T: Forum Theatre: Raining Method

TRAINING METHOD: FORUM THEATRE
1. Social and pedagogical background
To properly understand the Forum theatre origins and development, a quick overview
to the Theatre of the Oppressed is needed.
The Theatre of the Oppressed is a theatrical approach using different theatrical forms
and techniques elaborated by the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal. All these
forms were meant to be practiced by and for the oppressed people, to help them to
fight against their oppressions and to
transform the society that engendered
Music is the organization of sound in
those oppressions. These theatrical forms
time; plastic arts, the organization of
revealed to be powerful tools to denounce
colors and lines in the space; theatre,
oppression, racism, sexism and all kinds of
the organization of human actions in
discriminations.
time and space. Theatre is a
representation and not a reproduction
Boal presented the Theatre of the
of social reality.
Oppressed in Brazil around the 60s, in a
social climate characterized by workers
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
and peasants struggles. Originally, in fact,
this method was used to make people
aware of the social conflicts. In its transfer to Europe, the Theatre of the Oppressed
was used more and more to work on the personal conflicts, with the purpose to find
strategies to solve social and relational problems.
The Theatre of the Oppressed intended to activate the audience, putting the spectator
in the centre of the working piece; representing different aspects of the reality, this form
of theatre gave its audience the possibility to explore possible solutions and propose
real changes.
Forum Theatre is one of the possible techniques used in the Theatre of the Oppressed.
2. How the method works

The actors perform a scene with a scripted core. The scene must necessarily show a
situation of oppression, that the protagonist does not know how to fight. In this initial
scene everything goes wrong, but it is important that the mistakes are neither over-thetop. The situation should be presented in a way that everyone can say this is not good,
but it could happen to me.
Between the actors and the audience there is the Joker. He is a kind of facilitator, who
helps the audience in the Forum process. After the scene is performed, the Joker asks
what did you see? People react because they recognized the scene from their own
practice, and they saw a lot of things going wrong.
After this, the actors rehearse the scene: at any point during this second performance,
any spect-actor may call out "stop!" and take the place of the actor portraying the
oppressed individual. This practice is not intended to show the correct path, but rather
to discover possible paths which may be further examined.
Augusto Boal presenting a workshop

on the Theatre of the Oppressed in New York City.
Riverside Church, May 13, 2008.
3. Educational implications
Forum theatre is an effective technique to work on personal conflicts, mainly in the
social and relational fields.
The spectators learn much more from the enactment, even if done in a fictional
manner, since it stimulates the practice of the art in reality. Forum Theatre evokes a
desire in people to be proactive, since they feel much more prepared and confident in
resolving conflicts which might be encountered in the real life.
The audience is encouraged to actually practice a change, to reflect collectively on the
suggestions, to direct the course of the play: a sense of empowerment is bestowed
upon the audience.
Some basic rules:
The primary rule is that you can only jump in on the protagonists role. He is the one
with the problem and represents the audience.
The whole process is designed to be dialectic, coming to a conclusion through the

consideration of opposing arguments, rather than didactic, in which the moral
argument is one-sided and pushed from the actors with no chance of reply or
counter-argument.
There is never a solution to a problem: the Forum scene is rehearsing for real life,
so never let you seduce yourself into playing the scene as is should be. People
always ask for that, but that is not the aim of a Forum scene.
When you want to make people more knowledgeable, first identify things you want
them to learn. After that, use the Forum scene to make that information operational.
When preparing a Forum scene, discus with the actors what kind of solutions the
audience will propose. Try to find out how the actors can react to them, but also
how they can frustrate the solution. Dont make it too easy for the audience.
Your first forum scene can be 5-10 minutes. The whole performance (including all
the aspects mentioned above) can be 30 minutes. That is enough and will give you
a lot of opportunities to discuss all kind of problems with your audience.
The Joker is a main figure in this technique: it is a neutral party at the centre of
proceedings, acting as a facilitator, taking responsibility for the logistics of the
process and ensuring a fair proceeding. The Joker never comments upon or
intervenes in the content of the performance.
The term Spect-actor describes the dual role of the audience as spectators and
actors, as they both observe and create action in any performance, thus preventing
the isolation of the audience. The spectators no longer delegate power to the
characters to think or act in their place. They think and act for themselves.
References:
1. Augusto, Boal (1993). Theater of the Oppressed, p. 132-133. New York: Theatre
Communications Group. ISBN 0930452496.
2. www.theatreoftheoppressed.org

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TRAINING METHOD: FORUM THEATRE

1. Social and pedagogical background

2. How the method works

Augusto Boal presenting a workshop

The whole process is designed to be dialectic, coming to a conclusion through the

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