerial identities that contribute to the creation of a sense of control over unexpected and uncontrollable organisational life.
