Management of Interventions
Usually the first intervention is rather crucial because it is the one that has to break the ice – after it the process is clearer for most of the public members, and they gather courage and more ideas to come on stage.
The Joker needs to observe the public and to see if they are about to make an intervention and also to see who claps first. If nobody is clapping the Joker can clap – so the scene freezes and they ask the public:
“Do you think something can be done in this part of the story? Who can do something different? You were mentioning before that these people can do something different? Here as well or not? Do you want to show it?” – usually people you will say yes and in this way they will feel more encouraged to come on stage.
The team can also have a volunteer (undercover) in the public that can help, coming with a small intervention just to break the ice – and then leave the process in the hands of the public. Before the person from the public goes on stage the Joker asks their name and which actor they wish to change and if it is from this specific moment of the discussion or a little bit earlier?
After each intervention the Joker needs to follow a “protocol” in order to process each idea proposed by the public. If other people want to make changes at this stage they are reminded they can show their ideas after we talk about this one now.
“Protocol” of discussion for each intervention:
The Joker asks first the person who made the intervention:
“What was your intention and what do you think you managed to achieve?”
After their answer the Joker asks for another round of applause and sends her/him back to the public. Then the Jokers asks the public:
Depending on the public’s responses there are various options:
The Joker can also ask: “In this specific situation who else can do something different?”
If public members take too much time on stage, repeating the arguments, the Joker can clap so the scene freezes and to ask the public member if he/she still wants to continue or he/she has finished what was in their mind.
The process continues to the next scenes, or maybe new scenes are created: “Now that this person is like this (…) what do you think will happen next? Where is the next moment in the story?”
The Joker can encourage the public to think about the power and the role of other people connected to the situation: “Who else can do something in this kind of situation? Is there anybody who didn’t appear on stage but we know is connected in some way with this story and can influence it? How can that person do something?” (These new people, if proposed, need to be acted out by the people that proposed them.)
The story can change, new scene can appear, new persons can be involved if the public considers so and every time they need to be reminded about their goal to prevent the oppressed from taking the bad decision and to reduce the oppression level.
Summary
“We talked today about ….., we presented an example inspired from real life, you said it also happens in your communities and we tried to explore possibilities of approaching such problems. You mentioned that in such situations person X can do this…., person Y can do this….. etc.”
The list of changes can be extracted from the public.
“How did we change the story today? Who did you change and how? Let’s list today’s outcomes …”
Transfer
“These situations are happening in your community as you mentioned before, people around you are being confronted with such problems. From our discussions and you proposals what are you going to use back in your community? What is applicable there? What do you take with you from this meeting?”
Conclusion
Closure