Gloria

Overview

'Gloria', is based on transcripts between noted psychiatrist and psychotherapist Fritz Perls and his iconic session with therapy client, Gloria, from the film "Three Approaches to Psychotherapy" (1964). Little is known of Gloria, not an actor but a client, she has become a mythic and fictionalised figure, decoded and continuously dissected within a film used as a teaching aid and historical archival record. In his filmed interview with Gloria, Perls demonstrates Gestalt therapy techniques. A term he coined, 'Gestalt therapy', is an existential, experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation. The voices mediated through the body of the performer are caught in an opaque, intriguing and morally uncertain looping dynamic.