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FORUM THEATRE PROJECT / RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT
FORUM THEATRE PROJECT ro / eng
FORUM THEATRE AS A VEHICLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND ACTIVE INTERCESSION
PARTICIPATORY THEATRE AS AN ALTERNATIVE PEDAGOGY
We function and behave in a system and we use an environment that engages us to develop a continuous reset of our own identity as well as the reactions to that environment. This is why questions like, “how do we need to act in a specific situation?”, “how do we learn to accommodate our answers to the everyday challenges?”, and “how can we give a positive answer to a negative urge?” will always be topical and problematic.
The question “how do we learn” has found an answer in the last 40 years in the exceptional works of Paulo Freire and he’s well known as the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. His teachings are based on dialog; on that strong belief that dialog is the unifying vehicle among people and a healthy approach to communication. In the absence of dialog but in the presence of monolog, the oppression might arise. Using a participatory learning where the student learns from their teacher and the teacher learn from their student, demands a process of mutual transformation which stimulates critical thinking and awareness.
The question “how do we act” could find its answer in the practical approach of the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” which is the “Theatre of the Oppressed”; a participative method of social action. Theatre of the Oppressed was invented in the late 60s by the Brazilian stage director Augusto Boal as a tribute to Paulo Freire. Based on his belief that theatre embodies a process of sharing and participation empowered by meaning and aim, following an inexhaustible process of research in active and mutual communication, Augusto Boal developed several techniques: Imagine Theatre, Forum Theatre, Invisible Theatre, and Legislative Theatre.
Led by an oppressive politic and social background, his efforts consisted in establishing a dialog between audience and stage with the aim of exploring the real needs of his community. More than that, he knew that a critical thinking is needed for developing solutions and the oppressed have to start reflecting on their own needs. This is how theatre became the vehicle of active social change. Theatre of the oppressed is basically a form of rehearsal designed for people who want to learn ways of fighting against oppression in their daily lives. The theatrical act by itself is a conscious intervention, a rehearsal for social action based on a collective analysis of shared problems of oppression (Boal).
Forum theatre – as an educational tool - redound to people in order to change their own world. Cultural intervention as pedagogy for youth and adults enables exploration and a creative understanding of the civic behaviour; it is an important tool for developing seamless communities and to help the target group to understand its role in the society and its own needs.
The spectators of Forum Theatre become activated public “spect – actors” (Augusto Boal). They become creators of a new scenario and at the same time, actors and protagonists of their own collective screenplay.
Short description of a Forum Theatre play
Forum Theatre is a theatrical game in which a problem is shown in an unsolved form to which the audience is invited to suggest and act out solutions. The problem is real but the characters are fictional. The protagonist – the oppressed – is subjected to oppression. After the play, the joker – the moderator of the game – has a conversation with the public in which he or she explains the rules of the game. From this point, spectators are invited to become actors and to find solutions for the unsolved problem. The play starts again and the spectators need to butt in and change the course of events. The initial actors have to make everything hard for the new actors, so they can understand that changing takes time and action. In the end, with the participation of the rest of the spectators, the screenplay will be modified to a better, desirable shape, and the oppressed will be helped to solve its problems. The public have to understand that only action can change the world.
Mousetrap
Let’s remember how Hamlet succeeded in revealing his father’s murderer: he set a play which by resembling the real events, stimulated the self exposure of guilt. In this case, Theatre is the key to exposure, demonstration, identification and revelation.
More than that, I would say that Forum Theatre can help the group in the same way that Psychodrama helps the individual. By Psychodrama, the person is assisted by the audience in order to uncover themselves and find solutions for their problems. Through Forum Theatre the group is assisted in the same intercession.
The object of this workshop
The participants will learn to detect their community’s problems and to solve them in a creative manner, using theatre as a trap against visible and invisible oppression. They will learn to act responsibly and become the voice of their groups. Also they will be able to teach other people how to use theatre as a social and cultural tool.
It is a practical and theoretical workshop. We will use exercises inspired by Augusto Boal, theatre games, improvisation, energisers, etc. Also we will set together a Forum Theatre play.
Workshops Helded
FORUM THEATRE / „Oppression and Woman in Society” – Arizona State University, Pheonix, USA, October 2008
FORUM THEATRE / „Social Change and Education” – Art Forum Fest – Unconventional Theatre Festival, Iasi,2008
FORUM THEATRE / „Social Change and Education” - Underground Theatre Festival, Arad, 2008
FORUM THEATRE / „Social Change and Education” - Cancer Society, Cluj Napoca, 2008
FORUM THEATRE / „General Aspects on Forum Theatre” – Every Day Drama Project, UBB, Faculty of Theatre and Television, Tg. Jiu 2007
FORUM THEATRE / „Racism, Education and Social Change” - Art Fusion Bucuresti and European House of Arts, Sibiu European Capital of Culture 2007
FORUM THEATRE / „General Aspects on Forum Theatre”, open seminar, UBB, Faculty of Theatre and Televison, Cluj Napoca, 2007
FORUM THEATRE / „Guest-stop”, partner Art Fusion, Lugoj, Romania, 2007