“Citizens are not those who live in
society, they are those who transform it”
Augusto Boal
What
is Forum Theater?
Forum Theatre is a form
of interactive theatre developed by the late Brazilian theatre director,
Augusto Boal, as part of his ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. Forum Theatre empowers
the audience to actively explore different options for dealing with shared problems
and motivates them to make positive changes in their own lives.
In Forum Theatre, an
audience is shown a short play in which a central character (protagonist)
encounters an oppression or obstacle led by an oppressor (antagonist), which
s/he is unable to overcome. The theme of the piece will usually be something of
immediate relevance to the audience, often based on a shared life experience.
When the play has been performed, members of the audience can take to the stage
and replace the protagonist, acting out alternative paths and decisions. The
‘Joker’, a member of the Forum group, leads the discussion with the audience
and facilitates the interaction between audience and actors. The aim is not to
discover the ideal solution, but to encourage the audience to analyse the
situation and to try out strategies for countering oppression. The format
encourages a positive and thoughtful approach to social problems. The actors
explore the results of these choices with the audience, creating a kind of
theatrical debate in which experiences and ideas are rehearsed and shared, generating
solidarity and empowering them to generate social change.
Introduction to Forum Theatre Workshop
TIME: 2hrs
Following preparatory games are suggested only as examples. It’s
up to the FT practitioners to adapt them according to the concrete educational
context and needs
1. Head-to-Toe Physical Warm-Up
2. Glass Cobra
Objectives:
•
To help break down physical barriers;
•
To encourage co-operation and negotiation;
• To begin exploring sensory work.
Ask the group to stand in a circle. Invite
participants to place their hands on the shoulders of the person to their
right. Explain that, keeping their eyes closed, they should begin to explore
the shoulders, neck and back of the head of the person in front of them. Take
participants out of the circle, one by one, and place them randomly around the
room, still with their eyes closed. When all the participants have been placed
around the space, ask the group to re-form the original circle. Everybody must
feel their way through the space in silence; encountering each other carefully
until eventually, the circle is re-formed. Only then can the participants open
their eyes again.
3. Duels
Objectives:
• To start exploring
conflict, vulnerability and power.
Divide the group into pairs. Ask each pair to face one
another and place their hands on their own knees. They must ‘duel’ and try to
score points by touching the knees of their opponent (their weak spot). To do
this they will need to take their hands off their own knees, thus leaving
themselves vulnerable to ‘attack’. As the duels continue, build up the tension
and competitiveness by calling, “First person to 3 is the winner”, or, “Next
point wins”.
Variation:
Divide
the group into different pairs. Ask each pair to face one another, placing one
hand behind their back with the palm facing out, and turning their other hand
into a ‘sword’ with the index finger being the tip. They must ‘duel’ and try to
score points by touching the palm of their opponent (their weak spot) with the
tip of their sword. As the duels continue, build up the tension and
competitiveness by calling, “First person to 3 is the winner”, or “Next point
wins”.
Useful Questions for
Feedback
• How did it feel to win/lose?
• Did your partner overpower you?
• Did you get carried away with the
competitiveness?
• How did you celebrate winning?
***
4. Columbian Hypnosis
Objectives:
• To begin to explore Image Work;
•
To continue exploring emerging scenes, characters and relationships
•
To continue exploring the themes of power, control and manipulation;
•
To continue exploring the themes of power, control and manipulation in
discrimination.
Divide
the group into different pairs and ask participants to decide who is A and B.
Explain that A is the hypnotist, and begins by placing their hand a few
centimeters in front of B’s face. B must maintain this distance at all times
and react when A moves their hand. A should try to manipulate B into all sorts
of positions (without it becoming unsafe). The movement should be continuous
and not too repetitive. As the movements progress, they may start to move
through the space.
Ask each pair to swap over and let B
lead A.
Progression
• Invite half the participants to step
out and watch the rest of the group working, then swap over.
• Divide participants into groups of 3
or more to explore the impact of leading people whilst also being led yourself.
• Add music to the exercise.
Useful Questions for Feedback
•
What was it like being the hypnotist/being hypnotised?
•
What was it like having ‘power’ over your partner?
•
Did you get carried away with being the hypnotist at any time?
•
Did any stories or relationships emerge with your partner(s)? • Did any stories
or relationships emerge as you were watching others?
•
How did the emerging stories and relationships relate to issues of equality and
discrimination?
***
5. Image of the World
Objectives:
•
To explore Image Work;
•
To explore themes of Forum and Oppression;
•
To explore the themes of equality and discrimination as specific forms of
oppression;
•
To create a forum for debate with the audience when discussing the images.
Divide
participants into groups of 5/6 and ask one of these groups to volunteer to go first.
Invite this group to stand in a line and invite the rest of the participants to
form an audience in front of them. Ask each person in the volunteer group to
step forward, one by one, to strike a pose. These 5/6 individual poses will
form one overall image. Invite the audience to discuss the image.
Once each group has had
an opportunity to create an image, return to the first volunteer group. Repeat
the exercise, but this time give the group a word related to oppression or
discrimination and ask them to respond to this word when creating their image.
Give each group a different word to show and invite the audience to interpret
what they see. Begin by asking the group for broad interpretations of the
images and progress to more specific interpretations.
Examples
of image words: Conflict, Family, Defeat, Difference,
Minority, Outsider Struggle, Intervention, Support, Bravery, Pressure, Hope,
Oppression, Discrimination.
***
6. Bus Scenario
Objectives:
•
To explore the mechanics of Forum Theatre;
•
To practice interventions;
•
To encourage audience discussion;
•
To explore the role of the Joker;
•
To explore in detail the roles of the protagonist, antagonist and other actors
in the Forum piece;
•
To explore the objectives of the actor in the piece in relation to
interventions and how ‘difficult’ they make it for the people intervening;
•
To explore the concept of ‘Magic’. Explain to the group that you will set up an
improvised Forum piece. Set out a few rows of empty chairs that recreate the
lay-out of a bus.
Ask for 2 volunteers to take on the
roles of the antagonist (male) and the protagonist (female). Explain that you
will be the Joker and the rest of the group will be the audience. Inform the
group that the scene is the top floor of a late night bus.
Brief the 2 volunteers as follows, and
then ask them to improvise the scene:
• The bus is empty except for the
protagonist.
• The protagonist has no mobile phone.
• The antagonist enters and despite
all the empty seats, chooses to sit beside the protagonist. Once the volunteers
have established this scene, as Joker, ask the audience to assess the
situation.
Brief the volunteers that as the scene
develops, the antagonist will display inappropriate behaviour to the
protagonist (e.g., invasion of personal space, various forms of intimidation
and acting in a ‘creepy’ or offensive way), and ask them to improvise the
scene. To deepen the exploration of issues of equality and discrimination the
intimidation/ offensiveness can also be based around gender, race, sexuality,
social background etc. If the protagonist chooses to go out of the bus, the
Joker can set out the driver’s place of the bus and ask a member of the
audience to play the driver. If neutral characters, such as the driver, are
introduced, it is important to discuss how ‘difficult’ these actors can be in
relation to audience interventions. It is key for the group to understand that
there are no easy solutions to oppression/ discrimination, and that neutral
characters should make it difficult but not impossible for an audience member
to make a positive intervention.
Continue to assess the developing
situation with the audience. Depending on how the scene plays out, decide (as
the Joker) when the time is right to ask the audience to intervene and replace
the protagonist. Invite a member of the audience up to replace the protagonist
and ask them to continue improvising within the brief to improve the situation.
Continue to invite interventions from
the audience, discussing the impact of each intervention with the group, until
the audience consensus is that the situation has improved. If any of the
interventions are beyond the boundaries of reality (e.g., a person magically
produces a phone or something quite unrealistic happens), the Joker, or a
member of the audience, can call, “Magic”. If the rest of the audiences agree
that the intervention was ‘Magic’, the person intervening must find an
alternative approach.
7. Devising Forum
Objectives:
•
To devise a Forum Theatre piece;
•
To create a Forum Theatre experience;
•
To allow participants to experience the roles of actors and audience within a
larger Forum Theatre piece;
•
To explore the role of the Joker within a larger Forum Theatre piece.
Divide
the participants into groups of 5/6. Ask each group to choose a form of
oppression on the theme of equality that they have an interest in exploring.
While it is advised to encourage the group to identify their own experiences of
oppression as the source material for the devised Forum Theatre pieces, the
facilitator can also choose to provide the participants with scenarios that
specifically address inequality and oppression under the nine grounds of
discrimination.
Ask
the group to begin to devise a Forum piece. Check in with each group to answer
questions and ensure the groups are progressing with their task.
Allocate
a performance space and an audience space within the room where you are
working. Invite each group to present their Forum piece for the rest of the
group, who will serve as the audience. Take on the role of the Joker during the
Forum Theatre pieces.
Bibliography
Augusto
Boal and the Theater of the Oppressed
Video (Spanish): https://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/hidvl/k3j9kdf7
.
Videos (English):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sSLz5t7a5M&ab_channel=CrashCourse ;
Mecca Antonia Burns, 2007, Theater of the Oppressed. In Book: Interactive and Improvisational
Theatre: Applied Drama and Performance, Edit.: Adam Blatner
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285925110_Theatre_of_the_Oppressed
