Mapping The Potential of Interactive Drama Techniques in the South African Workplace: Playing is not always about making a Play

This study explores Applied Drama in the Workplace (ADW) as a process-based methodology for organisational learning, communication, and transformation within South African contexts. Responding to limited academic engagement with drama-based interventions beyond the educational and entertainment sectors, it investigates how Applied Drama principles can address complex workplace challenges rooted in South Africa’s socio-historical, cultural, and linguistic dynamics. The central research question asks: What is the potential for Applied Drama methodologies and practices to address complex workplace challenges in South African organisational contexts? Positioned as a pracademic inquiry, the research employs a qualitative, interdisciplinary desktop analysis that synthesises international and local literature, practitioner documentation, and case studies to map the conceptual, contextual, and practical terrain of ADW. It situates ADW at the intersection of Human Resource Management (HRM) and Applied Performance Studies, arguing for its legitimacy as both a pedagogical and organisational development framework. Findings reveal that ADW functions as both a methodology and a mindset, offering a participatory framework through which organisations can rehearse change before it happens. By integrating reflection, play, and dialogue, ADW fosters inclusive learning environments that challenge hierarchies, build empathy, and cultivate adaptive, creative cultures. The study further argues that terminological consistency and ethical, culturally responsive facilitation are essential to establishing ADW’s credibility within corporate learning and development structures. Facilitation emerges as a central determinant of impact, requiring reflexive neutrality that actively redistributes power and co-creates meaning within diverse teams. While limited by its desktop scope and absence of primary fieldwork, the study contributes a comprehensive theoretical foundation for future empirical inquiry. It positions ADW as a credible, context-sensitive approach to organisational transformation in South Africa; bridging artistic practice and corporate development through participatory, embodied processes. The study concludes that Applied Drama’s transformative potential lies not in performance but in presence: creating spaces where individuals and teams learn through doing, reflect through embodiment, and transform through shared experience.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Bruwer, Frances Charlize

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brand, Amelda

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135649

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135649