Theatre and Therapy: a rapid review of related literature

The available literature on/around theatre and therapy is increasing necessary so as to provide readers/scholars with up-to date resources. This literature, though readily available and accessible to most western countries, its availability to the Cameroonian scholars is still a problem. This review is aimed at providing the state of the art to researchers in the domain of theatre-related therapy in Cameroon so as to enable them, have a fundamental base on which to build and develop their arguments. This is necessary as more interest is manifested by young scholars who are developing concern on issues of therapy. This is a timely concern considering that, many more Cameroonians are
suffering from mental health issues and less is done with regards to the development of remedies. Theatre-related therapies are some of the alternative therapeutic modalities that can be used by Cameroonians to provide assistance to mental health patients. The paper follows a systematic review process and highlights various key and ground-breaking researches carried out on/around this area and shows that, if it is effectively applied, theatre and therapy become two sides of the same coin. This narrows the gap that has long existed between arts and health.

Keywords: Theatre, therapy, mental health, therapeutic theatre.