FORUM THEATRE
Evolution, Development, and Relevance of
Performance is Powerful. I can still remember the goose bumps I got when I watched a performance at the Birmingham Rep Theatre in the early 2000’s. The name of the production I don’t remember or many other details, but I remember that scene. Where the main characters older brother shoots his brothers son, his own nephew with a second thought. It was payback for his brothers part on a drug deal gone wrong. What’s amazing is the impact that scene had and has continued to have on me. Theatre is impactive. It can inspire, entertain, challenge, change perspectives, enlighten, celebrate, and influence change. These are all reasons what I not only enjoy performance but have a great admiration for the art. It can change peoples lives. I am convinced if I had not been introduced to performance at the time of my life I did discover it, my life would have had a lot more challenges and painful experiences.
What it is about performance that has the ability to change peoples lives, is that the audience get to see themselves in situations that the characters go through. They see the characters journey, the emotions they experience, and witness the outcome of their actions, being either good, bad, or indifferent. They have the opportunity to learn from the characters life and actions without having to go through the situation itself. You can learn a lot about the consequences of rushing into risky financial deals by watching the scene from ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ where Walter Younger uses the family life savings on a risky deal that goes wrong. Seeing and experiencing the pain that he and his family go through is likely to influence any hasty decisions a person might make in their financial dealings .
Theatre through realistic characters, and scenarios can impact an audience for a lifetime. Needless to say I’ve never been tempted to sell drugs.
Forum Theatre is a style of theatre that is designed specifically to create change in the lives of the audience. Either in attitude or actions.
Forum Theatre is theatre that includes the audience in determining the outcome of the actual performance. During the performance the audience are given the opportunities to change the outcome of a certain character, characters or the world of the characters. Representing that if it is possible for them to create a change in this real life scenario, then maybe it is also possible for change to be made in actual life.
The origins of Forum Theatre are found in Brazil 1970s, Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) founded by Augusto Boal.
Boal, born 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was and is still is known as an influential theatre director, writer and politician and the founder Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal used theatre as a tool in fighting the social injustices faced in 1960‘s Brazil, particularly on political and economical issues. He staged performances where they would depict a certain type of oppression that he was accustomed to seeing at that time such as poverty, or class and racial discrimination. He’d then ask the audience for suggestions on how the outcome of the piece could be changed, ‘how to overcome the oppression.’ Initially this involved asking audience members for alternative endings or suggestions on how the character could deal with the oppression. The actors would then replay the scenes incorporating the ideas and suggestions. “Then, after an angry woman was so dissatisfied with how his actors interpreted her suggestions that she came on stage and showed them what she meant.” 1
This was the birth of the Spec-Actor. A major development in theatre where we the audience no longer just observed the action but actually participated in the performance.
Boal created Theatre where for the first time the audience had an influence on the piece. Those whom previously only seemed to be able to look on and watch, were now the main influencers of the outcome.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a dance piece where the dancers danced in the first act and in the second showed the audience how to dance? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a musical where in the first act the actors sang and in the second we all sang together?...This is...how artists should be—we should be creators and also teach the public how to be creators, how to make art, so that we may all use that art together.
--Augusto Boal, Games for Actors and Non-Actors 2
Theatre of the Oppressed was about giving the people a voice, specifically the audience. Boal empowered his audience to imagine change and to generate social action.
“Millions of people around the world have found Theatre of the Oppressed to be useful, inspiring, and sometimes, life-changing.” 3
Is what a Theatre Company in India say about the power TO has had in their communities addressing issues such as sexism, domestic violence and class discrimination.
Due to Boal’s influence among the people he drew attention as a cultural activist, which military in Brazil during the 1960′s looked upon as a threat. Resulting in which Boal was tortured and exiled to Argentina. He continued his work there and in other parts of South American, then some time later into Europe.
“Forum Theatre developed as a political protest theatre in reaction to the societal injustices in Brazil. Using these ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’ techniques when he moved to Europe, Boal demonstrated that the ‘old oppressors’ associated with the dictatorships could equally be applied to Western society, through discourses of social isolation and power, subconsciously impacting on individual freedom across all classes." 4
This was how Forum Theatre developed within Europe.
“Boal created Forum theatre as a forum for teaching people how to change their world.” 5
Theatre of the Oppressed showed that not only can theatre portray life, but it can also help give answers in how to change life. Forum Theatre is theatre that provides the audience with possible answers for challenging situations that they might find themselves in during their lifetime.
‘Act On Info’, is a theatre company that uses Forum Theatre in to help school aged children with the challenges they face as they are growing up.
“A scene is shown, usually containing some kind of oppression, for example Act On Info would show a scene during an anti-bullying drama or smoking prevention workshop showing someone being bullied or pressured by their peers. We would show this scene twice. During the replay, with younger pupils, we ask them to put up their hands when they see behaviour that they do not like, or if they see something they would not like to happen to them and the facilitator would shout stop. With older pupils they can shout stop themselves. The actors freeze at this point, we describe it like pressing pause on a DVD. We use these freezes to take a deeper look at what is going on in the scene, the facial expressions, body language and emotions of the characters in the scene. The facilitator would then ask for suggestions as to how the pupils would change the characters behaviour, and invite the pupils to take the role of the characters to see how effective their suggestions are. Different suggestions can be tried out by different pupils showing how they could change the situation to create a different outcome. This way of working breaks down barriers between the pupils and the situation – it puts them in the action. It is a great tool to enable pupils to try out different courses of actions in a safe environment that they can then apply to their own lives.” 6
This is Forum Theatre in it’s simplest form. The performance address’ a problematic scenario, which for school aged children ‘Bullying’ is very high on the list. Then the audience (which are children who are likely to relate to this situation) together come up with ideas and suggestions on how to overcome this challenge. This gives the audience a chance to see how their suggestions might play out. The audience are made part of the solution. The children themselves come up with a solution to the problem. It’s evident to see why Boal’s audiences felt so empowered and moved to action by these performances. They were literally watching themselves take action.
Forum theatre is used with all types of audiences and various challenges. From children and bullying, teens with sexual health and drug abuse issues, couples and relationship challenges, not to mention social, political, financial, racial issues, the list goes on.
As long as there is a problem a solution can be found for it, and Forum Theatre is now recognised as one of the most effective tools in doing so.
Relevance of Forum Theatre today
In life we spend probably 1/3 rd of our time working, so it’s expected that the workplace would be a probable area of challenge. Many companies have recognised how the relativity, and interactiveness of Forum Theatre can assist with addressing potential problems between work colleges.
“UKWON (UK Work Organisation Network) has developed several techniques to assess and enhance the ‘communicative competence’ of organisations. Forum theatre, in which ‘fictional’ dilemmas are used to explore situations in participants’ own workplaces, is a particularly powerful tool for stimulating reflection and action.” 7
Forum Theatre has a practicality to it. It’s not just a bit of fun or escapism, but here it demonstrates that Theatre has the ability to make a difference to the lives of everyday workers, everyday people.
UKWON highly regards the use of Forum Theatre as it highlights areas and people that have gone unnoticed, and gives employees that all important voice.
“From their engagement in this fictional setting it can be a short step to productive reflection about working practices in their own organisation and to the identification of concrete opportunities for improvement.” 8
In India the CCDC (Centre for Community Dialogue and Change) have been using Forum Theatre to for-fill their central mission of
“community building, enhancing sensitivity and understanding in human interactions, encouraging and developing critical thinking and applying the insights gained to the exploration of multiple strategies for solving problems of the community.” 9 CCDC recognise that through the medium of forum theatre they are able to accomplish these aims which will change the lives and interaction of those within their community presently and for the future.
The picture shows a CCDC Forum Theatre performance taking place in the open air. The set is nothing but a cloth on the ground, but the sheer size of the crowd indicates the impact of the piece.
Through Forum Theatre CCDC have been addressing difficult issues such as Domestic abuse. In a country such as India where the ‘cast system’ of grading people, and sexism are still very much part of the culture. CCDC have used theatre as a means to highlight this hidden, and overlooked issue, and offer solutions of how it can be changed. Potentially bettering the lives of those in the community suffering with abuse. Giving a voice to those who would previously suffer in silence.
“Theatre can go to places, and voice things, never before explored or spoken. But are often very much in need of being seen and said.” 10
This is where Forum Theatre shows it’s relevance. Whether you are a school child being bullied, an overworked employee, or a wife suffering from domestic abuse. Through the use of Forum Theatre you are not only being recognised but you are being offered a voice and shown the image of how to change your future.
Forum Theatre can be entertaining, but for myself the main purpose which I really admire about Forum Theatre is it ability to Inspire Change.
REFERENCES
1 (Aleks Sierz - The Guardian)
2 Augusto Boal, Games for Actors and Non-Actors pg...
3 http://www.ccdc.in accessed 2/01/13
10 Leon Mills http://leonmillsquotes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/quote-on-theatre.html accessed 09/01/13
Boal, born 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was and is still is known as an influential theatre director, writer and politician and the founder Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal used theatre as a tool in fighting the social injustices faced in 1960‘s Brazil, particularly on political and economical issues. He staged performances where they would depict a certain type of oppression that he was accustomed to seeing at that time such as poverty, or class and racial discrimination. He’d then ask the audience for suggestions on how the outcome of the piece could be changed, ‘how to overcome the oppression.’ Initially this involved asking audience members for alternative endings or suggestions on how the character could deal with the oppression. The actors would then replay the scenes incorporating the ideas and suggestions. “Then, after an angry woman was so dissatisfied with how his actors interpreted her suggestions that she came on stage and showed them what she meant.” 1
Through Forum Theatre CCDC have been addressing difficult issues such as Domestic abuse. In a country such as India where the ‘cast system’ of grading people, and sexism are still very much part of the culture. CCDC have used theatre as a means to highlight this hidden, and overlooked issue, and offer solutions of how it can be changed. Potentially bettering the lives of those in the community suffering with abuse. Giving a voice to those who would previously suffer in silence. 
No comments:
Post a Comment