Well-being practices in sensory performance. Well-Being, Birmingham City University.

This paper focuses on a currently unexplored area of theatre research: well-being practices in sensory performance. Several national projects have incorporated sensory techniques in order to improve well-being for the deaf and blind, to expand dissemination of research, encourage play in children who have suffered
early year‟s trauma and, for performance.
Theatre practitioners such as Enrique Vargas of Teatro de los Sentidos and Iwan Brioc of Theatr Cynefin and The Republic of the Imagination, have developed techniques from which anecdotal evidence suggests a temporary positive effect on states of well-being in participants: „An experience [...] to glance into your deeper self in order to find a solution‟ (Teatro de Los Sentidos participant, 2008). The current expansion of Immersive Theatre (which utilise sensory stimuli as part of the theatrical narrative) has received some theoretical attention. However, the potential uses of these theatres, in health and social care settings have, so far, been overlooked. This paper endeavours to contextualise these practices within a larger theatrical framework and suggest potential uses in health and social care settings for on-going sensory practice to produce continuing positive effects on well-being.