Theatre Of the OppressedUsing Theatre for Community Mobilization

and Advocacy

Christie Wall

Theatre of the Oppressed Pedagogy of the

Oppressed Community

development Dialogue and

action on relevant social issues

Spect-actors Acting alternatives

and resistanceImage from www.studio34yoga.com

Augusto Boal

Created TO Brazilian actor Response to dictatorship in Brazil Image from: www.guardian.co.uk

Strategies

Encourage critical thought about social conditions

Acting for social change

Spectacle to engagement

Blurs reality and fiction

Image From: theforumproject.org

Invisible Theatre Rehearsed play which occurs in public Audience does not know it is rehearsed Brings dialogue to public spaces Generally disrupts a social norm Theatre graffiti and product placement Example: Men in women's clothing

Forum Theatre

Creation of the play Role of the Joker First run-through Audience participation

Image from: firehallartscentre.ca

Who is the Joker?

A neutral party: deck of cards Strong facilitation skills Enforces theatre's rulesImage from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nac-cna/3467942749/

Uses of Forum Theatre for Public Health

Enable public dialogue Facilitate understanding of complexity Rehearse alternatives and solutions Making 'public health' public

Legislative Theatre: Theatre Making Policy

An extension of Forum Theatre Theatre becomes a way of conducting politics Instead of practicing individual responses, the

interventions come through laws Augusto Boal used Legislative Theatre to create

13 laws while he was city councillor in Rio De Janeiro

Resources

Boal, A. (1974). Theatre of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press.

Boal, A. (2002). Games for actors and non-actors (2nd ed). New York: Routeledge.

Diamond, D. (2007). Theatre for living: The art and science of community-based dialogue. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing.

Headlines Theatre (no date). Theatre for living. Retrieved from: http://headlinestheatre.com/

The Forum Project (2013). The Forum Project: creative tools for creating change. Retrieved from: http://theforumproject.org/whatisto/