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FIRST CYCLE CATHEXIS - the use of objects in creating meaning and gaps: Different types of objects were used in various ways through the first cycle to enhance our understanding of their possible further implementation. Cooper states that DEs happen when objects are “deconstructed by cathexis and decathexis”. He explains that “this process charges/imbues the object with meaning (and energy) and value that extend beyond the thing itself and penetrate ideologically-given meanings in order to reveal to us what was previously concealed”. I will analyse the possibility of using Cathexis in LTD in this section. One of the objects structured into the full first series was the teddy bear of Joe. The central image for structuring the lessons was a moment from the Bond play where the boy whacks the large size doll with bricks. I used a teddy bear instead as it carries similar meanings and is recognisable for participants. After building the space together I shared this moment as a scene, we talked about it briefly and then participants were invited to continue the scene. It was discussed in the focus group as well, participants referred to the teddy after a discussion started about people having “two selves” inside them, that is why they can be cruel and loving at the same time. One participant talked about the teddy to explain how Joe felt after burning the house. “It was the guilt coming out of the teddy bear. Well not the teddy but him. He was feeling guilty. And afraid. He was afraid of what will happen if anyone finds out”. The object offered a framework for making meaning. The moment referred to happened in a group improvisation, it was the participants’ reading of the situation. Earlier in the drama there was possibility for the participants to use the object when they could continue the scene of whacking the teddy with the brick, discussed earlier. There the participants said that he was trying to kill it even though it is painful for him, because he was being teased for sleeping with a teddy at his age.” He was hitting the teddy but it was hurting him to do it. The action of hitting the teddy with a brick is something unexpected and a sharp action, it changes the value of the teddy, it is cathexed, and this opens a gap for interpreting what this unusual action means. Participants were aware of the contradiction within the role of Joe, but not able to explore it further in action, instead they showed different possible narrative lines of continuation of the situation in a demonstrative acting mode. This is understandable, as they had no reason to think that the aim of the scene was to deconstruct 62% Cooper: Making a World of Difference, 44. ou. F Gl. 62 V2 GI. + 193 +
