ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a background to the connections between play, play therapy and dramatherapy. Play therapy has been established as a distinct modality with clear professional boundaries. For children who come to therapy, it is not the only arena where play can be offered therapeutically. The drama therapy research discussed attempted to address a ‘gap in the body of knowledge’ identified as an absence of theorised understandings of change in drama therapy. In a qualitative study, play therapists were asked about their use of toys. These include drawing materials such as paper, crayons, felt-tips and paints, clay and sand. Practitioners who are based in community teams appear to use materials that are easily transported. Books and jigsaws are commonly described, as are glove puppets, dolls, teddies and dolls’ houses. Debra Colkett is a drama therapist who worked with children who had recently survived the tsunami in 2005.
