Psyche: Case study

Jenny Pearson looks at how story works in a Sesame session.

Simon was a boy aged nine years living in a home. Simon had been sexually abused by his mother and often behaved violently in the Sesame Drama & Movement Therapy sessions, attacking the female therapists. He had great strength. Mary brought in a story we had never used before, which she felt might work with Simon. It was 'Cap O'Rushes' - an English folk tale that has something in common with Shakespeare's King Lear. To enable Simon to play the main part she did something we sometimes do when we use traditional tales: she transposed the sexes. The story, as she told it, went like this.

There was once a queen who had three sons. One day she called them all to her and said to the oldest, 'Tell me - how much do you love me?' The first son said, 'I love you as much as I love my life.' And the Queen said, 'That's good.'

She called her second son and said, 'How much to do you love me?' Her second son said, 'I love you more than the whole world.' And the Queen said, 'That's good.'

Then she called her youngest son and said, 'How much do you love me?' And he said, 'I love you as meat loves salt.' When she heard that she was very angry and she told him to get out of the Palace and out of her kingdom for she never wanted to see him again.

So he went away, out of the country, not knowing what he was going to do, until he came to a river where there were rushes growing by the bank. He picked some of them and made himself a beautiful hat, which he put on. He went on and came to a big palace and asked if there was any work he could do. He was told that he could work in the kitchens and that is what he did, washing up dishes and chopping up food and helping in every way he could. The other servants called him Cap O'Rushes because of his hat, which he always wore.

One day everyone was dressing up to go to a big dance. Cap O'Rushes said he was too tired to go. Then, after everyone had gone, he took off his hat and made himself smart and went along to the dance. The Princess was there and she danced with him all evening. There were two more dances and at each of them Cap O'Rushes arrived late and danced with the Princess. On the third night she gave him a ring, but he left early and was back in the kitchens before the others came home, all talking about the handsome man who had danced with the Princess.

After that there were no more dances and the Princess pined for her young man until she became ill. When she was ill she asked for some soup. Cap O'Rushes made the soup, slipped the ring she had given him into the bowl and handed it to her. She recognised the ring, he took off his hat and there was her young man, standing before her.

They were both very happy and soon a wedding was announced with Cap O'Rushes giving special instructions that the meat for the wedding feast must be cooked without salt. Among the guests at the wedding feast was the Queen, his mother. When she tasted the food she complained that it was horrible because it had been cooked without salt.

Then she remembered her youngest son and what he had said. She began to cry, saying, 'Now I understand! How cruel and stupid I've been. I sent him away for saying that he loved me as salt loves meat, but now I know that he really loved me. Oh how I wish I could find him and tell him how sorry I am.' Then Cap O'Rushes stood before her and said, 'I'm here Mother!' And she recognised him and hugged him and said, 'It's you. It really is you. I'm so sorry for what I did.'

Simon played the part of the youngest son with total concentration and a lot of feeling. As the Princess, I was charmed by him and heartbroken when he disappeared. He brought me the bowl of soup and watched eagerly as I found the ring and recognised him. Roya, who had recently joined the Sesame team, was the Queen. As she was crying at the wedding feast over the loss of her son and her own stupidity at not understanding how much he loved her, Simon stepped forward. He was at once totally in role and totally himself as he said, 'It's all right, Mum. I love you, Mum. I love you!' He flung himself into her arms and hugged and repeated over and over, 'I love you, Mum. I really love you!'

The moment was real, but it was also held in the story. We were all close to tears, but the three of us had the task of containing these powerful feelings within the drama. As the princess, I walked quietly across the room and stood close to the queen and her son. The Queen looked up, noticed me and asked gently, 'Who is this?'

Cap O' Rushes replied (without any prompting), 'This is my wife.' It was quite a formal introduction and my mother-in-law took me by the hand in greeting. The story ended with us all in role.

We needed a thorough grounding after that and Mary gave us one: all holding hands, shaking off our dramatic roles and coming back to ourselves in a circle that never once broke to admit the possibility of aggressive acts. Still in a tightly held circle we escorted Simon to the door, breaking our hold only to open the door and wave him out saying, 'See you next week!'