Main features of Theatre of the Oppressed
Methodology
(*note-should not be confused with criteria for defining TO-which doesn’t exist)
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Is an interactive type of theatre – the public will be engaged actively and can participate in the process and become “spect-actors”;
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Tackles real life oppression in its various forms (the discussion here could be vast as very often oppression can be interpreted in endless ways and can be applied to almost all areas of life) ;
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Aims to bring along a change in relation with the specific oppression approached – mostly by empowering the oppressed and people around.
Main types of methods included under Theatre of the Oppressed umbrella (the description provided here is simplified and for sure will not provide enough understanding regarding the methods but rather give a basic idea):
Forum Theatre
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It is one of the most popular types of TO. Often in a Forum theatre performance we see a real life case depicted (which reflects a situation of oppression) and in which the public is invited to participate actively by coming on the stage to propose solutions to the exposed examples of oppression. Based on the proposals, ideas, interventions of the public, a discussion (forum) will take place with the public;
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In the long term it aims that the public will apply the proposed solutions in their real life (if the topic depicted is relevant for them);
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The process is facilitated, moderated by a Joker who makes the connection between the stage (actors) and the public;
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Being so popular, it is also one method that is being applied in an extremely large number of approaches. In the Forum Theatre section of this toolkit you will find one approach of working with the method described in detail.
Legislative Theatre
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It often follows the same structure as Forum Theatre but aims to extract ideas from the public in order to draft proposals for a law or changes in a law (at local, regional or national level);
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These events can be organized in partnership with the institutions which are responsible with taking the proposed drafts further (municipalities, local councils, schools, parliaments, etc.) or not. In the latter option the organizers follow the steps for the proposal to reach the responsible institutions.
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There is no guarantee that the ideas of the citizens will actually make it into the final version of the law.
Image Theatre
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The main characteristic of this method is that it works with body statues/postures (images) to depict aspects related to oppression in certain forms. This technique can be used as a supporting exercise in the process of development of the other methods (Forum, Legislative, Newspaper, Rainbow of Desire) or as a separate method in interaction with the public.
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Working with images also leads to a variety of approaches as it is very easy and leaves a lot of space for creativity and imagination.
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In the Image Theatre section in this toolkit you will find one approach of working with the method described in detail.
Newspaper Theatre
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The same as image theatre, it can be used as a technique –exercise for the development process of the other methods or as an independent method.
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The main characteristics are that a core source of information (which later will be used in its process) are newspapers. These can be used as inspiration or providing the main material for the outcome.
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It can aim to open a debate about the media as an oppressor (or source of manipulation) or to tackle the examples of oppression included in newspapers.
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Newspaper theatre can take diverse forms: it can be a performance, it can be exhibitions, dynamic installations etc. (it’s quite open in this sense based on how the newspapers inspire the working team).
Invisible Theatre
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It is implemented in public places (usually streets, but not only) and it’s based on a planned initial scenario which then is changed by the people from the public space (the initial scenario can have included in the planned part how to naturally engage the public);
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The action looks natural and passers-by shouldn’t realize this in fact was directed before. According to them they truly believe this is a real life situation;
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It can tackle examples of oppression that are happening in public places (but usually nobody intervenes-and in this way they are stimulated to do so) or oppression on a bigger scale from the society (in order to open a debate in this regard);
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This method has the highest level of risks for the team as the unpredictable factor is huge and therefore the preparation process is crucial;
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Some groups decide to inform the public in the end that it was a directed performance, others do not.
Rainbow of desire
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This method mainly tackles the inner oppression which exists within us from various past events and relationships;
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It has a therapeutic approach and it does not aim to be exposed to the public. It is designed mainly for a personal inner process within a trustworthy group which through different exercises (mainly based on image theatre techniques) will lead the group members to empower themselves (by reducing or eliminating the inner oppression);
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Among all the methods developed by Augusto Boal, this is the most developed methodologically – as there is a manual which specific guidelines;
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Bearing in mind the extremely personal approach of this technique it should be used with extreme care and by professionals that can handle strong emotional processes within a group.
Around the world there are various formal and non-formal educational programs (of various lengths (delivered by various institutions, organizations, theatre groups, etc.) aiming to train different professionals in TO methods (to introduce these methods or to build the capacity to apply them in their communities). This methodology is not standardized or safe guard through any coordinated system and this means that none of these available options (of education in the field) have more authority than the others. There is also the option (which many professionals pursue) to try out working with some of these techniques without participating in an educational program, and even this specific educational material will provide guidance to such individuals.
Forum Theatre Method
–presentation
Forum Theatre is the most popular form of Theatre of the Oppressed worldwide and also the oldest, as it was the first one to be experimented by Augusto Boal. Due to this popularity, very often Forum Theatre practitioners use the terminology of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) as having the same meaning as Forum Theatre when in fact TO is just an umbrella of methods and Forum Theatre is one of them.
Therefore the practitioners who picked it up filled the gaps while working with the method. While we acknowledge the importance of being flexible, adjusting to a specific context and upgrading based on the concrete experience it is important to be aware that what we call Forum Theatre around the world might refer to very different things (even if at its core, hopefully, it tackles oppression of some sort).
In A.R.T. Fusion Association we have been working with Forum Theatre from 2004 and in all these years we have transformed the method that was originally transferred to us, based on our experience in Romania and abroad (on 3 continents). The transformation aimed always to maximize the impact among the public and to make it easier for the volunteers to learn and become independent Forum Theatre practitioners.
In this chapter we want to introduce Forum Theatre as we use it, as we train our multipliers and how it has been used in all our projects with more than 5000 beneficiaries along the years. From the beginning we want to warn the readers who are familiar with Forum Theatre that in the following pages they might discover details and aspects of Forum Theatre that they might not agree with, or are (very) different from what they know. They might call it the A.R.T. Fusion approach or just another Forum Theatre approach. We certainly desire more and more practitioners to use it, that’s why we created this very specific methodological toolkit.
