A review of theatre interventions and mental health: inspiration, elicitation and dissemination

BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge of how theatre interventions have been deployed to address mental health issues in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Our aim was to examine the role of theatre as a research activity and explore the ways in which its research potential had been actualised in the literature, and examine the extent to which authors have addressed LMICs. METHODS: We undertook a scoping review informed by PRISMA guidelines, which yielded an initial capture of 1200 items, which was narrowed down to 21 papers, including some relevant interventions from Canada and the UK too. RESULTS: The literature demonstrates extensive experience of using theatre interventions, which used a variety of performance modalities. Theatre is used as a way of inspiring change, eliciting data from audience members and participants and as a way of disseminating public health messages or research findings. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude with observations about areas which deserve further attention, such as critical deconstruction of expert-approved health messages, or the potential of the originating radical theatrical traditions to question patterns of power and legitimacy.