DRAMA
- a WAY to
social inclusion
Practical process descriptions
for drama workers

DRAMA
- a Way to Social Inclusion
Practical process descriptions
for drama workers
Jouni Piekkari (ed.)
University of Turku,
Centre for Extension Studies
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This handbook is one of the outputs of DramaWay project
(107247 - JA - 1 2002 1 FI JOINT CALL-SITG, http://www.tkk.uty.fi/dramaway).
The handbook has been done with European support.
Publications of the Centre for Extension Studies in Turku University A: 88
Cover Keijo Viljakainen
Coverphotos Ulla Halkola and Titi Lillqvist
Layout Rivico Oy, Jouni Vilhonen
Publisher Centre for Extension Studies, University of Turku
Print Dark Oy
Printing year 2005
ISBN 951-29-2882-5
ISSN 0788-7906
Sales Centre for Extension Studies
Tel. +358 2 3336280
Fax. +358 2 333 6220
kirjamyynti@utu.fi
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Contents
Drama – a Second Chance to Learn ............................................................. 5
1. Introduction ................................................................................ 9
What is Drama Way? ................................................................................ 9
2. Aims and Methods .................................................................... 12
Why to use drama as an alternative tool for learning? ....................... 12
Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive Drama ........................ 14
3. Projects in the Co-operation Countries .................................. 21
Estonia ...................................................................................................... 22
Social Theatre Festival “Spartacus” (VAT Forum group) .............. 23
Visits at Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk (VAT Forum group) ..... 27
Forum Theatre in TV Youth Program “The Fist”
(VAT Forum group) ............................................................................. 31
Using Improvisational Technique in Forum Theatre
(VAT Forum group) ............................................................................. 35
Forum Theatre Workshops in Estonia (Jouni Piekkari) ................. 39
Spain (Catalonia) ..................................................................................... 44
Clowns for Clean Clothes -Campaign (David Martínez) ................ 45
Uncovering the Conflict. Exploring Our Decisions Through Drama
(David Martínez) ................................................................................. 51
School for Parents (Jordi Forcadas) .................................................. 61
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Theatre Project with Immigrant Children of Raval
(Anna Caubet & Jordi Forcadas) ........................................................ 64
Session of Interactive Theatre (Anna Caubet) ................................. 69
Invisible Theatre with Immigrant Youth (Jordi Forcadas) ............. 71
Portugal .................................................................................................... 74
Interactive Class. Learning about Drama Literature
(Marco Ferreira) .................................................................................. 75
Youth & Job – Equality of Rights (Marco Ferreira) ........................ 80
Sonho de Amanda - Amanda´s Dream (Baal 17) ............................ 89
Finland .................................................................................................... 100
Free fall – Project in Lohja (Titi Lillqvist) .................................... 101
Photo as a Step to Drama (Ulla Halkola & Tarja Koffert) ............. 115
Arts, Educators, Communities – a Participatory Approach
(Jouni Piekkari) ................................................................................. 119
Kullervo. Social Exclusion of Youth in Mythology
(Titi Lillqvist & Jouni Piekkari) ....................................................... 130
New York, New York. Parents Making Choices Concerning
Their Careers and Children (Jouni Piekkari) ................................ 142
Aleksi. How do I know someone is using drugs?
(Jouni Piekkari) ................................................................................. 148
4. Literature on Different Genres of Drama ............................ 155
Information of the writers of the articles ................................................. 164
Appendix: Drama a Way to Social Inclusion CD .................................... 166
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Drama – a Second Chance to Learn
It is common to experience discomfort at Finnish schools and work places. Several
surveys and public discussions show that such aspects as bullying, burn-outs,
psychological violence and sexual harassment have become a significant issue in
Finland.These phenomena seem to be common also in other European countries.
The society is evidently increasingly emphasising competition, specialisation,
technical knowledge, know-how and consumption. In such a society it is more
and more difficult for human beings to interact in positive, human ways. And the
same challenges are met in family life as well.
It is visible in public discussions that parents, people working with youngsters
and educators often try to search for forums and methods to learn social skills
needed to tackle these problems. However, where are these kind of forums in
which people with various backgrounds could learn together through play: observe
their lives with open eyes; experience moments of sharing? Where could we
strengthen our communities and learn the social skills needed in that process?
Drama a Way to Social Inclusion (Drama Way) was a project by the European
Union Socrates Joint actions program. The project was started in 2002 and
concluded in the end of February 2005. It was coordinated by the University of
Turku, Centre for Extension Studies from Finland. The project has studied and
explored the use of drama as forum-based tool in four countries in Europe;
Spain, Portugal, Estonia and Finland. The basic idea of the project was to connect
participatory drama and informal learning. Participatory drama methods were
seen in project as a way to social inclusion.The utmost intention was to promote
the equality of values and active citizenship among different minority groups of
young people.
We, the active participants of the project, have explored especially the use of
drama in social exclusion of youngsters.We want to believe that drama could be
the “second chance to learn” for those who have lost their first chance in the
mainstream school system.
In Catalonia (Spain), young prisoners try to understand their decisions in life
through Shakespeare’s story of Hamlet. In Estonia, youngsters at a drug
rehabilitation centre create constructive conflicts with their parents, relatives
and drug dealers – in an imaginary drama. In Finland, 7th grade school children
learn critical awareness in drug questions - through an interactive forum theatre.
In Portugal, children from isolated schools in the countryside are learning social
skills through allegoric drama stories and self-expression exercises. In Finland,
the secrets of sexuality are revealed and shared through world-famous fairy
tales; the pre-Christian Finnish myth of Kullervo has been a tool for social work
students for approaching and discussing cultural history concerning young people’s
marginalisation and suicides.
In the city of Barcelona, second generation immigrant youngsters create invisible
theatre dealing with the rights of teen age girls. In the town of Turku, youngsters
escaping their family problems to youth shelters get new perspectives to their
lives through cross-artistic methods, such as photographs, music and diaries.
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Catalonian clowns fool people of all ages to think about the injustice of the
global trade and how to live ethically in a more sound way.
These projects and many others have been an unusual way of sharing. Young
and old, prisoners and non-prisoners, immigrants and non-immigrants, rural and
urban, artists and non-artists have encountered each other on equal level. Everyone
has done something different from what they usually do; taken positive risks.
On the contrary to what one might expect, Drama Way did not produce a
large number of theatre performances. Instead of creating shows, the participatory
drama that we explored is an art form of a moment; creating and sharing meanings,
process leading one towards understanding.
In our project we have explored and developed new combinations and
adaptations of a wide range of applied and interactive drama, such as forum
theatre, live action role play (LARP), process drama / Drama-in Education (DIE),
clownery, photo drama, cite-specific theatre, and education on theatre art. The
participants of Drama Way are mainly young professional, who want to broaden
their scope of work, for example, from conventional theatre work to interactive
prison drama.
Drama Way project has produced results beyond expectations. Some of the
ideas born in these projects have already received funding from local or
international co-operation partners. The most delightful thing is to see how
some lonely people working with youngsters have made friends with other inspired
people in the field. Some of them have found completely new directions for their
lives and for their work with youngsters. Drama Way is not meant to be walked
alone, but together with other people, in a creative interaction.
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In this handbook our purpose is to introduce our work in a practical way, so
that anyone with some experience in applied drama can try to adapt these
processes in one’s own work. Even better, we hope that you could improve and
develop our work: experiments presented here are “works-in-progress”. Some
of the processes that did not function in first attempt in the best possible way
are also included in this handbook. We believe that we can learn a lot from our
mistakes as well. The great creativity and mercifulness of drama work lies in its
unpredictability: how we succeed depends on the methods, people, environment,
expectations, mood, context – often even the lucky position of stars…
Only some of the projects that were borne due to the Drama Way are
presented in this handbook. Many of the project reports are to be found on the
project’s web site, which is updated regularly www.tkk.utu.fi/dramaway/. Project
reports are published in the internet as original versions and as English translations,
when possible. Many of the stories are so multidimensional and fine, that they
will never be written down anywhere else but in our hearts.You have to go and
experience them by yourself.
We hope that you can also contribute to this sharing of experiences in our
Drama Way project in the future!
Behalf of the DramaWay project team
Jouni Piekkari
Editor, drama trainer
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1. Introduction
What is Drama Way?
There is a need for alternative and more adaptable ways and means of learning
for the young people who are under a threat of social exclusion. This need has
been recognised throughout Europe. The demand for this project has become
evident through the results of various previous educational programmes and
projects. Special ways of working, such as participatory and experiential methods,
are often required to guide the groups in threat of exclusion towards social
inclusion. Drama in its various forms is one example of these tools.
The need for a new approach is perhaps most clearly recognised with those
working with youngsters who have various kinds of problems, such as school drop-
outs, young substance abusers and immigrants. For example, European Socrates
Grundtvig project Social inclusion through APEL made a research, which summarised
that the informal ways and methods of learning are of crucial importance in the
efforts against marginalisation.The need for networks of drama groups and individual
drama specialists with training institutions and various projects is clear.A continuous
need to develop the practice has become evident though the previous projects
and training programmes. Also drama as a tool has to be explored in new and
applied ways to ensure its applicability for various target groups.
General objectives of Drama Way
• To share practical tools and insights between the young/ beginning
professional or semi-professional drama workers who are interested in
working with youngsters under a threat of social exclusion
• to improve local and international networks of drama workers, funding
instances and social workers – to improve the visibility of the work
• to create practical, easily accessible material and project descriptions to
help the development of practical and pedagogical drama work of young
professionals in the field
• to identify themes that are locally important
• to initiate small-scale pilot drama projects with various youth groups in
need for social inclusion e.g. drug addicts in each partner country (Estonia,
Spain (Catalonia), Portugal and Finland)
The main target of the project Drama – A Way to Social Inclusion (Drama Way)
was to promote the opportunities of the young, especially 14-18 year old people;
to adapt them to the larger society and to the community they are living in, as
well as, to the possibility to get education and to learn from the methods tailored
for them. The learning methods used for these youngsters must be different
from the formal methods of education; the methods must provide a genuine
second chance of learning in an informal way. The methods often include taking
the youngsters away from the conventional school context: into the nature, youth
centres or theatre schools. Many of the projects also integrate different age and
social groups. For example, it has been important to bring “outsiders” to the
prison environment in order to create a new kind of interaction in the drama.
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The aim of the project was to gather, apply and mix different pedagogical
drama tools in order to utilise them in different local training contexts. The
project aimed also to activate the target youngster groups to participate actively
in planning of the curricula and in developing the methods. These aims were
reached mainly through pilot workshops, practical evaluations and feedback
discussions with the youngsters.
The project was realised locally in four countries: Finland, Spain (Catalonia),
Estonia and Portugal.The local groups organised workshops and real life laboratories
in each country.These experimental laboratories also produced material for internet
based data-bank of experiences (see www.tkk.utu.fi/dramaway) and for national
discussion forums debating the use of drama methods in local context.
The local workshops were also important forums of networking: participants
had various backgrounds; teachers, youth workers, drama workers from the whole
region, not only from the co-operation area.The workshops created co-operation
on local and national levels.This promotes multi-disciplinary approaches and co-
operation in the future. We often noticed how people working close to each
others and struggling with similar kind of problems and target groups did not
know about each other.This tendency of segregation is seen everywhere: without
an outsider input one rarely has time to look outside one’s own work field and
professional specialisation.
In the end of the project, the European workshop in Turku (Finland) presented
some of the results of the projects to the wider audience.The results of the local
workshops were presented though practical workshops and other suitable means,
such as video and slide shows.
Locally adapted themes and working methods
All the four partner countries have their own specific focuses. In Finland the
main theme was substance abuse. Finland used to have one of the lowest rates of
drug abuse and crimes related to illegal drugs. Nowadays the figures are
skyrocketing in the fastest rate in whole Europe. Furthermore, alcohol
consumption has increased due to suddenly sunk prices and increased availability
of alcohol. Especially amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised groups it has
evidently caused a growing number of social problems and health risks. “We are
finally becoming European - is that what we wanted? How can we suddenly change
the cultural patterns of substance use that seem to be a result of decades of mal-
planned policy and perhaps hundreds of years of colonised mentality?” These are
question that many people ask in Finland.Therefore, the preventive work is the key
interest area in the Finnish Drama Way project. However, we see the prevention
work in a broader perspective. Through drama work we want to support the
welfare and building of healthy social environment for the young people.
In Catalonia (Spain), the focus is on the work with young prisoners and
immigrant groups. Spain is one of the entrance countries of great numbers of
legal and illegal immigrants, especially from Africa. Massive anti-globalization
demonstrations, Iraq war protests, terrorist attack to Madrid and the policy of
the previous conservative government that paid less attention to the social welfare
seem to draw more attention to the integration of the immigrants and to the
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Third World issues. During the project period these issues have been clear for
the drama workers and artists in Barcelona. This general atmosphere also
contributed to the success of Drama Way seminars and networking in the area.
In the rural Portugal drama workers tackle with problems of the countryside
and small rural towns. Such issues as norms and sexuality, substance abuse, the
possibilities of the young people to develop and stay in their own region are
considered. Portuguese partners claim that these problems are a result of
“backwards mentality” that derives from the era of dictatorship, a short history
of democracy, neo-liberalisation and harmful and de-moralising effects of many
aspects of EU policies.
Estonia is a newcomer in the EU ”family”, and the country is characterised by
the rapid social change from Soviet system to an independent nation maintaining
one of the most neo-liberal economical systems in the world. Estonian youngster
in the projects deal with their issues through a national debate in TV forum theatre
sessions, in schools, youth rehabilitation centres, festivals, live action role game
associations etc. In Estonia the main focus is young people discussing with their
peers through an interactive drama.The topics are handled in a participatory way
and consist of the topics that the young people themselves are concerned of.
Drama Way gathers people with various backgrounds and ways of working to
work together.This has resulted in a tremendous range of working methods and
creative ideas.
Different approaches are utilised in Drama Way: some emphasise celebratory
aspects in their work: carnival, fun, wild imagination, mass approach, some prefer
more issue-oriented and intimate approaches, using also sociological and qualitative
research methods along with the drama work.
In the first meeting in Finland our working tool was Finnish oral poetry, since
from there we could find same kind of stories of social exclusion of youngsters,
which are visible in the lives of the modern refugees, victims of human trade or
amongst the young people committing suicides. We chose a pre-medieval story
of Kullervo as a tool, and situated it in the forest of an island close to Nokia
cellular phone -town Salo. In Finland forest and water are present practically
everywhere, and it is quite natural for people to use these natural settings for
summer theatre, pedagogical adventures or other celebrations. We developed
this process drama also to suite more simple processes that can be easily used in
classrooms and social or youth work training sessions aiming at focusing a
discussions in the lecture on certain social topics.
The new EU member state Estonia is another good example how the local
culture can be used in drama. In the workshop, the Estonian actors and drama
workers gave the other Drama Way partners a chance to explore how the live
action role play (LARP) and traditional Estonian wedding games and dramas
could be used to help the youngsters build their identity in the new and changing
Europe. On the other hand, we explored these wedding traditions as a local
form of interactive and participatory drama. Participatory drama is often
considered as something modern, but we tend to forget that the local folk forms
have used quite similar techniques. In the past, they were also ways to empower,
educate and help people participate in the creation of the society.This is valuable,
locally rooted, indigenous knowledge and know-how.
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2. Aims and Methods
Why to use drama as an alternative tool for learning?
Drama as a learning method is gaining increased interest throughout Europe and
the world. There is a wide range of different participatory drama techniques
which are developing rapidly. However, no methods should be used merely because
of its popularity, but they should preferably be used when based on conscious
arguments or clear evidence. British drama pedagogues Allan Owens and Keith
Barber define their arguments with four categories: a) play as universal expression;
b) practical experiences; c) empirical evidence and d) ideological reasons.
Firstly, play is an essential element in the life of a human being. This is
apparent with children, but concealed and suffocated with adults and young people,
who for several social reasons have stopped creative playing. Such reasons can
be fear of ridicule, finding safety in rigidity of values and standard behaviour and
disbelief in personal potential for creativity. By giving the children, youth and
adults an opportunity to ”play seriously” through drama, we can offer them a
genuine ”second chance” for learning through play. We can also offer them an
opportunity to enjoy the learning process, an aspect that is all too often neglected
in formal education. In this way drama in a safe environment can lower the
barriers of learning, since negative attitudes often prevent learning in formal
settings.
Secondly, practical experience of drama workers show us that it is possible
to use drama as a learning method even in such situations which seem to be very
difficult for promoting learning. By offering a ”new start”, drama has functioned
as a motivating impulse for people with learning difficulties or low motivation for
learning. Therefore, the use of drama in such situations has also opened doors
for social inclusion by increasing self-esteem, personal and emotional skills and
approve creativity. Drama can also serve as a holistic therapeutic healing device
(Koskela 1999; Blatner 1996). It can offer a safe environment to explore difficult
personal issues through safely distanced allegories and symbols of drama. The
holistic group processes as such have also proved to have healing effects on the
group members. For example, a group process can offer sense of belonging,
opportunities to reflect oneself as a personality and enjoy mutual support
(Jauhiainen 1999; Blatner 1996).
Thirdly, the empirical evidence shows that process drama has had a
remarkable impact on learning of various groups in prisons, schools, youth shelters
etc. This evidence has been gathered in several countries that have practised
drama as an alternative arena for learning for several decades. Effects of drama
use have been researched, and the results showed that drama can promote
qualitative learning, which considers the different individual learning styles.
Participatory drama seems, for example, to use and combine practically all the
different learning channels and processes such as auditive, kinaesthetic, visual,
tactile, multi-sensory, mathematical, interpersonal, intuitive. However, due to the
complexity of these processes, it is difficult to measure this kind of quality learning.
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Fourthly, reasons for the use of drama can be ideological. Drama can be used
as a tool for empowerment and therefore it can promote social change and
inclusion of marginalised groups, and create a chance based on their own priorities,
not those dictated from above or through the formal education system.
Participatory drama (not just any drama) is considered as a democratic and
critical device for learning, where both the ”teachers” and ”pupils” can learn
from each other, and more precisely learn together. A teacher/educator of
participatory drama can never be a fully learnt specialist of the subcultures s/he
is working with. To give an example; only the gypsies can truly understand what
the life of a gypsy is like. However, both non-gypsy drama educators and the
gypsy participants of drama process can get new perspectives into their lives
from each other.
The so called constructivist paradigm in education emphasises that learners
are not empty vessels to pour information and ideologies into. They are rather
to be seen as radiating starting points of their own learning through their own
life experiences and values that they have formed in the socio-cultural contexts
they live in both within and without the formal school system (von Wright & von
Wright 2001). Drama as a multidisciplinary form of art can activate and bring
forth these life experiences through the use of imagination, dreaming, use of
body, symbol, imagery, visual arts, music, writing etc. and help to use them in the
individual learning process in a holistic manner. Drama is also a group process
that always activates and develops social learning, emotional intelligence, argument
on values, spiritual thinking, intuition and other meta-learning skills, that have
been recognised as essential elements in learning process of a human being.
These skills are still often neglected, or cannot fully be covered through the
formal learning system, especially in the case of youngsters with learning difficulties,
which are often based on socio-cultural background (see also Goleman 1997).
Blatner, Adam (1996): Acting-in. Practical application of psycho dramatic
methods.
Hannula, Aino (2000): Tiedostaminen ja muutos Paulo Freiren ajattelussa.
Systemaattinen analyysi sorrettujen pedagogiikasta. Helsingin yliopiston
kasvatustieteenlaitos, Helsinki.
Jauhiainen (1999): Ryhmäilmiö.
Koskela,Virpi (1999): Elämäntehtävä Legioonateatterin opetukset – Kokemuksia
ja ajatuksia ohjaajan ja kouluttajan roolista. Kuikka, Suvi (toim.): Friikki.
Nuorisoteatteritoiminnan opas. Vapaan Sivitystyön liitto.
Owens, Allan and Barber, Keith (1997): Drama Works.
Rohd, Michael (1998): Theatre, Community and Conflict Resolution. Hope is
Vital Manual for educators and youth workers.
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Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive Drama
In the Drama Way project we use and mix various forms of participatory and
Jouni
Piekkari applied drama.These forms are borne in different cultures and contexts. Despite
the differences there are also a great number of similarities in these forms. Many
of these genres overlap each other, and the boundaries between them are
therefore rather blurred. However, each of them emphasises some aspects of
using drama as the tool in the process.
A general feature in these different genres is that the process of making and
creation is an important aspect, even in some cases more important than the end
product. For example performances are emphasised, since they are eulogises of
human interaction and create meanings through the symbolic form of drama in a
group process. In spite of these general features, the different genres have varying
ideologies and philosophies.These approaches interpret the nature of human being
differently. Furthermore, the concept of good learning and the question how a
human being learns may also be different in different genres.Therefore, it is essential
to be aware of these basic ideas and aims of different approaches, even if many of
them can be applied together. Respectively, many of the different concepts developed
in varying cultural contexts can actually refer to strikingly similar processes. The
best way to understand the processes is to discuss them with people who use
these methods: what do the practitioners try to achieve by using them? Even more
important is to discuss the experience and empirical evidence: how do these different
forms actually work? Are the set goals achieved with these processes?
Drama-in-Education (DIE)
Drama-in-Education, and often simply the drama itself, refers to the use of drama
as a tool of education. This methodology of drama used in education is most
extensively developed in the British and Australian contexts.This form of drama is
mainly used in a school context to supplement the curriculum. It can be used in
any subject as a way to learn through experience. In the most typical situation it is
used to learn, for example, history, but it can be applied to learn mathematics as well.
In the DIE method the emphasis is on the processes of exploring different
topics through drama conventions (techniques). On the contrary to conventional
school drama the DIE rarely aims at creating polished performances for the
audience, but instead the teachers or educators from outside try to offer ”safe
environments to create meanings through pretence” in a learner-centred group
process.Therefore, these methods are also called as process drama or pedagogical
drama.The new view emphasises the concept drama as an art form in its own right,
instead of overemphasising its use as a tool of learning.
Theatre-in-Education (TIE)
The TIE method refers to the use of pre-written and rehearsed theatre
performance as a tool of learning. The plays in the TIE process are usually
performed by specialised and professional touring theatre companies. The plays
are carefully designed to complement different subjects in the official school
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curricula. These performances are often partly interactive. Furthermore, they
may include so called pre- or post-performance workshops, where the pupils
can be more actively involved in their own learning processes. Through various
exercises the pupils can further explore the themes of the play. Sometimes these
workshops take place before the play, in order to prepare the pupils for the
themes that are discussed in the play. These kind of sessions can be organised
either with the theatre group or separately with their own teacher. Therefore,
many of the groups also produce complementary materials and teachers’
information packs to integrate the theatrical intervention into the learning process.
Forum theatre
Forum theatre is a form of interactive theatre developed by a Brazilian director
Augusto Boal as part of his participatory theatre method system called ”Theatre
of the Oppressed”. In the forum theatre method, the theatre group presents a
social problem – an injustice or ”oppression” - that is relevant to the audience.
In a forum theatre performance there will be no end solution for the problem,
but the conflict is left unsolved. The audience is activated to explore solutions
for the problem by inviting the audience (“spect-actors”) on the stage to act the
solutions for the problems.
Julian Boal is directing Forum Theatre in Barcelona in March 2004.
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Forum theatre is also a workshop technique where there is no pre-determined
time span for the play. The group, for example a group of mothers, creates these
plays entirely by themselves. These theatrical exercises are used to explore the
social themes, problems and oppressions of the group. Forum theatre has been
used to tackle such issues as racism, substance abuse, sexual prejudice or bullying
in schools. It is also utilised in media education and interactive discussion forums
on TV. According to Boal, it aims at empowerment of individuals and groups; it is
”rehearsal for the reality”.
Invisible Theatre
Invisible theatre method was invented by Augusto Boal. It was born during the
dictatorship of Brazil, when the politically critical play-making was forbidden.
Invisible theatre is a form of theatre where the audience does not know that
they are witnessing a play. These performances have a pre-written storyline that
portrays a social problem or oppression and the performance is taken into a real
life situation, it can be performed, for example, in a tram, bar, market place or
shopping centre. The aim is to provoke people to participate in the ”play” which
they believe is a real situation of oppression.
Legislative Theatre
Legislative theatre is a further elaboration of Theatre of the Oppressed or forum
theatre, where different techniques are used as a tool to discuss local or national
democracy and public decision making.The solutions that the audiences draw in
the forum plays create a starting point for legislative level discussions.This method
uses also internet discussions, thematic festivals, political rallies etc. to help the
disadvantaged people to participate in politics.
Theatre-for-Awareness / Theatre-for-Development
These methods of touring theatre have been used especially in the Third World
Countries as a tool for participatory development programmes and awareness
raising campaigns. Instead of telling people educationally what they should know
– inform them - this form of theatre raises questions, for which the audiences
themselves have a chance to answer through the organised post-performance
discussions.The plays are based on a field research on certain topic amongst the
target groups, in order to identify what the local people themselves consider as
the most crucial problems of the area.The themes considered may be completely
different from the issues, that the “developers” or the authorities regard as
important.
These theatre forms aim at a self-motivated social change of the communities.
They can even aim at a very concrete completion of a local or regional
development programme, for example anti-poaching programme, agricultural
development, women’s rights etc. Other names used for these forms of
participatory drama are popular theatre and community theatre.
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Devised Theatre / “From Fact to Fiction”
Devised theatre refers to all processes of theatre making where there is no pre-
written play text or where a play text is used only as a starting point for a
completely new piece of theatre. Devised theatre is created in a so called
democratic group process where the group explores a chosen theme through
movement, theatrical improvisations, visual techniques, videos etc. From Fact to
Fiction is one form of devised theatre where the starting point of the performance
is factual material concerning the chosen theme: research reports, newspaper
articles, interviews, TV programmes, internet etc. This material is converted into
a dramatic form in a creative group process. Devised theatre techniques are
mainly used in creating plays concerning the themes chosen by the youngsters
themselves.
Play Back Theatre
Play Back theatre is a form of interactive drama created in the United States.The
most famous developers of this genre is Jonathan Fox.The idea of play back theatre
is that the participants of the workshop (or the audiences of a play back theatre
performance) tell short, real episodes of their lives where after the actors (or
other workshop participants) improvise them on stage by following certain drama
conventions. Only a few aspects of the stories are emphasised in the scene,
aspects such as specific emotions, personified objects presented in the story or
some selected sentences or meaningful interactions. These symbolic scenes are
often accompanied by improvised soundscapes or music.
Play back theatre is a form of sharing individual experiences in a community. It
can be a purifying or healing experience, even though the creators of this genre
emphasise it as a form of sharing real life experiences in an entertaining way.
Sociodrama
Sociodrama, based on the work of Jacob L. Moreno, is one of the earliest genres of
applied drama. Sociodrama is not a simple drama technique; it is a complex
theory and method of analysing, understanding and learning about the different
social phenomena of people’s everyday lives.The techniques used in sociodrama
are similar to many of the above mentioned techniques, emphasis being on the
analytic understanding of social dynamics. Sociodrama is commonly used method
of training. Sociodrama is also a non-therapeutic sibling of Moreno’s psychodrama
and has strongly influenced the development of Play Back theatre.
Celebratory Drama
Celebratory approach in theatre making often aims at identifying certain
concentrated settlements or groups of people that seem to be less involved in
the community.Typical example of these concentrated settlements are the urban
housing areas. Celebratory drama emphasises aspects of carnival, the use and
creation of myth, creativity, visual theatre and street theatre style of expression.
As such celebratory theatre can have a healing impact on the people that are
taken into the process of collective creation.
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The philosophy of celebratory drama emphasises that arts should be
democratised: anyone can be an artist, and the responsibility of a professional
artist is to set this creativity free from the culturally learned inhibitions and fears
of ridicule. Celebratory artists believe in that opening up the in-born creativity is
an almost necessary prerequisite for the human being’s capacity to solve personal
and social problems.The British artist collection Welfare State International is one
of the best known examples of celebratory arts and drama.
Hospital Clownery
Hospital clownery, originally invented by Patch Adams in the United States, is
increasing its popularity also in Europe. Hospital clowns target their performances
to seriously ill children in hospitals. It is believed – and proved– that laughter can
support the healing process even in serious cases of illness. Most importantly,
the philosophy of hospital clownery emphasises the basic human need for laughter
and joy. Laughter and joy should be taken into such places where it is most
unlikely to occur. Many of the hospital clowns have also worked e.g. in refugee
camps of Yugoslavia amongst the victims of war.
Site-specific theatre
Site-specific theatre refers to any kind of theatre that takes place in a non-
theatre environment and uses the special features of different environments
theatrically and symbolically. For example, a theatrical event or performance can
take place in a dumping area, old abandoned building or in nature. Performances
and their audiences may also wander from one place to another. In many cases
this kind of performance blurs the rigid distinction between the audience and
the performers: in a similar way as in rituals or ceremonies the spectators become
an integral part of the event.
Drama, myths and ritual forms of performance
Traditional forms of performing art can function as a inspiring starting point for
a community theatre event. Myths and their modern applications can invoke
allegories between the factual and fictional; past and future; concrete and imaginary;
collective and private.The use of local myths and traditional forms, such as songs
and dances, can be important for building the local identity by revitalising the
cultural heritage.
Street theatre
As the name suggests, this theatre is performed on the streets or in public
places. Street theatre is probably one of the oldest forms of secular theatre.
Street theatre often uses strongly visual and carnivalistic means to draw attention
to these often spontaneous performances.
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Live-Action Role Play (LARP)
LARP could be defined as a genuine cultural movement of young people, since it
is mainly organised and run by the young people themselves. LARP is a series of
highly interactive and imaginary dramatic events, where each participant takes
part in an improvised drama by following their own pre-determined roles. The
game is totally improvised and has no script. The role games take often place in
an imaginary world of myths, sci-fi, prehistory or any other world created by the
participants or the game leaders.
Sometimes a LARP session may continue for several days, or the same group
of people may explore the same theme for several years. LARP communities are
often partly virtual, as well. Internet sites and discussion lists form an important
forum for creation of characters, stories and reflection.
Community Theatre or Theatre/Drama in the Community is a loose
umbrella term that can refer to almost any kind of theatre making which is in
some relation to a community. It can be created with, for or by the community.
This vague umbrella concept applies to any genre mentioned above in this list,
therefore these concepts are avoided in the Drama Way project.
Draditional wedding serenomy in Estonia, June 2004
| 19 |

| 20 |

3. Projects in the
Co-operation Countries
| 21 |

Estonia
Estonia
| 22 |

Social Theatre Festival “Spartacus”
The background and participants of the festival
VAT
Forum The project “Spartacus” was organised by Tartu Anne Youth Centre, and the
group event took place in Miina Härma Gymnasium, 14th – 16th of November, year 2003.
Altogether 135 youngsters from different schools from all over Estonia participated
in the three-day long Forum Theatre training session. The head-director and
instructor of the session was the director and “Joker” Margo Teder of the VAT
Theatre Forum Group. His assistants were Andres Kask (director of Kanuti Youth
House’s theatre group), Kadi Jaanisoo and Piret Soosaar from VAT Theatre Forum
Group.
The participants were gathered from the following Estonian towns/areas:Tartu,
Tallinn, Narva, Jõhvi, Viljandi, Kuressaare, Sindi, Ahja, Nõo, Luuja and Tarvastu.
Working process and phases
The work phases of the festival:
1. On the first day, the head director explained the whole group, what is
forum theatre and how the forum scenes are built. After this people were
divided into groups and the groups continued individual work in separate
rooms (class-rooms and gym-room, etc.). The group work consisted of
defining and exploring problematic issues, thus the themes. Each group
were given 2 words/themes, which functioned as a starting point for group
discussions. Group work was the working method. Youngsters prepared
independently one forum scene of some problem that concerns themselves
as youngsters. Firstly, the group had to find the themes based on their
discussions and then create still-images, so called stop-pictures.The stop-
pictures were then dynamized, meaning that the people in the pictures
started to move. The scenes of forum theatre were born.
2. On the second day, dramaturgical expressions of the problems under
consideration were created and put in practise. The problems were, in
other words, transferred into theatrical language (the scenes were
developed based on the pictures prepared during the first day); thus short
forum-scenes, where the main character tries hopelessly to overcome the
kind of oppression in his way, were borne. In other words, the main character
was faced with some kind of conflict.The assistants helped the participants
with this process.
3. On the third day, the results of the work of the previous days were
performed in form of a group work.This group work event turned into a 3
hours long marathon-performance, where all groups one by one showed
their vision of one issue/problem that concerns youngsters. After each
group had performed its scene, the head director introduced forum theatre
techniques to the audience with the help of particular group scene. He
introduced, for instance with the help of one story, the hot seat technique
where all characters sit one by one in a so called hot seat and the audience
is allowed to ask all kind of questions from them concerning the background
| 23 |

of their behaviour. With another group he introduced how the characters
can say out loud their thoughts – the Joker (the leader of the show) can
whenever he wants say “stop” and ask the character to say out loud, what
s/he is thinking at that particular moment. With the third group he used
forwarding and rewinding of the scene -technique. This means moving in
time - the things that happened in the past, present and future were played
out. What happened before the conflict, what could happen afterwards?
Techniques used in the work process
In order to reach co-operation with this kind of large assembly of youngsters
the work processes had to have several clear steps.
The following methods/techniques were used during the festival:
1) Ice-breaking, different warm-up games;
2) Trust-games;
3) Group Discussions (defining and exploring the problems);
4) Creating the forum theatre story (through pictures/still-images,
conversations);
5) Playing out the scene within the group (converting the created story into
theatrical language);
6) Interactive discussions between the audience and the performers;
7) Combining all the prepared forum scenes into one big performance;
8) Interactive feedback circle with the participants.
Different techniques were used in different stages– some of them were
applied to small group work, some to all participants. Sometimes it was
the small group that had to be active, sometimes the head-director of the
festival or the leader of the happening/action.
| 24 |

An old fashioned teacher carrying the traditions of Soviet times maintains
strict discipline in the classroom.
Demand for this kind of interactive theatre projects in school theatres:
positive and negative aspects
In addition to traditional school theatre festivals, there is a demand for happenings
that are socially directed and for events of participative theatre schooling and
training. However, there is quite much of confusion with defining the concepts
of this field in Estonia. For instance, this event was called social theatre festival
even though only school theatres were present in the event and the participants
had no previous experience of social theatre. What is social theatre as such after
all? It can be said, that making theatre is always a social phenomenon, but so
called social theatre as such is actually something else than the typical school
theatre represents. Social theatre aims at changing some social issue, for example
at increasing people’s educational level, growing general awareness and other
similar issues. Naturally, it would be nice if school theatres could take over this
function even partly and would try one of the social theatre forms - forum
theatre - in their schools.There is evidently enough problems and themes to deal
with in schools. But on the other hand, the question is: are our schools ready to
talk publicly about the themes/problems that concern the youngsters, even in
theatrical language? The answer to this question would be a vivid indicator of the
developmental level of the school.The idea of organizing this kind of educational
gathering of school theatres is extremely. This kind of gathering works as good
advertise for this interesting theatre form – forum theatre – and, furthermore,
the willingness to participate in further training meant for smaller groups could
rise inside the school-youngsters/schools.
| 25 |

These training days were not aiming at offering thorough knowledge concerning
forum theatre; they offered a brief introduction to the methodology of forum
theatre. Some imperfections concerning this event are the following:
• The number of youngsters participating in the training, where a specific
method was introduced, at the same time was too large (many of the
youngsters did not know anything about the phenomena considered and
most likely felt at the end that the provided knowledge was too shallow
and created no clear picture of forum theatre methods)
• Too little time to introduce forum theatre method step by step, slowly and
thoroughly.Youngsters did not understand very well how the forum theatre
story is prepared and how to build up one forum scene. If there were to
be less children, maybe there would have been more time to do this as
well.This is the reason why some of the scenes that were prepared did not
work as forum theatre scenes. Some of the school-youngsters could not
understand what forum theatre, the purposes and expectations, is all about
in such a short time period
• The assistants did not have enough concrete work tasks and the head-
director was not present all the time
• Lack of information and poor distribution of information during the festival.
These problems were mostly due to the organizational aspects of the event.
In the future it could be wise to take a smaller group of school youngsters
when organizing forum theatre training. The training could also be shorter, more
intensive and concentrated. All three working phases/days could be arranged
during one day. If this kind of mass event is organized again, there should be more
professional assistants and directors helping the children in the groups in order
for them to understand how forum theatre works.
On the first day there should be more time to get used to the spirit of the
event, and to learn about the purposes of the forum theatre in smaller groups–
the groups could be assisted by the directors. In this particular event the whole
mass was divided into groups according to the schools they attended, and all
together nine groups were born. The groups could also have been differently
organized, in order to enable youngsters to make new friends and share
experiences with new people from all around the country, not only with one’s
own schoolmates.
A positive aspect of this festival was that, all in all, quite many youngsters got
the possibility to get acquainted with forum theatre method and got to try
creating forum scene by themselves for the first time– to put some problem/
conflict/thought/experience into theatrical form. Furthermore, the forum-
performance/demonstration put together from the different scenes and played
out on the third day ended up being quite interesting.The head-director managed
to lead the event rather well.
| 26 |

Visits to Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk
Work environment and background of the children
VAT
Forum Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk is an institution where under-aged children
group are kept isolated from their usual everyday environment from six months up to
a year.These children have problems with alcohol, drugs and other toxic substances.
They have an increased need for attention and a labile nerve-system, and therefore
often behave hyperactively and nervously.
Some features describing these children (description of features of one or
several children in the group):
• have experienced violence and have been left without attendance during
their early ages
• have roamed on the streets in gangs and developed criminal behaviour
• unstable nerve-system, deficit of attention
• highly egocentric
• have tried suicide
• using alcohol and toxic substances for amusement, escaping from the reality
• early sexual relationships and several different partners
• bad relationships with the parents
• not going to school
• has no-one to trust to, and therefore suspicious with all people
The VAT Theatre Forum Group visited and organized Forum Theatre
workshops in Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk during a time span from
November 2003 to June 2004. The group usually went to the centre 1-2 times a
month, and arranged a group session including 6-10 persons; half of them were
girls and half boys. The length of the workshop was about 2 hours and it was
organized in a medium sized computer classroom (once it took place in the gym
of the centre). Participation was voluntary for the children.
Working process and purposes
Each forum theatre workshop differs form previous ones. At this time we were
faced with a quite “difficult” group instead of so called ordinary children. It meant
that we had to organize our activities and plans according to the situation and to
the concrete moment of time – how many children wanted/could show up in
the workshop. It is clear that organizing and participating in the workshops was
obviously a challenge for both sides – for us, as guests and VAT Theatre Forum
Group actresses, and for the children as local habitants and as so called “bad
children” in the eyes of the society. Both sides were put into a test.The children
put themselves, as well as us, into a test by trusting us and confiding in us with
their secrets and (life)stories, and we tested ourselves - how and in which way
we know how to react to these stories of much-experienced and much-seen
children without hurting them or seeming too false, cold/rough.
On the other hand, our purpose was not to be a constant supporter of their
opinions and a friend to the children. It was important to stay neutral and discrete.
| 27 |

Analyzing and recognizing the limits was a part of the process during the whole
working-period, and every time when we met the process was repeated. Judging
or showing negative evaluation to them was out of question, since that would
have destroyed the trust. But nevertheless, there was place for discussions and
saying out loud opinions for us in a non-judgmental tone.
Its is anyway complicated to start working under the name of voluntary
participation in a firm institution, where the habitants are kept inside non-
voluntarily. It is natural that skepticism raises up among the children, since they
are used to living in a world of bargaining and abuse, and therefore tend to ask:
what do you want from us? When they finally understood that we do not require
any material or effort-based activity from them we gained the contact.This contact
and trust are based on the surprise they experience, when they realized that
nobody expects favors from them. This feeling is in strong contrast with their
reality outside the centre and also with the system inside the centre, where the
youngsters receive minus-points from bad activities and plus-points from good
behavior. Every child has so called point-account, which grows or decreases
according to their behavior.The points are to punish or to reward – the youngster
are allowed, for instance, to go outside of the building with the guard if they are
behaving well and when behaving badly they loose some privileges. The system
that we proposed – system without giving-taking points – was a shock. But it was
functional – the surprise worked.
At first the children were unmotivated and untrusting.They felt that we were
just teachers, who come and try to tell them how they should live and behave.
Within a short time period we gained contact, cooperation (group-work, team-
work), increasing interest and initiative, raise of the trust and working towards
one purpose.
Most likely, the main aim of the children was to have some variation and
excitement for their everyday routines in the centre. Certainly, one important
aspect for them was the fact, that somebody visits and is interested in them –
listens what they have to say. Realizing that we are interested in their opinions
was of great motivation to take part in the workshop.
Our purpose was to learn more about the lives of the children – the way they
feel, think and act in the world – to learn about people different from us. The aim
was to show with forum theatre games how it is possible to have fun and feel nice
and that there are always choices and other possibilities in life… Another goal was
to provide the children with variation in their life and to consciously lead and
direct their thoughts towards a direction where they could think at least for some
time about something else that they usually do (which is about escaping from the
centre, toxic substances, drugs, etc.). There was also an aim to prepare a forum-
play and perform it for the strangers who come to the centre to visit.
In the process of the forum theatre workshop we considered following activities
and aspects:
1) Strong and purposeful icebreaking with forum theatre games was needed
(ice-breaking);
2) It was necessary to build trust and that we did with different types of
games invented by Augusto Boal and Markus Zohner games (so called
“Boal and Zohner games“);
| 28 |

3) Creating games with using improvisation techniques;
4) For the creation of the forum-scenes we used pictures (still-images/stop-
photos);
5) Preparing and performing forum play to strangers who come from outside
of the centre;
Markus Zohner is a director and an actor from Switzerland, who is the owner
and former of a theatre school concentrating on improvisational techniques (http:/
/www.zohnertheater.ch/Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie).
Local need for Forum Theatre workshop, positive and negative aspects
In this kind of closed institution there is a big need for forum theatre kind of
activity, but more importantly there is big need for every kind of activity coming
from outside and inside the house, which activates positive thinking and behavior
among the children. It could be, for example, amusement-groups/rat packs or
some other kind of activity-trainings.The forum theatre methods we used, were
just a drop in the sea. More easily measurable and larger number of results could
be reached in regular forum theatre workshops. The best way would be to have
a regular schedule for the visits and to have the same participants each time -
there should be a fixed week day and time to the workshop, in order to reach a
clear rhythm for the visits.
In the future there could be two groups in work at the same time– one for
Russian and one for Estonian speaking children. Why it is possible to say that
| 29 |

forum theatre is just a drop in the sea? Because we are dealing with deeply
violated children, who would all actually need different kind of therapies (preferably
creative ones) and thorough regular individual attendance to work with their
thinking-patterns and deal with their childhood experiences etc. Forum theatre
can support these issues and function as a courage-lesson, teaching better self-
expression, developing emotional intelligence and in other different ways, but it
is not therapy. Forum theatre can have a therapeutic influence, but is not therapy,
and the children who participate in the process are not clients or patients - they
are spect-actors, they are human beings, children.
One mistake that influenced the work process was that there were too long
pauses between the meetings, which made the process a little dissipated and
forced us, forum-group members and the children, often to start the process
from the beginning after each brake. On the other hand, this was good, since in
this way we had to be creative in our works and extend ourselves, which created
better basis to be able to create trust between the children and us.
From all the positive aspects here could be mentioned the whole experience
that we got from the work with these children - creating a contact takes time
and effort - but after it is reached it is therefore rather stable.The communication
stage that seems impossible in the beginning can be reached with patience. If you
have patience, the change is slow, but will nevertheless happen – from time to
time these children were more focused and attentive and were able to work as
a group.
| 30 |

Forum theatre on TV youth program “The Fist”
The Background and the Format of the Program
VAT
Forum The VAT Theatre’s forum theatre work on TV has not been directly involved in
group the Drama Way project, but it has been presented in the National workshops as
an excellent method of distributing the drama work to a wider audience, and
create a genuine, young people’s forum to publicly discuss the themes that are
relevant to them.
The Estonian Television’s (ETV) youth-program “The Fist” (“Rusikas”) was
shot during a period from January to April in 2000. The authors of the program
received the impulse to use forum theatre scenes in television from the VAT
Theatre Forum Group performances in spring of 1999, during the “Youth without
Violence” festival (“Vägivallata Noorus”).
Fifteen short plays on different themes were created in co-operation with the
VAT Theatre Forum Group. Each one of the TV shows lasted 40 minutes and the
recording of each one took about 90 minutes.
The Working Process
The VAT Theatre Forum Group actors played different scenes, which dealt with
the problems that young people have. Each show had its own theme, which was
then dealt with. Before recording the show for television, the producers sent the
theme of the play to the VAT Theatre Forum Group director, Margo Teder. The
Forum Group worked with the script, and after three or four meetings or
rehearsals, during which the group used Forum Theatre methodology (still-images
etc.), the group made a short play on the theme. Then the play was performed
| 31 |

Young lady harrassed at the bus stop on the Estonian TV forum.
for the TV show directing team. After that there was a discussion about the play
- the purpose of which was to make it as real as possible.
The structure of “The Fist”:
1. Introductions by the host of the TV show.
2. The VAT Theatre Forum Group actors play the problematic scenes.
3. The Characters sit in the hot seat (This means that the guests and the host
of the show can ask questions from the characters in order to better
understand the scene, how the characters feel about each other and what
had generally happened in the story. Actors have to answer through their
characters and have to stay in their roles through the whole duration of
the show and to answer the questions honestly, just as if they were having
a discussion in their head, with themselves). The three guests (high school
and university students and specialists – psychologist, gynecologists etc.)
of the show sit opposite to the actors. The guests then help to deal with
the theme problem by asking questions, until the guests find a way to solve
the problem presented in the scene in a way that does not result in anyone
getting hurt. The dialogue between the characters and guests is organized
by the host of the show, who also puts the new way of seeing the situation
into words and describes to the characters how they have to change their
behavior in the scene.
4. The problematic scene is then played again, but now in a new way.
5. The host of the show concludes the show.
The main point of the dialogue is to stimulate people into thinking about the
problem, not to give them exact solutions or ways to deal with the conflicts.
| 32 |

After the show, people watching the program at home had a chance to give
feedback and tell what they would like to see in the next show by sending an e-
mail or a letter. Before the next show the directing team went through the
letters.
Some of the topics that were dealt with in the TV show “The Fist”:
• faith
• religion
• grief
• stealing
• drugs
• alcohol
• bullying
• street violence
• family problems
• money problems
• love
• friendship
• trust
Similar interactive TV shows are also done in Canada by David Diamond who
handles themes like problems with street children and native people by using
interactive theatre methodology (see www.headlinestheatre.com).
3. Are these kinds of interactive TV shows needed? Positive and
negative aspects of the TV show.
Forum Theatre creates a possibility to discuss the problems of Estonian youth.
These problems are not dealt with much in Estonia.Although, it is very important
to start in early, from the roots – from young people, maybe even kindergarten
children. This is because sometimes the reasons for unemployment, deviant
behavior and asocial lifestyle have their roots in the childhood. During childhood
the environment affects a person very much. The media have a big influence,
through all of its channels – radio, press, television and other media. It is known
that computer games, different chats and dating sites on the Internet are very
popular. The popularity of these kinds of activities shows that youngsters need
to communicate and speak their minds on various issues.
It is important for young people to talk about their problems and relationships.
Nowadays children’s TV programs often underestimate the children’s abilities
and way of thinking. Television should offer more shows in which youngsters
could tell their opinions about things; they should be equal members of the
society. Youngsters could be the best specialists in making decisions about their
own lives. They might be full of interest to find solutions to the problems, which
they can relate to; Forum Theatre methodology gives them that opportunity.
In Estonia there is a show for women, in which they can appear to the public
and speak their minds. This show is called “Mamma Mia”.
There are also some interactive shows, mainly on the radio, which deal with
themes such as men and women in relationships. People can participate in the
| 33 |

discussions by calling the show, but television offers a chance to visualize and
illustrate the problems that are handled. The show “Mamma Mia” also used the
hot seat method, in which the people sit in their seats and tell their stories. The
host of the show is like a Joker, who asks the questions and controls the discussion.
The difference between the TV shows “The Fist” and “Mamma Mia,” is that in
“The Fist” the participants are anonymous, no-ones real story is presented, but
in “Mamma Mia” people talk about their own stories.“Mamma Mia” does not try
to find solutions to the problems either, nor is there a scene performed in it.
Both of the shows are produced by the same person.
Performing forum theatre in television is different from doing it at youth
centers or schools, as television is a very technical environment. In the usual
surroundings the play is not performed more than once, but for television the
play was shot many times in order to make it technically better and to have it
look good on TV. On television the performance is not a traditional forum theatre
performance with a big audience; neither is it a workshop in which all individuals
are physically involved in the process. On television, it is forum theatre form
conformed for television, where the public can not go on stage and show how
they would act in this kind of a situation.
If there would be a possibility to do this kind of television show and use the
forum method in it in the future, the host of the show should have knowledge on
forum theatre, and he or she should have gone through a Joker training.The host
of “The Fist” show was not very competent (she had no experience or educational
background connected to Forum Theatre).The host of the show should be good
a show-man and have a good social sense. He or she should not be a psychologist,
who goes into details of the characters problems. Forum theatre story represents
common problems that are recognizable for larger groups of people. This makes
the people feel that the story is about people and things that they can relate to,
and if it affects and attracts them, it will activate them to start a dialogue. Forum
theatre should certainly not be TV-therapy session.
In the future it would be interesting to make public or open recordings of the
forum theatre performances in schools (of course participation would be
voluntary). Other possibility would be to take more audience into the TV studio
during the show – then the audience members could also be involved in the
forum-process. Another option would be a live TV show, where people could call
from home and tell what they think of the problem and how people or characters
should act so that the story would end in a better way. The theme of the show –
problems of the young people - could remain the same, but the format of the
show should be more innovative.
In addition to the youngsters’ themes, there also should be other themes
dealt with in the public TV forum shows in order to start dialogue and discussion.
Themes could vary – starting with changes and processes in the community,
which involve little groups of people, going all the way to the problems that
involve all the citizens of the country (for example, this could have been useful
before voting for or against the European Union membership). Forum plays could
be used before making big decisions or voting for laws. Forum theatre method is
good for making things more visual and understandable.
| 34 |

Using Improvisational Technique in Forum Theatre
An Example of an Improvisation Exercise
VAT
Forum One way to apply improvisational techniques is to use them in the story-finding
group process of forum theatre, for instance during the workshop or group work. In
that case using so-called picture-system technique is a part of the working process.
The stages of the picture-system exercise:
1. Somebody from the group says out loud one noun (for instance a tree, a
spoon, a chair, etc.).After that, the members of the group compose a three
person statue or a still-image according to their first impulse.
The rules: The first actor must follow the word and set a fixed position or
an image that is physically strong.The second actor sets into a fixed position
according to the first actor’s position and his position should show a conflict
with the first actor (it does not have to be physical contact). The third
actor takes a fixed position according to the conflict he sees between the
first two actors and acts as a counterpoint to them. This means, that the
third one supports the conflict between the first and the second person
for instance by presenting the contents of the conflict with his fixed position
(time, place, relationships, etc.).
2. The Joker works with the concrete and correct statue or still-image that
has been created by the three members of the forum theatre workshop.
When the statue is ready and formed according to the rules, the Joker
asks each actor that is posed in the statue to say one sentence that should
contain more information than what the statue can visually convey.
| 35 |

The rules: It is important that the person who came to the statue first, also
says the sentence first.The second person must follow the first person’s idea
and say his sentence according to the first one’s direction of thinking. The
third person says his sentence in accordance to the first and second person’s
thread of thought. For instance when the second person thinks that he is in
a conflict with his mother, but the first person says a sentence, where it
becomes evident that she is a teacher, the statue is going to describe a
conflict involving a teacher and the second and the third person will have to
take notice of this. The first person who comes to the statue creates the
basis and the theme of the story that the other two have to acknowledge
and follow, even though they might have seen something else, some other
story, when they came into the statue.This is the moment when improvisation
is very important – the moment when the two last people have heard, what
the first one has said and have to become acclimatized into the plot.
A ready statue or still-image, in which the actors have scripts, could be the
base for a forum theatre play or story. This kind of improvisational work could
be used with any group from children to seniors and from so-called normal
people to groups of people with more problems. Improvisational techniques are
also useful to use with the actors in the rehearsals of forum theatre performances
and the story-finding process.
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Other possibilities for the use of improvisational techniques
The VAT Theatre Forum Group director and Joker Margo Teder’s comments and
experiences in using improvisational techniques are in the following:
“I have used the improvisational techniques in working with children
over 6 years of age. When using different improvisation-exercises
according to the needs of the group in group work, it is possible to find
new stories, develop the actors’ fantasy and listening abilities, concentrate
attention, etc.
Certain improvisation-exercises are very useful to organize, for instance,
Lightning Forum performance – performance within and in the middle of a
performance. It is possible to perform a forum play without preparations and by
using the audience only. This is what I once did with the students of Viljandi
Academy of Culture.
The performance started with some warm-up games, where, for example, the
best players won a possibility to be or become an actor as a prize.The story was
based on the first conflict. The wishes and the needs of the characters were
formed on the base of the dialogue with the audience (the audience gave the
story). Then, according to the information given by the audience, the actors
improvised and created a forum play. I have used the improvisation-technique in
the work with young people very much.
Margo Teder and Mari-Liis Velberg, Estonia 2004.
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While being the director of the Tallinn 32 Secondary School’s acting group I
worked very thoroughly with a group of students and we used the improvisation-
technique very often in creating plays. By now some of the drama-group members
have become actors and actresses in the VAT Theatre Forum Group and have
very strong improvisational techniques. Improvisation-techniques are also very
useful when applied in teaching or developing group work. This is because
improvisation requires people to listen, support and help each other. Ideally, one
month is the minimum period to work with one group in order to reach a point,
in which the actors have learned the improvisation-techniques well enough to be
able to perform freely in an improvisational play.
Form the point of view of forum theatre some improvisation-exercises are
very good in fieldwork too. For instance when the VAT Theatre Forum Group
was working with the children of Tallinn’s Center of Children at Risk, I used many
playful and fun improvisation-exercises, and while participating and being a part
of the exercises, the children gave very interesting information about themselves.”
Handbook material from Estonia is based on the VAT Theatre Forum Group
members work experience. The VAT Theatre Forum Group actresses: Mari-Liis
Velberg, Kadi Jaanisoo, Piret Soosaar. The director and Joker: Margo Teder
| 38 |

Forum theatre workshops in Estonia, October 2003
Background
Jouni There was a Forum theatre workshop in Tallinn run by Jouni Piekkari. The event
Piekkari took place in October 2003.There were roughly 24-26 participants from different
backgrounds: secondary school drama groups, youth and social workers and
students, actors, activity therapy students and drama teachers.
The workshop was targeted at the first timers, who had no previous
experiences of forum theatre. This workshop was organized by the VAT Theatre
forum group independently from the Drama Way project. There was a need to
find a fresh start for the local forum theatre activities and create a network
within the new groups of people.
Jouni Piekkari has facilitated similar kinds of forum theatre guest workshops
with different groups in the VAT Theatre since 1999.
Description of the Activities
1st Day
Introduction
What is the Theatre of the oppressed? History, basic ideas, participation and
different roles.
What is oppression?
Warm-up exercises
The Toronto handshake. People shake each others hands, always having one hand
linked to someone else’s hand. Who am I, why did I come here?
A name game series. Atoms and molecules, groups according to hair type, type
of trousers, favorite music. People always learn each other’s names in small groups.
Check if people remember each other’s names in a big circle.
Blind walk with a partner. Moving front and back, touching things etc, free
movement. Share the experience.
Complete the image. Three people complete the image. Image becomes alive.
Continue.
Example of a Forum Theatre Performance
(a simulation of an audience forum)
1. Explanation: what is forum theatre?
2. Audience warm-ups: a) draw a circle and a cross in the air, b) touch a color
etc. c) introducing oneself to the neighbor in a non-sense language
4. Watch the forum: A bus stop harassment scene
5. Analysis: What was it about? What is the problem actually about? Was it
ok? Who were in trouble?
6. Hot seating: asking questions from the characters.
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7. Intervention through questioning:
• How and what could the girl have done differently to avoid or overcome
the problem, to have a more positive result?
• OK – come and do it! Defining the actual spot of the scene to start etc.
3-4 interventions were only tried this time. No other techniques of exploring
were used, due to the actors tight time tables.
Creating Forum Stories Based on the Participants’ Experiences
Warm-ups:
Blind magnets. Pull or repel.
Random still images. Jumping, contacts etc. Freeze! Three selected in the same
situation. Various interpretations!
”Magnetic image”
Rehearsal: SEPARATE Images of the EU and Estonia. Interpretations.
People’s own recent stories of oppression (when was I forced to do, think, or say
other than I wanted to).
5 different Magnetic images created: based on the feeling in that situation.
Others go to the magnets that call to them, and then copy their statue.
Internal voices.
Sharing and discussion: (in small groups) what attracted me?
Create an image of oppression. With the use of real characters around. Done by
using the original magnet image. Create a new fictional story, characters etc.
Share other people’s images. Interpretations; images become alive.
Works as a basis for the next day’s work.
Images were:
1. A negotiation with death
2. A student wanting to go to a forum theatre course
3. Teacher publicly scolds a student about exam results in front of the whole
class
4. Theft of a mobile phone
5. Drug rehabilitation center – case of a theft
Feedback circle
2nd Day
Warm-up Exercises
The atoms and molecules game was used throughout the workshop to split the
group into groups of different sizes.
Energy clap. Three claps move in the circle from person to person at the same
time. Eye contact, concentration.
Trust falls. Done in groups of five people. The person in the center falls on the
hands, and bodies of the people around him or her.
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Limailjetys (Sticky gremlins or Infectious disease). The leader of the group is the
first disease or gremlin, who makes faces and starts chasing the others. Everyone
moves in slow-motion and tries to escape. When someone is caught, she or he
also becomes a Sticky gremlin and starts chasing the rest of the group. Finally
everyone is a gremlin.
Improvisation exercises. To learn how to solve conflicts, we have to learn to
dramatize them. This is the idea of conflict in drama.
Winning and loosing. In pairs: one person in the pair starts a definite activity,
the other one then tries to win power over the other, and again the first one
tries to win, etc. Words, statuses etc. can be used. The facilitator claps his hands
and the pairs begin to loose to each other in a similar way.
A wants B to do something that she or he does not want to do. Relationship (mother-
daughter etc.) First A starts an activity in a well defined space (for example in the
kitchen, washing the dishes).Then B enters, begins to do things in the same space,
talks, and little by little enters into the issue and towards the conflict.
An example of a forum dramaturgy
A forum designed for students, training to be teachers, to help them recognize
bullying (kiusamine) in the class.
The forum was designed by the students of Jouni Piekkari at Helsinki
Polytechnic.
Dramaturgy in brief:
1. Teacher training graduation party. Speeches on the modern theories of
learning. Dance, a karate ritual that fails.
2. The teacher and the new student preparing in the front of their mirrors
for their first day in a new school.
3. The teacher meets the headmaster, who “gives the ball in the teacher’s
hands”. (The headmaster passes by regularly to check on the class).
4. Scenes of starting with soft, game methods of teaching. Bullying of the new
students begins.
5. Scene of not noticing the bullying.
6. Scene of bullying the teacher.
7. The bullied girl leaves the class.The teacher does not do anything, although
she thinks about calling the girl back, but fears the results.
8. Days pass by, the classroom routines are repeated ritually, pupils come and
leave, the bullied girl does not come back, and strict order methods prevail.
9. Announcement: the bullied girl is now in the hospital, the teacher is asked
to come and have a discussion with the headmaster.
See on minu koht! In pairs.Two people take one chair, the other sits; the other
enters in different ways trying to get the place. Sentences that were used were
“That is my place” and “No, that is my place”. Nothing else was allowed.
Evaluation: What type of manipulation could you find in that exercise? What
actually is “oppression”? What forms can it take?
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Voting the theme for the day’s work
The images created by the small groups during the previous day were listed.
The selected scene was about a pupil, who wants to go to a forum theatre
course during the school day, but teacher does not allow him to go.
”Scripting Forum on its Feet”
1. The original image seen again.
2. Give names, ages, and characteristics to the people: What good and what
bad can you find about them, how do you see them, how do the characters
see themselves?
3. Hot seating: the participants go to one of the characters and start asking
questions. The small groups share their research results with the large
group.
4. Defining the problem. What exactly is the problem? Whose problem is it?
We saw that it was both the teacher’s and the pupil’s problem. We chose
the pupil as the main character (protagonist).
5. Opening scene.The participants split into two opposing groups.They think
of three movements and three sentences that describe the main characters
attitude towards life: what she wants and what are her values in life. Create
a dance.
6. The person playing the main character selects four of these. They are
positioned in the scene and rehearsed to be one after another in a random
order.
7. Second scene: Two friends at the yoga gym, the other one is writing a text
message about the soon to start lesson. Dialogue: one of the two is
suspicious about the training.
8. Reasons for why to go, and why to not go to the lesson: a conscience alley.
Again we pick those voices that were good and provocative and tell about
the person’s dilemma.The thoughts create a physical expression.Tried with
and without words. The idea is to also try and seduce the audience. A
choreographed scene is created.
9. Improvisation on the basis of the original scene is created and redirected.
Stage is emptied and important objects are added. We decided that the
stage is a biology class, with microscope examination of water. Teacher
checks the tests, and the pupil takes up the issue that she is actually leaving
to go to the forum theatre course. She leaves, the teacher turns, and
everybody else wants to leave as well.
10. Consequences and the future problems of a) the teacher, and b) the student.
Small groups created improvised scenes of what could happen in the future.
We watched all eight of them. After each one we asked the following
questions: Was this a logical follow-up? Could this really happen? What
parts were realistic?
11. In the play the scenes about the teacher’s problems and the student’s
problems were chosen. The forum play would end up in a situation were
the student slaps the teacher on the face without thinking, and then escaping.
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12. Brainstorming for solutions: What could the teacher or the student do
differently in order to reach a more positive result? In what situation?
Some solutions were discussed.The rest of the discussion was left for the
e-mail list.
The improvisations were documented on video. This material could be used
to create a script based on the selected parts of the improvisations.
Actor’s work should be made deeper during various exercises. Motives and
the development of conflicts should be defined, music or soundtrack should be
added and stage design and costumes should be developed.
Finally, the forum should be rehearsed with different interventions several
times before taking on stage it to be tested by the audience.
Suitable audience warm-ups and introduction to the theme should be
developed, just as well as alternative ways of audience intervention and feedback.
The Feedback Circle
Brainstorm: What should be done in the future? What kind of training do we
need? Where could we apply what we have learned?
| 43 |

Spain (Catalonia)
| 44 |

Clowns for Clean Clothes -Campaign
“Are our clothes contaminated by injustice?”
What is the Clean Clothes Campaign?
David
Martínez In 1989 a demonstration was held in front of a Dutch clothing store to protest
against bad working conditions in the Philippines where the clothes were actually
produced.This protest grew in the Netherlands into an ongoing campaign, called
the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).The campaign, which focused on improving
working conditions in the global garment and sportswear industries, is now active
in 11 other European countries too.
Each of the European CCC is a coalition of NGOs and trade unions. They
work autonomously at a national level, and come together to work jointly at a
European level. This European campaign network is backed up by a broader,
international network that includes trade unions, NGOs, and individuals in
countries, where the garments are produced. These areas include Asia, Africa,
Eastern Europe, and Central America. The CCC also co-operates with similar
campaigns in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
What does the CCC do?
The CCC has four broad categories of activity with the ultimate aim of improving
working conditions in the industry and empowering the workers.
These areas of activity are
• Raising awareness & mobilizing consumers
• Pressuring companies to take responsibility
• Solidarity actions
• Lobbying and legal action
The Clean Clothes Campaign has been organized by SETEM since 1997.
(see http://www.ropalimpia.org /www.setem.org)
The Origins of the Drama Workshop
Soon after the beginning of Drama Way in May 2003, Elena Estrada, the coordinator
of the Clean Clothes Campaign in Spain, and Toni Codina, the director of SETEM
in Barcelona, offered me the chance of creating a theatrical workshop based on
the CCC (Clean Clothes Campaign).
The interactive theatrical workshop was created to look at new ways of
raising awareness and mobilizing consumers, especially young people. People are
not used to attending conferences, and if they are, they usually get bored easily.
We came up with the idea of introducing the information whilst making it fun.
This type of interactive experience is perfect for helping people to become
aware of the issues, and remember them.
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The Description of the Workshop
Target Audience: Mainly young people in secondary education, between the
ages of 14 and 18, although it could also be extended to university students,
centers for the Third Age and the general public.
50 people or less would be the recommended number for enclosed spaces.
Timeframe: The workshop has been running since July 2003 and each workshop
lasts approximately 2 hours.
Location: Preferably in an enclosed space, where you can hang clothes on cords.
It can also take place in the street, although a few structural changes would need
to be made.
Materials: A sound system, six tables (four to make up the scenery, and two for
controlling the entrance and for storing the CCC equipment), chairs and pens
for the participants, decorative elements; colorful materials and different clothes,
the campaign material and a water bottle.
Activity Objectives:
• To demonstrate the causes of why our clothes are contaminated by injustice.
• To show the situation of workers in the textile sector.
• To show the chain of events in clothes production.
• To bring attention to our own usage of clothes.
• To motivate the participants to come up with better alternatives.
• To present the ideas of the Clean Clothes Campaign, and what we can do
to help.
• To have fun in the process.
Checkpoint Clown:Are your clothes contaminated, asks the clown by David Martínez.
| 46 |

Methodology
The methodology of the workshop is always based on interaction. Two clowns
lead the workshop (Fefe and Fafata or an assistant), which is made up of different
activities and games, designed to get the participants involved in the ideas of the
workshop, using the interactive techniques of Forum Theatre.
Why Clowns?
We decided to use Clowns for different reasons. Usually these issues are
demonstrated aggressively to the audience, in terms of showing the worst side
of the problem in order to really hit the idea home and to make consumers feel
guilty or responsible.We believe that this is not a positive way of raising awareness
and mobilizing consumers because people can easily shut their minds to the
ideas as a sort of defense reaction. Using clowns is a quick way to make the
participants have a more open attitude towards the issues.
Humor is a nice way of bringing people together. Smiling is a good exercise
and unites people. The red nose has a power, so why not use it for a good
purpose? Clowns help to create an interest and their jokes are important as a
contrast to the seriousness of the problem. Clowns are not at all clever and they
are very innocent, so whilst they are joking they are able to ask important questions
instead of just providing answers. We want to make people think as much as
possible and provoke them into participating.
Process: Work in Progress
We are changing or creating new aspects after each workshop, because each time
we learn something new from such a variety of different groups: teenagers, working
| 47 |

people, parents, University students, etc., and thus we are able to improve the workshop.
We create different characters specific for each group. We always try to create a
good atmosphere to encourage people to say what they really think or feel.
Content (basic script)
It can always be varied depending on the time available, the number and the type
of the participants and the dynamics of the session.
The Injustice Contamination Detector
Participants enter the workshop individually so that our detector can calculate
the degree of injustice with which any one person’s clothes are contaminated.
Normally we use a piece of wool as a sensor, although also we have used other
materials. The clown who welcomes the participants inside the workshop then
uses his own voice to create the sound of the detector.The other clown prepares
the people to enter.
Warm Up and Contact Games
The games vary depending on the group.
Two Examples:
T-shirts and Trousers: Form 2 groups, one T-shirts, the other Trousers.The Trousers
keep their arms extended up in the air and the T-shirts keep their arms in a cross
formation.They all walk around and we shout out different clothes combinations
like trousers-trousers, t-shirt-trousers, t-shirt-t-shirt. On hearing this they have
to pair up with and embrace another participant to create the formation.
Touching an article of their companion’s clothes:
Each member of the formed pair chooses an article of clothing.
“Clean Clothes” Questionnaire
Everyone must respond to the questions that are on the piece of clothing chosen
by their companion. (The reading of the random questions is voluntary)
A group discussion on the results of the game and people’s opinions on the
issues. Finding out what the similarities in the viewpoints are between each
group member.
Acting Out the Commercialization of Clothes
A visual representation of the steps that have already occurred by the time we
see a product advertised, using an extreme example of the chain, where we see
as far back as to the moment when the worker makes the article.
Participants interact in the show and forum.
An Interview with Zoila and Najat
In the interview with Zoila and Najat we see how two different positions
concerning the same issue are reflected. Zoila is a worker who left the countryside
to look for his fortunes in the city of Tangiers (Northern Morocco) and now is
stuck in a textile factory working under very harsh conditions and without any
hope of improvement.
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Najat is an ex-worker of a textile factory in Tangiers She was dismissed for
being one of those principally involved in a 20-day strike, where all the workers
participated. Now she lives in Seville (Spain), where she works for an NGO and
tries to help her compatriots. She thinks that the situation can change, but only
if workers denounce their employers.
The interview ends with a “Hot Seat” where the participants can ask what
they like from the special guests.
Responsible Consumerism Games
There are many games of responsible consumerism. One of the most popular is
called the Cruise. All the participants have won a magnificent cruise and a blank
check for expenses, with which they must buy a maximum of five things that they
feel, are necessary for the journey.They have to write each item down on a card.
The ship begins to have severe problems after a violent storm, and the passengers
are forced to abandon the ship and get on a lifeboat. In order to stabilize the
lifeboat they have to get rid of two of the 5 chosen items. After two more days
and with no sight of land, they are forced to get rid of two more of the chosen
items. Finally, they arrive on a desert island, with only one of their chosen items.
Once they get on the island, the group has to organize themselves and see what
their basic needs are, and how to provide for themselves with the remaining
items. The final part of the game is when a plane finds them and saves them and
each individual has to reflect upon their five chosen items and whether they
would choose the same items if the situation arose again.
A mini-discussion, chaired by Dr Torribes, with an open question session. Dr.
Torribes, a university professor, talks about the fundamentals of the Clean Clothes
Campaign and answers any possible questions from participants. He himself has
previously suffered a nervous breakdown, and as a result f this, he speaks very
fast and when he gets excited he loses his breath, and needs to drink water in
order to continue.
Results
We found that people come to the workshop with a certain amount of surprise
and expectation and that is great. They want to play, and to take part in the
activities, and they have fun learning about the Clean Clothes Campaign.
Usually people are happy with their experience and think about the situations
we have acted out. After the workshop, the audience becomes more curious and
concerned about labor rights issues. Some people feel a little bit hopeless because
they can not see a quick solution, whilst others congratulate us because they
laughed a lot and they feel that these kinds of shows are very necessary. They
also complain about the non-transparency of the companies, and how very little
information is available on the subject. The success of the workshop is perhaps
found in pulling together an entertaining environment with a socially important
content.
All the objectives are usually completed, although this varies according to the
group attending.The situation is changes slightly depending on whether the group
came voluntarily or not, on their age etc.
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Since the workshop was started:
• It has raised considerably the number of visits to the CCC Website.
• It has introduced some very interesting proposals and visions for the future.
• It has opened up mini-debates on immigration and racism.
• The campaign has received more volunteers.
Commentaries
The requirements of the consumer in general are very worrying these days,
particularly concerning clothes, above all amongst young people. Many young
people recognize clearly that the only thing that matters to them is the brand of
the clothes and that they like them selves like the clothes, without thinking about
anything else. It seems evident that education plays a key role in this matter, most
importantly the amount of time that children and young people go unprotected
against the excesses of consumerism, largely in the form of advertising.
In the workshop we always act out a scene where people are being exploited,
getting the participants involved. They often feel impotent as individuals in this
scenario and sometimes react in an aggressive manner because they do not want
to feel responsible for the situation. Many of them are shocked to see the other
side of the situation for the first time. Most people had not ever imagined that
situations like this even existed and they ask for information on brands that are
not contaminated by injustice. Unfortunately none exist at the moment, even
though considerable improvements have been made.
How to Develop the Activities in the Future
The workshop is continuously developing, and now we have created a version
with new characters and materials that can be carried out in the street. As far as
the content is concerned, we can try new ways, but this always proves difficult
because of time constraints. Two hours go by very quickly when the public is
participating and the entertainers are clowns. When we tried to include more
content it became a struggle against time to complete the whole script which
did not help the public in understanding the issues.
Now we are thinking of creating parallel workshops, or continuing workshops
with a more concrete content and a less general topic concerning the consumption
of clothes. This way we can get deeper into a particular issue, for example, the
day-to-day reality of a worker in the textile industry, or the issue of competition
to reduce costs and to be more competitive etc. These types of workshops
would not necessarily require a clown, but apply process drama instead. At the
moment, this is an idea still in development.
Actors Working in the Workshop
Txus Martínez, Jose Adserias and David Martínez.
| 50 |

Uncovering the Conflict.
Exploring Our Decisions Through Drama
“Light, always light of prisons loaded”
Prisons in Catalonia
David
Martínez Currently there are nine prisons in Catalonia, three of which are in Barcelona.
These nine prisons have been functioning since 1993 (under the CIU government)
with a 29% increase in prisoners during that time, which correlates to a significantly
high occupation level within these prisons. With the change to the present
government (PSC-ERC-IUV) it appears that there is an impulse towards the
construction of new prisons (15 prisons in nine years) and the improvement of
the existing ones, but at the moment this remains a promise.
The present situation derives from the state policy of the previous PP
government that chose the incarceration of an increasing number of individuals
as a security measure, while ignoring the conditions of the centers. In the rest of
Catalonia there has also been a 29% increase of prisoners.
“La Modelo” Prison (The Model)
The optimum occupation level for this prison is considered to be 700 people;
however the center currently holds 2,037 inmates, almost three times the advisable
level.This center is located downtown Barcelona, in a deteriorated building, which
has been waiting for years on a decision for it to be restored or to be relocated
to another, less visible site. At present it is the center with the most prisoners in
Catalonia.
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The Background of the Prison Workshop
The Drama Way theatre initiative was dedicated to promoting the implementation
of new theatre projects locally. One of the options the group investigated was to
develop a theatre workshop with young prisoners, while always utilizing theatre
presentations as a work tool. The first option explored was to work in the “La
Trinitat” prison, through a contact with Ahmel Benallal, a social worker, who
specializes in helping to solve problems faced by Moroccan inmates. This center
is exclusively for young prisoners from the age of 18 to 25.
We visited this prison and conducted a test session. Both parties were
interested, but the strict schedule of activities in the center did not facilitate the
incorporation of the workshop in the optimum conditions. The second option
was to work in the prison “La Modelo” with Oriol Bosch, a civil employee in charge
of theatrical activities at the prison. After a meeting with Julio Zino, a member of
the Servei de Rehabilitació del Departament de Justicia I Interior (Rehabilitation
Services of the Justice and Interior Department) of the Catalonian state
government, our proposal was authorized by the head of services, Jesús Martínez
i Martin and we were able to begin the workshop.
Description of the Workshop
Working with theatre in a prison opens many different paths, and while always
staying within the objectives and possibilities of the center, can be developed in
unique ways. The theatre activity that I presented is not designed for the public
but for ourselves and the participants from the prison. Theatre, in this case, is
used to undertake a different journey from what is achieved through
representational theatre. In interactive theatre everyone represents different
personalities and everyone can be a protagonist, each person helping to solve
the conflict raised in the drama.
This work model, in which the sessions are normally independent, facilitates
the incorporation of new participants. Each person is obliged to participate
physically in the session and can do so in the moment they choose.This is theatre
to educate from the individual experience, which also includes the incorporation
of playing games.
Target group: The intention was to work principally with juvenile inmates from
the “La Modelo” prison, identified as being in a preventive* state. Preventive
identifies a prisoner who is waiting judgment. These prisoners are the ones that
do not have sufficient money to pay for bail. A “preventive” inmate can be jailed
for a period that varies from several months to five years, while waiting to be
declared innocent or guilty and to receive their judgment.
We worked with individuals who participated in the prisons theater activities; the
majority of them were preventives, although there were some participants completing
their sentences.They were inmates who were housed in sections (galerías) 1, 2 and 3
of the prison. In La Modelo there are 6 sections in which the prisoners are located,
based upon their behavior. The volunteers who choose theatre must attend the
sessions each day with their educator.The days that we did not work on interactive
theatre with them, we presented Moliere’s work “The Doctor to his Grief”.
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Duration: The proposed work plan was for a total of three months, working
two days each week in three hour sessions, including a final, open session where
additional members of the project Drama Way were incorporated.
The Location of the Activity: The ideal area to hold this type of workshop is
an independent space, with as little furniture as possible and with a warm floor.
The initial space made available to us was a large room with a stage, but which,
unfortunately we soon discovered was also a passageway to and from other
rooms. This made it difficult to concentrate well enough and resulted in the
constant exiting and entering of the participants. In the final sessions, therefore,
we decided to transfer the activity to a music classroom that although significantly
smaller, allowed for a better concentration and facilitated the participation of
the entire group.
Materials: Materials provided by the center included stereo equipment, a video
recorder (used during some of the sessions), and other props to enrich the
games; such as, fabric, clothes etc. For each session the material used changed
based on the content, which was developed during the session.This material was
normally supplied by the teacher.
The Objectives of the Activity:
• Entertainment of the participants.
• Improve the participants’ ability to analyze conflicts.
• Allow the participants to exchange and discuss their preoccupations.
• Improve relations between the prisoners.
• Develop the prisoners’ understanding and interest in drama and theatre.
• Harness the creative and analytical abilities of the participants.
Methodology:
The base of all the activities is game playing.The first part of a session focuses on
removing the participants’ inhibitions, while the second part consists of a theatrical
work either presented as a story, or around a concrete subject, and finally the
activity ends with open commentaries about the session.
• Dramatic games for alleviating inhibitions (Norman Taylor, Phillippe Gaulier,
Antón Valé and others)
• Activities based on the proposals of Augusto Boal
• Activities based on the proposals of Allan Owens and Keith Barber
EXAMPLE SESSIONS:
Name Game: All of the participants walk freely around the area and one participant
should touch the hand of another. At the moment when the person is touched
they must quickly call out the name of one of the participants. If the name is
spoken clearly and quickly, and corresponds to one of the participants the person
continues, if not they are eliminated from the game. To continue the game, the
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person whose name was called out must touch another person, and in this way
the game continues until only two people are left. (If you are touched you say a
name, if your name is said you touch someone).
The Air Serpent: The participants form a circle. The leader begins to look at
someone in the eyes and sends them an “air serpent” (by blowing air towards
them).The recipient must absorb the serpent with the same characteristics used
by its “creator” (in rhythm, duration….). Then the recipient becomes the creator
and sends another air serpent to a different participant, and in this way the game
continues.The game becomes more complicated when there are various serpents
being sent at the same time, and the participants’ perception and concentration
increases in importance. When the game finishes, the same serpents that were
born should be kept alive.
Theatre Image: The Hold-up
In one of the sessions we asked the groups to create a still image about “The
Drug” (the participants chose the subject).
One of the images created was of a hold-up. Once presented, the other
participants try to guess exactly what happened and what each one of the
characters had done. A debate began quickly about whether it was a good or a
bad hold-up, what was dangerous about it and what could have been improved.
Afterwards we utilized different interactive techniques, such as touching
another person and listening to what they are thinking of, or passing on the
action by slapping palms, or asking questions from the characters about who
they are and what they are doing. Finally to modify the situation, the suggestions
made resulted in spectators being used to replace some of the characters. In
general, they chose the policeman because he was in an unfavorable situation.
Interestingly, the solution that was suggested most often was that the policeman
would shoot to kill.
* The Image Theatre is a technique of the Theatre of the Oppressed created by Augusto Boal.
The Interactive Theatre Scene: The Lunch Line
A representation of a scene that is common in the prison cafeteria. There is an
extremely long line of people waiting to eat, and a prisoner, who rather violently
enters the beginning of the queue, appears (they say it is because he is a
“Methadone”*), and this causes an intense fight to break out.The action is repeated
with different protagonists who make recommendations on how to improve the
scene. We then form hypotheses about possible motives why the prisoner
nicknamed “Methadone” acts this way. Almost all of the options presented end in
a fight. Therefore, a debate is begins about the scene. Some of the commentaries
discussed were that since he was drugged he could not care less about the
queue and believed they would let him enter it where he wanted. Or that in
reality he wanted to provoke a fight so that they would move him from his
prison section on account of bad behavior, sometimes this is an effective strategy
if you have serious problems with someone from the same section. At the end,
there was no proposal with which all the participants agreed.The first of the two,
which were most widely accepted, was that he would be allowed to enter the
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queue and not be paid attention to, although some of them argued that this was
unacceptable because it is necessary to establish limits. The other one was to
not let him enter the queue, but still avoid a fight breaking out, but many felt it
would be difficult to avoid a fight.
* “Methadone” is the nickname given to some drug-addict prisoners who are given doses of methadone
to calm them down.
Process Drama: “The Rains” (pg. 109-120, Drama Works by Allan Owens &
Keith Barber.) Based on a story from Ghana, Africa. “African Dilemma Story”
The Structure of the Session
Some possible steps:
Contract: We begin by explaining the origin of the story and its content.
Objective: To warm-up and introduce the group to the session.
Defining space: Present and explain the set to make the people envision the
space and create an atmosphere.
Story-Telling: Tell the story in an appealing and interesting way.
The first part of the story involves a squirrel, whose carefully prepared, is invaded
by a large porcupine in search for refuge during the heavy rain season.The squirrel
allows the porcupine to stay for three days and three nights – in accordance to
the law of the forest – despite the greatly reduced space in the nest and the fact
that the squirrel has just the right amount of food for its needs. When the time
has ended, the squirrel asks the porcupine to leave but he refuses to.This part of
the story ends when the porcupine says to the squirrel “I do not have a problem,
you have the problem”.
Key Question: The story stops at the moment when the conflict is the most
difficult to resolve, and the leader announces the next step – he or she is going
to play one of the roles, in our case the porcupine, and will ask what the squirrel
can do.
Clarification of the Scene: The leader attempts to clarify the situation for the
participants and in doing so, encourage them to propose ideas, which can then
be tried and then possible results may be discussed.
Teacher in Role Play Class Preparing Audience to Comment: Allow the
participants to feel open to proposing solutions and comment the conflict. Do
not rebuke their ideas, and treat all of them seriously.
Commentary on Action: Invite new people with new ideas to enact the scene.
Role Play Teacher in Role Forum: The audience could stop the action if they
think it is going nowhere and try another situation until one solution is found,
and a follow-up of the potential consequences has been made.
Narration: The story resumes from the moment when the squirrel continues
to look for a solution that will make the intruder leave. The solution presented
was that the porcupine falls into a violent river. (At this moment two options can
be offered to the participants to continue the story: one, the porcupine dies, or
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two, he does not die, so that he can be still be used for the rest of the story. In
our case, I opted for the animal dying without consulting with the participants).
While this occurs, the king of the forest passes by and bears witness to the
porcupine falling into the river, and the squirrel passively watching, without reacting
to the porcupine’s cries for help.
Whole Group Role Play: Everyone has to play his own animal or participate as a
member of the court of animals which will pass judgment. The teacher acts as the
judge (and is responsible for organizing different roles: Lawyers, witnesses, etc.).
The Verdict: The judge leaves the room and the group has to decide among
themselves, if the squirrel is guilty or innocent. If he is guilty they have to decide
upon the punishment.
Comments: There are different steps that you could use or adopt depending on
your needs (time, age of the participants, the size of the group, etc.) This process
drama can be developed in different sessions or be adapted for one long session.
The Implementation Process
In the beginning it was relatively slow to implement the process due to the fact
that the prisoners distrusted the educator, thinking that he could be a police
infiltrator.We therefore began the process by conducting numerous games directed
at getting to know each other.We also benefited significantly from the participation
of the center’s social worker, who is best acquainted with the prisoners and
interacts with them daily.
Once the group accepted working together and we established regular
attendance, we began to develop image theatre with the group, applying interactive
theatre techniques.We found that on account of some of the images which were
presented, very interesting debates developed on topics such as how a hold up
should be carried-out, using drugs, the treatment they receive from some of the
government employees, the problems of living with other prisoners, racism, the
differences between prisons from other countries, etc. One of the notable insights,
which came out of an Interactive Theatre scene, was the description of a blackmail
demand by the prison’s superiors, so that the prisoners could get a job in prison,
which was a subject unknown even to the social worker. This blackmail demand
included giving information on the other prisoners and giving information about
drug trafficking within the prison, etc. Therefore, being a victim of blackmail was
presented as a key step for progressing in the prison system. A question we
asked ourselves was what type of re-education are these individuals receiving
for their return into society?
To continue the conflict analysis process, we worked with stories using
the Process Drama technique. For this process, the structure of the work was
made more attractive, so that the participation and implication of the prisoners
in searching for solutions to different conflicts was increased. In this phase we
worked principally with the concepts developed by Allan Owens and Keith Barber.
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Open session for members of drama way
“Hamlet” was the session presented during the meeting of Drama Way in
Barcelona, in which the prisoners as well as the visitors participated equally in
the story. The reception was very positive, as was the quality level of the
participants. Having direct contact with so many people from the outside, some
from other countries was an additional motivation for the prisoners. It was also
an interesting experience for the visitors, since the majority of them were entering
a prison for the first time in their lives. It was a meeting of two unique worlds.
Commentaries on the sessions
It was peculiar to see, just as in the story “The Rains” where a final judgment is
made, how in two separate groups they agreed in declaring the squirrel innocent
(which normally would be guilty-verdict, given the situation as it was presented),
and blaming the lion for being responsible for the imprisonment of the poor
squirrel, since he was the only witness to accuse the squirrel. This experience
demonstrates how the prisoners project their real desires in fictitious stories,
although sometimes some of them do recognize that it would not be the best
solution, nor the most just.
In one of the sessions of “The Rains” many of the prisoners remained separated
from the session, standing at a distance and only observing, but little by little they
all became incorporated into the story at one moment or another. For example,
the person who eventually acted as district attorney, in addition to performing
his role very well and energetically, was one of the inmates who had attended all
of the sessions as a passive spectator. Interestingly, at the moment that he decided
to participate in the judgment scene, all of the other prisoners demanded that he
first choose an animal. This situation demonstrates how the participants who
remain outside of the activity, can still follow the session with the same intensity
as the others and their participation can be very positive at any moment that
they enter into the Process Drama.
I was also surprised by the lack of confidence the prisoners had in each other.
In a simple game to create dynamics between an enemy and a protector, many
alleged that they were their own protectors, and if there was somebody above
them it would be God, not another person.“If you have a protector and he fails...
what happens to you?”
In the activity “Living on a Farm” it was surprising to see the rigorous and
clear concept of justice that the most of the participants had, and how they were
willing to pardon someone, but not in just any arbitrary manner.
Evaluations
Even, when taking into account the relatively short duration of the project, we
were able to observe positive changes in the inmates’ attitudes towards the
activities. The participants evaluated the work as necessary and they even
requested more sessions in order to continue the process.
I also consider the experience to have been very positive based upon the
response from the prisoners, the social worker responsible and some of the
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management staff of the center.The ability to create a space, where the prisoners
can dedicate their time to thinking about resolving conflicts and their
consequences, while entertaining themselves, is fundamental and necessary for
people who are in a phase of “social re-integration”. Without this type of work
the “circle of hatred” is intensified and the prisoners leave more delinquent than
when they entered. “Jail is becoming the ideal place to learn how to be a good
criminal”.
I believe that it is extremely necessary to reflect upon the sense and the
function of prison, as well as their management and the type of activities that are
developed inside the centers.The “La Modelo” prison is evaluating the possibility
of creating a Dramatic Process session that is open to the public within the
Forum of the cultures, in Barcelona, in 2004. This is an important and positive
recognition of the work undertaken, and an important first step in continuing
the process in the future.
How to Develop the Activities in the Future
For a significant beneficial impact, a workshop with these characteristics requires
a commitment from the center. The prison is like a micro-society, where we do
not only have to interact with the prisoners, but also with the different bodies of
government that work there, especially with the civil employee guards, who are
usually very solitary, aggressive people, who work at an unpleasant job for the
entire day, and will abuse the absurd power given to them. The activities should
be valued higher by the center, and perhaps become a required activity for the
prisoners.Although, regardless of the group with which one works, it is fundamental
that continuity or at least a minimum follow-up to the work is provided.
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Other experiences – Theater work in prisons:
Elena Canovas: Theatre director in a women’s prison.
In 1985 Ms Canovas founded the Yeses theatre group, in which over 300 female
inmates, of the women’s prison Alcala-Meco in Madrid, have participated. The
majority of the prisoners in the theatre group are young foreign women who
have been convicted for drug trafficking. Normally they come from marginal
districts and have experienced serious family problems.“They lack planning capacity
in the long term. It does not interest to them to reflect, they resort to direct
action immediately. They need immediate results. They believe that good things
occur by chance, never through personal effort. They are aggressive and usually
distrustful, but have a consistent need of affection. It is reasonable for us to
reflect on what we would have done in the same circumstances.” The Yeses acted
out the performance Libertas, Libertatis at the Cultural Forum 2004 in Barcelona
in two daily sessions during a month-long period. During these performances,
the prisoners usually shared roles with professional actors.
Augusto Boal:
“In collaboration with Paul Heritage and his People’s Project at the University of
London, we initiated a “Theatre project in Jails” program.To be more precise, we
did this in thirty seven jails of São Paulo. This presented us with a totally new
problem: we were working with prisoners, but we could not accept the crimes
they had committed, although we strongly endorsed their desire to discover a
new future for themselves.We also worked with the prison guards - one of them
had written the words “Human rights” on his billy-club. We could not identify
ourselves with them either: the prisoners were convicted to serve a sentence in
prison, not to suffer humiliation and other sufferings.The civil employees tend to
take out the bad labour conditions, low pay and dangers that their job entails on
the prisoners.
Everything which is prohibited outside the prisons is common practice within
them... if the prisoner has money, drugs and robberies, sexual violence, prostitution,
fights between gangs, torture and murder are all present. The jails of Brazil are
like deposits of human beings, who are there without anything to do, just as if
patients were admitted into a hospital without any doctors or nurses, nor any
medication: how are the patients going to cure themselves? Our prisons are
becoming factories of hatred.
During the first stage of the project we did not discover anything new: the
prisoners are deprived of their freedom, but they have all the time in the world;
we, on the other hand, can move freely, but we are limited by time.What can they
do with their extra time? The Theatre of the Oppressed creates “freedom spaces”
where people can release their memories, emotions, imagination, can think about
the past, and reflect upon the present, while striving to discover their future
instead of passively waiting for it with their arms crossed.
How can we create these “freedom spaces” within the walls of a prison? The
prisoners are free to analyze their past, of course, so why not invent a distant future?
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But what happens in the present? This is a more serious problem: for the
prisoners the present is a conflict with their powerful enemy: the civil employees
of the prisons, who also consider themselves to be oppressed.The guards do not
like the prisoners to be involved in theatre which entertains them while they
themselves must continue working and guarding them.
Both parties have prejudice against each other; both groups view the other
one as its enemy. The same thing occurred when I worked with Protestants and
Catholics in Derry (Ireland); their prejudices were apparently religious and
historical; but all of them had problems with their families and spouses, they had
personal problems and were restless. It was not necessary to emphasize their
religion, but to try and see the individual. It was important to see the people
without the subtitles.
This is what we have begun to do here: to not see the imprisoned man in the
prisoner, nor the man in the uniform in the civil employee. The goal is to see
them - before judging them according to any qualifying determinants - for what
they really are: people. We tried to analyze the subjects that were of interest to
both groups, in particular personal problems, which we all have in common.
Now the question is “If that is the case, why did we not use the Rainbow of
Desire technique?” A similar question was put to me by some actors from
Stanford-on-Avon: “Why don’t we create a Forum theatre”.
It is the same... and it is not; it is the same being different and it is different being
the same.
Allan Owen s· (Article “Sharing Something”)
Theatre reference:
Segismundo
: ...What law, justice or reason,
can deny a man knowledge,
a privilege so sublime,
an exception so basic
that God has given it to a stream,
a fish, a beast and a bird?
Fragment from “Life is dream” by Calderón de la Barca (XVII century)
Bibliography:
Pere Rios, El PAIS, May 10th, 2004
El PAIS June 22nd, 2004
Cristina Savall, el Periódico, November 9th, 2003
Augusto Boal, The Rainbow of Desire, Routledge, 1995
Augusto Boal, Games for actors and non-actors, Alba Editorial, 1998, 2001
Allan Owens & Keith Barber, Drama Works, Carel Press, 1997
Allan Owens & Keith Barber, Mapping drama, Carel Press, 2001
The voice of the prisoners:
“Jail is only for the poor man, it doesn’t stop the rich ones”.
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A School for Parents
A Project in the Centre for Early Childhood and Primary Education
Jordi
Bernat de Boil
Forcadas
Educational level: Early Childhood and Primary Education and School for
Parents.
Curricular areas involved in the project: Formation of values.
Participating institutions: CEIP Bernat de Boil, Parents’ Association (AMPA)
of the CEIP Bernat de Boil, Psycho-pedagogical consulting team of San Andrés,
staff of the Social Theatre of the Forn de Teatre Pa’tothom.
Objectives are to:
• Form social values and skills in both parents and children.
• Bring parents closer to school, in order to create a space of dialogue and
exchange, and to provide answers to questions or concerns they may
have, adapted to the socio-cultural context.
• Inspire families to become aware of the importance of school in the
education of their children.
• Establish relationships between the different members of the educational
community and community services and further intercultural aspects
present in the school environment and neighbourhood.
Background
The Bon Pastor neighbourhood, where the school is located, has undergone a
series of primarily economic and social changes in recent years, with the
corresponding impact on students. This is evident in the lack of educational
resources, autonomous habits, social skills and the devaluation of the models
offered by the school; this in turn influences daily conviviality and limits the
understanding between the educational, family and school environments.
The project is based on the understanding that an intervention directed at
raising the awareness of educational models of families, and offering alternatives
to some of their conflicts, can result in a change of relationship patterns. The
project began in the 2001-2002 school year, and was joined by the members of
the Comisión Social and the AMPA of the school.
Organisation
During the school year, seven sessions were held between 15:00 and 16:30 in the
afternoon. In each one of these sessions, professional actors stage, in a humorous
way, a conflictive situation following a script of the proposed subject matter. The
characters represent the most common errors in the education of children within
and outside the family environment. After the performance, a debate was led by
a stage director in order to form a link between the actors and the public, with
parents giving their opinions of the portrayed subject matter, and offering possible
alternatives. The scene is then performed again, this time incorporating the new
situations and attitudes.
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The subject matters included:
• resolution of conflicts, relationship with surroundings
• limits and self-esteem in the education of our children
• education related to consuming
• co-education and intercultural questions
• personal habits and autonomy
• end of course activity ‘living together’.
Parallel to this, work is carried out with the students through a program of
applied social skills in weekly tutorial sessions.
Additional material: photographs, a dossier, videos.
Evaluation
We value the experience as positive, both in terms of the participation of the
parents, and in the dynamics of the sessions themselves. We believe many of the
aimed objectives have been achieved.
We highlight the following points of view:
• Many families that had previously had little contact with the school, have now
become more involved. It is important to highlight the good relations that have
been established between different families, above all because of the multi-
cultural nature of the school, where prejudices that often start with parents
open the way to new conflicts between the pupils. It has been an opportunity
to get to know one another better and to resolve problems together.
• All of this has a direct impact on pupils: On one hand, children see that
their parents have an improved relationship with the school, on the other
hand, parents can apply the lessons they have learned in the sessions in
their relationships with their children.
• We believe the project has been made possible thanks to the group effort
of all of the participating professionals.
Feedback
In preparing for the sessions, the Pa’tothom Social Theatre Company shared
different moments and scenes with the students at break times in the playground
or the lunchroom.
We have witnessed such scenes as the following:
A group of 6 year-old gypsy girls insulting a 3 year-old black African boy until he
began to cry; a large number of children running after one of our actors in what
began as a game but ended with him being bruised and pummelled as a result of
the aggressiveness of the kids aged from ten to twelve.
We have also been surprised by how five or six year old children immediately
assume that we smoke marijuana simply because they see us rolling a cigarette.
After working with them for a number of years, most of these children have
become very fond of us and have favourably changed their attitude towards us,
as well as towards each other.
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During the sessions, we have also experienced special situations, such as that
of a gypsy mother, who attended all of the sessions with the aim of enjoying
herself and getting some respite from her infernal home life.At times, she managed
to unsettle our director with her boldness and constant suggestions and jokes.
Although she was a perturbing element, it was also important that she continued
to come to the sessions. A constant back and forth managed, in most cases, to
ease the situation, although it was inevitable that some parents of other cultures,
such as Latin or Arab ones were not at all comfortable.
Pa’Tothom Theatre has its premises in an old bakery in the heart of Barcelona.
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A Theatre Project with the Immigrant Children of Raval
Approximate duration of the project: from November 2003 to November
Anna
2004.
Caubet
Co-ordination of the project: Associació Teatral Pa’tothom.
&
Jordi
Project Directors: Anna Caubet and Jordi Forcadas.
Forcadas
General
Where did the idea come from?
The arrival of a significant number of immigrant people in recent years has created a
neighbourhood of different cultures. Many initiatives are aimed at the youth in Raval,
particularly at those between the ages of nine and fourteen. As we are aware of the
reticence of many youths in doing theatre, and likewise, the primary importance of
creating a space for meeting and exchange, we look for ways of making the workshop
attractive, for example, by playing hip-hop music. We view this activity as ideal for
young people over 14 years of age, which is also the best age for beginning theatre.
With this in mind, Pa’tothom proposed creating an interactive theatre workshop
with the different neighbourhood groups that work with youths.
Joker Jordi Forcadas asks the audience what could a young immigrant boy
Pablito do to get involved in the plays and games of the new homeland.
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Who was the project proposed to?
The Casal Jove del Casal dels Infants del Raval accepted the activity immediately.
This youth centre works with youths who hang-out at different public spaces
in the neighbourhood: squares, street corners, etc.
The street educators offered them different workshops. They have a social
educator, a professional social worker/monitor, interns and a group of 10 to 15
volunteers spread out over the week. They provide the youths with language
reinforcement (Catalan, Spanish), labour skills workshops, music and parties in
the parks. One objective of the centre is to involve all kinds of people from the
neighbourhood in different activities. Relations between the youths and the people
living in the neighbourhood is conflictive (the kids are seen as thieves or drug
addicts).
It is necessary to mention the increase in youth gangs throughout Barcelona,
in addition to the marginalisation of many who are without documentation, and
who will be deported once they are legally adults.
The philosophy of Pa’tothom coincides with this centre, and so the school
has begun to work with all of the kids, dividing them into two groups: the older
ones and the younger ones.
The centre, for its part, is committed to bringing the youths to Pa’tothom
once a week, accompanied by an educator in all of the sessions.
What is the work group?
These boys and girls have the following characteristics:
• Potential group of 15 youngsters from the Raval neighbourhood, whose
ages range between 14 and 18.
• 75% of the group is foreign (mostly of Moroccan, Dominican, Pakistani or
Indian origin)
• 40% of the group has lived in our country for less than five years.
• More than half of those who study, and are in the group, have an educational
level very far below the average in Barcelona.
Why our project?
The primary needs that are addressed fall into three areas:
Educational needs
These boys and girls have a low overall educational level in comparison to students
in other areas of the city. We address learning from another point of view, by
putting the aspects of the youths’ educational shortcomings into a social context.
Dealing with issues that affect them leads them to learn different perspectives
and attitudes, while questioning their surroundings and fomenting their desire to
interact, is important in a group of youths who, before being able to develop a
critical attitude, must first of all deal with surviving.
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Participation
The teenagers of the neighbourhood are not used to formally participating in
specific activities or subjects.Their level of social participation is usually reduced
to neighbourhood surroundings and neither the conviction nor the confidence
exists to take part in anything.They often have economic and language difficulties,
and the creation of a ‘ghetto’ combined with the social condition of being an
adolescent, conditions these kids into not believing in their potential to participate.
In this sense, the project aims to convince them of their own potential.
Free Time
This workshop should be an entertainment resource. The time spent here is a
magnificent opportunity to offer socialisation and to at least partially compensate
for the lack of equal opportunities. For this reason, the project integrates many
activities from an entertainment perspective, which at the same time motivates,
educates and gets youths - who otherwise are not very likely to join in non-
obligatory activities outside of school - to participate.
The Organisation and the Plan of the Work
Phase 1
Work with games, body expression, rhythm. Create the group and a dynamic for
the sessions.
Phase 2
Sessions with music, massage, breathing exercises. First sessions of forum theatre
Expressivity Drama pretext and other techniques of Augusto Boal, Julián Boal
and Allan Owens
Phase 3
Theatre games, rhythm, concentration, manipulation Propose creating a piece
about a subject matter that concerns them. Interventions: Invisible theatre
Phase 4
(Sept 2004) Preparation of the piece with five of the youths to be presented in
November of 2004. A short film will also be made about the process and how
each participant gets involved in the work.
All of the sessions were recorded and a short, 20-minute documentary was
made. The documentary clearly shows the progress of a normal session.
Title of the Action of Invisible Theatre:
“The Right to Do What I Like”
Participating Actors: four youths, four passive spectators
Frame of Action
Space of Pa’tothom. First room or reception area.
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People to whom the action was directed
People who attend the school. At the moment of changing classes, three groups
came together.There were also participants of Drama Way, as well as administrative
staff. A total of about 40 people.
People who know the action was planned
The teachers and the staff of Pa’tothom. The rest of the people did not know.
The Action
After class, an Arab girl sits down on a bench in the reception area to speak with
a boy. A lot of people are there waiting to enter class or leave. A youth arrives
from the street and approaches the girl, speaking to her first in Arabic and when
other actors intervene, in Spanish. He tells the girl to leave the school immediately
and when she refuses, begins to raise his voice. The girl gets angry and asks him
why she has to leave, that there is nothing wrong in doing theatre; her brother
tells her that her father is furious and wants her to come home now. A friend of
the girl tries to defend her and there is a moment of tension. A teacher or a
member of the staff of the school intervenes and calms the kids down. The girl’s
brother verbally attacks the girl’s friend, telling him he has nothing to do with all
of this. The girl tells her brother that the boy is her boyfriend and questions why
he (her brother) has more privileges than she does. In the end, the brother
accompanies the girl to the street the idea being that she has agreed to stop
arguing in order to prevent him from hurting her boyfriend.
Subject Matter
All subject matter came from the group during sessions. Not being able to study
theatre is sometimes a problem. Other subjects also came up, such as family
norms, structures and the inferior position of women, the power of the brother
and the situation of second-generation kids, whose parents do not accept the
fact that they change their traditional customs.
Objectives
The following basic motives for undertaking the action were found: -Show the
participants of Drama Way what life is currently like in Barcelona and in particular,
in Raval. -Get the youths to realise that they can perform in front of people. -
Deal with matters of co-existence between different cultures, and see to what
extent people are capable of intervening in such situations. This intercultural
exchange is a first step towards acceptance and recognition.
The Length of the Action
-15 minutes – Preparation time for the action: The action was planned in two
sessions.
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Evaluation
The situation of an Arab girl being forbidden to study theatre is such a likely and
contemporary subject that it was truly easy to believe the action on the part of
both the actors and the public that was there. The participation of the public
was minimal. As usually happens in these cases, everybody closely followed the
confrontation but nobody made a stand in the matter. It was only afterwards
that people asked the actors if what had happened was for real or not. It should
also be pointed out that the public was not a typical public and was fairly removed
from the social background of the actors. It would be interesting to see what
would happen if the action took place in a social environment closer to that of
the actors. In the end, the public was told that the performance was Invisible
Theatre; we felt that one of the objectives of the action was to spark a discussion
on the use of this technique. The youths, who performed very well, left very
content and this will surely motivate them to continue doing theatre. The same
level of involvement was not reached during rehearsals, during which they usually
quickly ended up fighting among themselves. The subject matter is material that
should be continued to be studied and searched for solutions through other
actions of forum theatre.Their confrontation with other youths of similar cultural
backgrounds would greatly help them become more aware of the social process
they are going through.
Conclusions
The group has been formed and there are five permanent members to the group.
Other possibilities have opened up within the cultural context of the
neighbourhood. In the following phase, we will try to consolidate all the work we
have done up till now through a piece of interactive theatre. If support continues
for this project, the group will be able to establish itself. Pa’tothom will ensure
that those who want to study theatre will be given grants to attend classes at the
school.
This workshop can lead these youths to realise how important it is to take
part in the social life of the city. It is an opportunity for those who are accustomed
to being treated as a semi-marginalised or pre-delinquent group and the fact of
being heard and taken seriously provides them the legitimacy of intervening
socially.They can do this thanks to the quality of the human and artistic movement
out of which their action has risen.
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A Session of Interactive Theater
Realized in the primary school Bernat de Boil, Barcelona.
Anna
These sessions were regular during the school year of 2001, with a frequency of
Caubet
one session per month. In the beginning they were exclusively made for the
parents to create a space to have discussions about problems they have in bringing
up their children. In the end we did them for the children as well.
We created sessions of Forum Theater, in which the actors dramatized scenes
about the daily lives of the families. These scenes reflected the conflicts they
were going to talk about during the sessions.The selection of conflict-topics was
decided during meetings between the actors, the psychologist, the pedagogue,
the head teacher and some other teachers of the school.
The majority of the families were cases for social workers.We have worked a
lot with topics like: communication, rules and limitations, habits, diversity, violence
between equals, racism, multi-culturalism, affection, etc.
A Session of Ceip Bernat de Boïl
Topic: Diversity
Duration time: 45-60 minutes
Group: 3 actors and one Joker (Jordi FORCADAS)
Objective: Presents the story of a Spanish family that has to move from their
country - because of the father’s job - to “Patagon” (an imaginary country) where
people wear very different clothing from Spain. It’s the first day at school for
Pablito, the son of the family.
Synopsis:
1st Scene:
We see Pablito (from Spain) and Xui-li (from Patagon) in the patio of the school.
Pablo proposes to explain a game they play in his country (soccer). Xui-li listens
to the explanation until a (girl) friend of his passes by and invites him to play
“Tripilonguis”, a typical game in Patagon. Xui-li wants to learn how to play soccer,
but the girl makes fun of the stupid game. Pablo wants to play together with
them after a while, but the girl doesn’t let him because he doesn’t know the
game well.*
2nd Scene:
At home Pablo tells his parents that soccer is a stupid game in this country and
that they have to show him how to play “tripilonguis”.The father gets angry, can’t
understand how to live without soccer and makes disdainful comments about
the people of Patagon.
3rd Scene:
It’s the next day. Pablito and Xui-li are in the patio of the school and they try to
play soccer again, but Xui-li doesn’t want to play and they start to discuss which
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game is the best. In the end Pablito gets angry and repeats the same offensive
phrases that he heard from his father and the boys start fighting. Xui-li leaves
with his friend Takí.
*You could introduce a scene before this one about the moment that the boy and his father arrive at
school to show that it’s a Spanish family that arrives at a different place.You would see the father who
doesn’t have any patience or will to integrate.
Notes
The native kids should wear clothes or some other typical Patagonian accessory
that seems strange to us (the public of the forum theater). They should also
speak with a strange accent.
Methodology
Between the scenes you have a discussion with the public (mothers, fathers, kids)
about what they have seen.The joker asks questions about differences and explains
that a different person is just a person with the same problems and qualities as
everyone else. He explains that knowing other vultures makes you rich.
People from the public can propose different possibilities to change the situation
and sometimes replace an actor by acting like they should act in the situation.
Anecdote
In this session, the actor who was the father of the family was replaced by a
twelve year old boy (from the audience) who used physical violence to punish
Pablito for something he shouldn’t do, by hitting him over the head.This behavior
was rejected by the public and the boy noticed that he was doing wrong using
violence. He made excuses by saying that he didn’t understand it well and that he
thought that he had to act this way.
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Invisible Theatre with the Immigrant Youth
There was an international Drama Way meeting “Theatre and education” in
Jordi
March 2004. It was directed by Jordi Forcadas and co-directed Anna Caubet.
Forcadas
This work is part of Drama Way which was started in December in collaboration
with Casal dels infants del Raval and two educators from Pa’tothom, with the help of
Helena Marí (doing an audiovisual project) and Guillem Monés (camera).
Participants: From 7 to 12 youngsters, within the ages of 15 to 22 years old. At
a certain moment we have divided them into two groups: one for 10-14 year
olds and the other for 15-22 year olds.
The Youngsters Profile: The youngsters are from different social groups and
nationalities or from the second generation of immigrants. Many of them are in
secondary school or studying for a certain occupation. Others are already working.
Their employment and legal position is poor.
One of the goals of the project is that the young people involved learn
techniques trough drama on how to deal or change attitudes or negative behaviour.
Working Topics: Racism, apathy and motivation. Gangs, clans, tribes and family
relations.
All the classes were made artistic and playful by doing physical exercises,
exchange music, dancing, playing and acting.
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Action
Title: The right to do what I want to do.
Place of action
The headquarters of Pa’tothom. At the entrance.
People to whom the action is meant for
Students of the school: there are people coming in and out of class at the moment
of the action. There are also five participants of Drama Way and the secretary
assistants. In total about 40 people.
People who knew about the planned action
The teachers and secretary of Pa’tothom knew about the action.The rest of the
assistants there during that moment didn’t know anything.
The action
After class on the way out an Arabic speaking girl takes a seat next to a boy on
a bench in the entrance room. There are a lot people in the room waiting to go
into class or leaving school. Another boy appears at the street in front of the
school and he talks to the girl in Arabic. When more actors appear, he speaks
Spanish. He asks her to leave the school and when she refuses to, he begins to
talk louder and louder. The girl gets angry and asks him why she has to go and
says that there is nothing wrong with doing theatre. The boy, who seems to be
her brother, tells her that her father is very angry and that she has to go home.
The friend of the girl (who sat next to her on the bench) tries to defend her and
this results in a tense situation between the boys. At this moment I intervene as
the owner of the school and pacify them. I tell them that I allow them to talk like
a brother and a sister. The discussion slows down and the brother turns to his
sister’s friend and tells him to stay out of their business.The girl confesses that it
is her boyfriend and asks why he (her brother) has privileges and she doesn’t. In
the end the brother takes his sister to the street. The girl doesn’t want to talk
any more so that he (the brother) won’t hurt her boyfriend.
Themes
All the themes came up from the youngsters themselves during the sessions. Not
being able to study theatre is a problem we face in every stratum we work with.
Themes like family rules with their structures and the inferior role of the woman;
the power of the brother and the problems the kids of the second generation
have, whose parents doesn’t accept modifications of their customs, also came up.
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Objective
The following basic motives were found to realize this action:
-0 Show the partners of Drama Way the current situation of Barcelona and in
particular, of the neighbourhood Raval. -1 That the youngsters have the
courage to perform in front of people. -2 Touch on themes about the
coexistence of different cultures and to see the measure of how people can
intervene in these kinds of situations.This action as intercultural exchange would
be the first step towards their acceptation and consciousness.
Length
- 15 minutes - Preparation time: we prepared the action in two sessions of one
and a half hour
Evaluation
The situation of an Arabic girl who is not allowed to study theatre is such a
common topic that it was as easy for the actors as for the witnesses to believe
the situation. The participation of the people was minimal. This is how it often
happens in cases when everyone agrees on a situation, but nobody does anything
about it. Afterwards people asked the actors if this happens in real life as well.
Someone said that the problems of the youngsters are different from the ones
the partners of Drama Way and the other witnesses have to deal with.We should
have to see what would happen if it took place in a surrounding that is closer to
the actors’ everyday surroundings. In the end it was revealed to the public that
it was an invisible theatre performance, as one of the objectives was also to
discuss this theatre technique. The youngsters, who did very well, came out
happy and secure, which motivates them to keep on going with theatre. In the
rehearsals there was a different ending, they would have been fighting. The
subject matter is material that should be continued to be studied and searched
for solutions through other actions of forum theatre. Their confrontation with
other youths of similar cultural backgrounds would greatly help them become
more aware of the social process they are going through.
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Portugal
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Interactive Class. Learning about Drama Literature
What is Baal 17?
Marco
Baal 17 is a young theatre company with a home base in, Serpa in the interior of
Ferreira
Alentejo, in Portugal.
Alentejo is one of the poorest regions in Europe, as it has a low level of social
and cultural development. The aim of Baal 17 is to use theatre as a tool of
education and cultural development of this region.The work of Baal 17 is divided
into two different but connected branches.
The first branch is the development of a theatre company inspired by the
traditions of these people, creating and developing their plays with a contemporary
style. Baal 17 tours with the plays all over the region and country, going into
isolated villages in the interior country and performing in schools. Since 2000
Baal 17 has produced plays from Portuguese classical authors to classical world
dramaturges and contemporary young authors.
The second branch is the educative project. Baal 17 has a Theatre in Education
project based on a Portuguese school curriculum called Theatre Interaction
Project.This project has been working since 2000 in all the schools of the region,
going into the class rooms, and introducing authors in different ways, using theatre
as a method of giving new perspectives and ideas to the students.
What is “Interactive Class”?
It all started when we first were in contact with the meaning of “Theatre in
Education”. We had the notions, we had the need to do it because our project
had the same objective, and so we began. Our first experiences in schools were
amazing; we never thought that this kind of direct contact with students was to
be so well received.
Theatre in Education, as we know it, appeared in the 80s, as an artistic, social
and cultural movement. There are so many ways to take theatre to schools; you
can perform; you can teach; you can do both at the same time.This was what we
thought to be essential, instead of only performing plays for them, either in schools
or in theatre, why should we not offer a lot more? And so our own notion of
theatre in schools and theatre inter-action project began to emerge:
• Performing plays for a range of students from primary to high school level
• Interactive lessons
• Workshops
These three points are understandable, especially the first and the third ones.
Let’s then move on into the second point:
• Interactive Lessons or Interactive Class is our own way of introducing
theatre as an instrument in schools to help students in their studies.These
work sessions normally last one hour or ninety minutes, depending of the
class time.
• They take place in the classroom, and most of the time during the
Portuguese Literature lessons. The theme is what they are studying at the
moment, poetry, drama or literature texts.
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• The main objective is to develop the interest toward the subject that is
being studied, and at the same time to introduce the notion of art and
theatre, and to give them other notions inside a text besides the grammatical
notions given by the teacher in their school curriculum.
• The method of working in these classes varies according to the text in
question and the age of the students.
For that we will now describe of an interactive class session and its preparation:
“Felizmente Há luar” of Luís de Sttau Monteiro,
For the 11th and the 12th grades of secondary school.
The Historical Context of the Text
Luís de Sttau Monteiro was born in Lisbon on the year of 1926, he wrote this play
in 1961 but it was only put on stage in 1978.
This play relates a time in time, it is a political play strong enough to be
censured for a long time, and just and only after the revolution of 1974, it was
allowed to be performed.
The Story
The play uses an old story that took place in 1871 in Lisbon, in which the main
characters are Gomes Freire de Andrade, a brave general, Matilde, his wife, and the
governor’s men.
After the troops of Napoleon retreated from Lisbon, Portugal began to be
reigned by absolute rulers, who are represented by the King, D. JoãoVI, who is at
the moment a refugee in Brazil. Consumed by the war, exploited and miserable,
the people relied, with their hopes of liberation, on General Gomes Freire de
Andrade. The governors of the Kingdom – Miguel Forjaz, the Jesuit Principal
Sousa and the English Beresford, who is a cold and calculating man that despises
Portugal and the Portuguese people, and who does not disguise his habit of
selling his services to whom desires them – began to fear for their power, when
the outside gossip talks of the discontentment of the people and the possibility
of a revolution.
And for that something has to be done.
General Gomes Freire de Andrade is the man to be shot down; he will be
accused of leading the conspiracy, he will be judged fast and in secrecy, and executed
straight away to serve as an example, and to miss the King’s pardon. No one has
the strength to go against the governors, and so it happens, on a night, lit by a full
moon that Gomes Freire is hanged and then burned. Executions during the night
were not allowed, but the others excuse themselves by saying that the moon is so
bright that they could say it is daytime. In the end of the play, during Gomes Freire’s
execution, and when everyone is watching, the immense flames of the fire make
everything even brighter that becomes a symbol for everyone.
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Classical text played in different styles by BAAL 17.
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Preparation for the Interactive Class
The actors:
• reading the play and making a historical analysis
• biography of the author
• selection of scenes to be used during class
• choosing the artistic direction of the presentation of the scenes
After we all are aware of the contents of the play the structure has to be
organized.
The next step is to choose a couple of scenes that can reveal the basis of the
play, the juice of its contents. This can be quite personal, but never should the
objective.
We chose two scenes, one from the first act and another from the second act.
The first scene shows the discussion between the governors.They are discussing
who is to blame, and finally get to the name of Gomes Freire.
The second scene show a scene, in which Matilde, Gomes Freire’s wife, goes to
see Beresford and begs him to release her husband.
Preparation
The next step is to prepare the scenes. In this play, Luís de Sttau Monteiro finds
the revelation of the truth trough theatre important. By this time Luís had been
in contact with the Brecht method in theatre and found it to be the best way to
tell a story without hiding anything, and having the audience receive every line of
the play without loosing themselves in pity towards the characters.
And that was from where we began.
The first scene was played as if we were watching a rehearsal. Four actors had
the scripts in their hands, as the words were the most important thing to be
passed on to the audience. The other four actors assumed their characters as
outside characters, using the power of words as intervention. Just as Luís wrote,
“I want the audience to feel uncomfortable; I want them to have the urge to
change things.”
The second scene is represented with a different method. Using the Stanislavski
method we showed the students the opposite of what Luís wanted. Two strong
characters with their lines learnt. This is a scene full of emotions and tension, in
which words are easily forgotten in a tear or movement. Is a scene where everyone
feels pity for Matilde and wants to cry with her.
Next step is to go to the class.
• We begin the class by introducing our work and ourselves.
• We have a discussion with the class on the amount of knowledge they
have on the play, and from there on, we resume together.
• After remembering the play, we begin to develop the social, historical
and cultural context of the play and author.
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• Then we begin to prepare the scenes; for the first scene we use three
chairs.The scene is presented and the second scene is prepared right after
it; for the second scene we use a chair and some wardrobe: a ladies’ dress
and a military jacket.
• In the end the discussion is free. From here all kinds of questions are made
and the objective is achieved.
For this to happen these two scenes need to have, at a certain moment, some
kind of peculiar symbols that will make the students think for themselves. After
some time the play has been understood and new ideas are released into their
minds. Awareness for theatre methods has been rooted and the play of Luís de
Sttau Monteiro suddenly gains more meaning. It is important to give the students
the notion that a theatre play is full of ideas and that any word said differently, or
any movement made, might change everything.
The role of the teacher during these lessons is one of a mere spectator, which
makes the student more comfortable to intervene.
To take into consideration
• Notions of wardrobe
• Notions of set
• Theatrical methods
• Actors opinions
• Symbolism
• To get the students to disagree
Every interactive lesson that we have is different from the others. It depends
on the text that is being studied and on the ages of the students.
I am sure you will not work with this text with your students, but at least you
will get an idea of how we have developed this kind of work in schools.
Good-luck!
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Youth & job – Equality of rights
“To have the same rights that rich people have when looking for a job”
Origins
Marco
Ferreira This workshop was developed for a project called Margens de Desenvolvimento,
developed by a local association for rural development called Rota do Guadiana,
in Serpa.The workshop was based on forum theatre and drama pretext exercises
for young unemployed people.
The main objective of the project was to create practical solutions for
youngsters, who are looking for a job in this region – Baixo Alentejo (West side
of the Guadiana River). These solutions were, for example, to create a website,
on which institutions and companies can find all the information on the youngsters
(portfolio, questionnaires, etc.).
This workshop was based on forum theatre techniques and other methods
applied in the Drama Way workshops.
After the Drama Way national workshop in Portugal, one of the members of
Rota do Guadiana association contacted Baal 17 to invite Marco Ferreira to
organize the group project by applying theatre methods to help and prepare
youngsters to look for a job.
Young unemployed discuss the themes of their lives through forum theatre
in Serpa, Portugal.
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Objectives
The aim of the project was to give the group a context of basic information to
help and improve their future:
• Build a webpage with personal information on each participant
• Learn to search the Internet
• Job interviews
• Psychological tests
• Orientation and continuous auto-self-improvement
• Contacts and interviews with big local companies
• Personal psychological help to lead a normal life, and to face normal life problems.
The aim for this group project was to create a theatre play that develops
parts of these themes.
Themes / Group Theme
The theme was decided on the basis of a questionnaire given to the group, made
by the coordinator psychologist of the project, on what kind of collective project
the group wanted to do and what on. They chose “Equality of rights. Have the
same rights as rich people have when looking for a job”, and they all wanted to do it
as a theatre performance. So I tried to mix and adapt actors’ games, forum
theatre exercises and other materials to work with the group to reach the
objective to create a small theatre play on this theme.
Individual Themes
Some individual objectives, issues and themes were previously prepared by the
psychologist coordinator of the project, Guida Ascenção, and the theatre project
coordinator, Marco Ferreira. Here are some of those objectives:
• Seeking for employment
• Manage conflicts (with family, friends, etc…)
• Manage emotions (hanger, jealous, joy, fear, shame…)
• Talk about ourselves and give self-esteem
• Talking in public
• Leading a group.
The Participants in a Context (target group)
Rota do Guadiana is a local rural development association that is working with
senior citizen’s centers, isolated communities and youngsters who have quit school
and want to learn how to look for a job in this region or in the big cities close by.
The group was formed by seven women between the ages of 16 and 28, and
two boys of 17 and 24 years of age. Some of them were already married and had
children. Part of the group had quit school without finishing the 9th grade. Some
had problems with their families and had tendencies to isolate themselves. Others
simply wanted help in finding their first job.
The workshop was prepared based on drama pretext and theatre forum
techniques applied and developed in the Drama Way project.
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Requirements
Time: each session lasted 2 hours.
A CD player
Paper and pens
Photos and post cards
A Large wall of paper
1st Session
Introductions
The workshop began with an introduction of the participants (Name, age, where
from, things I like)
Short explanation on Forum Theatre and interactive drama.
Discussion on what is theatre and what is art as a form of expression?
What kind of plays have you seen? Did you like it?
What is the meaning of “LIFE IS A THEATRE”?
Postcards and Pictures
The group was given some postcards and pictures (Landscapes, urban photos,
and old people doing artesian work, children playing, funny cards …).
Ask the group to pick one picture or post card that mean something special
to each person, not any particular meaning but only the first sensation of the
picture.
Talk about the feeling in the picture. What is it about? Why did you pick this
picture? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to the others? Does it
refer to the past, present or future? Is it some kind of a wish or a desire? Give
the image a title.
After the discussion, ask the group to put the pictures on the wall for everyone
to see (put some music on when they are doing it)
Warm-up Exercises
Circle of energy – in a circle one person starts to pass a sound with a movement
to one other person. (Clap the hands, click the fingers, or throw a ball…) Consider
the example of a factory process. Collective work.
Start to stretch your arms and legs and make some noise, like when you wake
up in the morning. Increase the volume of the noise and repeat.
Body Language
Discussion on our body language. The way we move, talk, walk, act, etc…
Give some simple examples:
Sitting on a chair (in a job interview for example). Discussion on the way we place
our legs and hands. What does it mean to cross your legs (protection, posture,
education??)?
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Imitate the movements of the hands. Pick one member and ask that person to
stand in front of the group and perform simple movements with his or her
hands. The rest of the group imitates the movements. Discussion.
Pick two people and ask them to shake hands and freeze. Discussion on the image.
Who is who? Is there a superior? What kind of dialogue or discussion they are
having?
Change one person and give the image a new chance. Discussion.
Brainstorm of Possible Themes for the Forum
With out giving any kind of previous themes, decide on a title for the group work
with the group. (In previous work with the psychologist, the group decided to
focus on the equality of rights for poor people when looking for a job.)
After a deep discussion on the theme, we placed everything under one title:
Youth - Equality of rights. Have the same rights as rich people have when looking
for a job.
2nd Session
After the evaluation of the first session, I decided to begin with something simple
and less physical.
Dreams on the Wall
Each person picks a post-it note (small yellow paper with glue) and writes one
dream that they have in their lives (try to get the first impulse to write) on it.
Then everybody sticks the post-it on the same wall with the pictures and postcards.
Take one moment for everybody to see the dreams of the group. Then compare
them and see if there are some similar dreams, some of which are stranger to
the group. Listen to opinions. Try to have each person talk about their dream
with the group. Try to put the entire group at their ease and open about talking.
Warm-up Exercises
Touch and say the name. The whole group walks in a free way in the room. One
person says one name (of one person in the group) and the person that was
called has to touch another person (the person that was calling the name can
not be touched).Then the person that was touched has to call out another name
and so on… …anyone that misses a name or makes a mistake goes out until only
two persons are left in the game.
Gibberish (pork’s Dutch). Talk in an invented language in pairs (imitate Russian,
Chinese, German) and tell what you have done since you woke-up until you
arrived at the workshop.
Still Images
Choose one theme to create an image about it in groups:
a) School, b) television, c) vacations, d) family. Play with some forum theatre
techniques and work with the reaction of the characters in the picture.
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Role-On-The-Wall
Drawing and imagining the character for the story.
Where does it take place? The other characters. First I ask the group for concrete
adjectives and ideas on the place where it all happened.
The group starts to describe a town just like Serpa.
Then the group chooses an 18 year old boy called Bento to be the main character.
Here are some of the adjectives and ideas used to describe character and his
town.
Main Character
Name: Bento.
Age: 18 years old.
He lives with his parents in a small village in the countryside. The village is called
Pasmaceira (a place where nothing happens and where everybody is amorphous)
Hobbies: fishing, painting, computers, cooking, nature and animals.
He has just finished secondary school and wants to go to a big city to study in
a university. He has a 22 year old brother, who quit school. Their parents want
him to stay and work with them at the farm. His mother likes the idea of his son
going to study in a big city, but she doesn’t have the courage to face her husband’s
contrary opinion. (Family conflicts)
Bento has a girlfriend named Ana Maria, who is 17 years old, and who still is in
secondary school. She is the daughter of Bento’s father’s boss. Her parents want
a good future for their daughter and support her relationship with Bento.
Pasmaceira – the Village
Pasmaceira is a small village in the countryside, 250 km from a big city of A
Grandiosa (a poetic word for “a big thing”).
Nice fields with animals, a small castle, a lake, all people known each other and
most of the inhabitants are elderly people, there are no big buildings, and not
much is going on.
After a very nice and imaginative discussion we started to talk about what the
big city that Bento wants to go to is like.
A Grandiosa – the City
A big city with tall buildings, pollution, stress, shopping centers, bars, discotheques,
a beach, factories, a river separating A Grandiosa from another big city, multi-
cultural, gardens and parks, lots of young people are living there.
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3rd Session
Four people didn’t come. Some had family problems.
Warm-up Exercises
Grab the thumb
Statement circle. The group answers some questions in a circle by stepping forward
if their answer is ‘yes’ and staying put if their answer is ‘no’.When more than one
person’s answer is ‘yes’ they have to make eye-contact and change places in the
circle.
Some of the questions were:
Do you like to live here in Serpa?
Do you think that is easier to find jobs in big cities?
Is Alentejo a poor region?
Would you like to get a degree?
Is Alentejo an isolated region?
Do you want to get more independence from your parents?
Continuing the Discussion (Roll-on-the-wall) on the Story of Bento.
Try to get some connections to the pictures, postcards and the dreams on the wall.
Is there any picture or dream that could be Bento’s? Why?
Talk about Bento’s girlfriend, what are her main characteristics?
Improvising the Scenes
Create a small improvisation with the characters of Bento, his father, his mother
and older brother. Bento is coming from school with the news that he is getting
very good grades and that he wants to go and study in the big city.
See the reaction of the parents. They haven’t got money to support Bento
during his studies.The father asks Bento to stay and work with them in agriculture.
The mother cries.
The improvisation was very confusing because the participants talk and act at
the same time, but had the imagination and the confidence to have fun. The
improvisation stopped when the fathers said “…if you want to go, we are not
going to give you any money, and you are on your own.”
Still Images in Small Groups
Create an image of Bento’s possibilities in two groups. What is he going to do
now?
The group chose the one in which Bento decided to go and call his girlfriend,
to ask her for help. He has enough money to go and stay in the city for two
months. One of the people in the group said that Bento’s girlfriend’s parents
have a house in the city, and he could go and stay there.
The group enjoyed the making of the story. The improvisations were difficult
to do, but some of them have the motivation and pass it on to everyone in the
group.
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4th Session
Warm-up Exercises
Grab the thumb (increasing the speed and concentration)
Touch and say the name (faster and more focus on the group movement)
A Still Image of Oppression
A short explanation on the work with images in Forum Theatre.
I asked the group to talk about one real-life situation that was not so comfortable
to deal with.
One woman talked about her visit to the hospital (she was pregnant) the
previous day. The nurse had not let her husband enter the room. They had had a
discussion with the nurse and the doctor.
I asked her to use the entire group as a sculpture in silence and built one
image that could reflect her feelings about that day.Then I tried to give the group
a clear idea about the problem in the image.
What could be done to prevent that problem? Discussion?
I tried to ask some questions about the characters’ feelings in the image.
What do you feel in this image? What is your character doing? Who is he? Do
you belong to this image? If not, step out of the image.
Ask to change the character’s position in the image according to the solutions
to the problem.
1, 2, 3 action.
The image becomes lives and the group begins a small improvisation.
The Story of Bento - Continuing the Dramaturgical Process
After going to the city of A Grandiosa, Bento has to find a job very quickly
because his money is running out.
How and where does he have to go to find a job?
The group said that he must go and check the employment lists in big shopping
centers, supermarkets and McDonald’s restaurants.
Improvisation of the Scenes
Bento went to a McDonald’s restaurant and asked for a job. I gave the group
some roles and started the improvisation.
Note: I stopped the improvisation after the interview at McDonald’s and asked:
Did you think this could happen in real-life?
We continued the improvisation and one of the younger girls of the group
suggested that a student girl could appear in the restaurant, and she could start
to talk with Bento.
We decided that her name his Joana. She works in a bar at night and studies in
the day in the same university as Bento.
They had a small conversation and she invites Bento to go to the bar at night
to talk to people there, and to ask if anybody knows about any jobs.
I ask: what is Bento going to do now? His starting to run out of money and there are the
food, bus and university bills to pay.
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5th Session
Warm-up Exercises
Grab the thumb
Touch and say the name
The Story of Bento - Continuing the Dramaturgical Process
The group decided that Bento is going to go to the bar and meet Joana’s friends.
In the bar Joana talks with her friends and tells them stories about Bento. She
says that he is from the countryside and very strange.
Improvisation of the Scenes
In the beginning of the improvisation the young girl that plays Joana’s character,
suggested that when Bento arrives to the bar, the others will ask him to go with
the group to smoke a (marijuana)joint. Bento turns his back and leaves the bar.
What happens now?
This is the end of the drama.
Conclusion
Afterwards I ask the group to try and write on a paper on their own what
appended to Bento.
Did he leave the town and go back to his parents’ house?
How is he going to get the money to pay his bills?
Did he try to talk with Joana the next day?
Then they choose two of the possibilities and make a still image according to it.
Bento went home and began to work in agriculture. He married Ana Maria and
became a small-farmer.
Bento stayed in the city, and tried to talk to Joana and got to know her better. He
decided to help her stop her drug and alcohol abuse. Because of his computer
expertise he started to do some computer related work for the university.
Forum:
Give the Images a Title.
Make the image become real. 1, 2, 3… action.
6th Session
Final dramaturgical aspects of the play.
Final rehearsal and final feedback.
7th Session
Performance to the invited audience.
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My final comments and analysis on the workshop
This is a description of the original workshop that was prepared and presented
to the group. There were some exercises and proposals that I was forced to
change, because I did not get any kind of reaction or motivation from the group.
This was my first experience in working with forum theatre and drama
techniques with a group of youngsters who have no theatre experience. It was a
very positive experience, with the exception of the final presentation, because
these people have never worked in a group like this before. They all worked
individually with the psychologist, or in small groups of two three people.
At the beginning, my objective was to create a small forum theatre play, but at
the end, the most important thing was the experience in itself, both, the good,
and the bad things. It was a good and a rare opportunity for these people to
experience some new sensations and fight against all the oppression in their
lives.
After the workshop some of the people found a job while others are still
working on it. The young ones have now less difficulty in dealing with social
problems in life. Some people from the group became friends, and are still in a
continuous process and contact with the local development association.
After the workshop performance, the feedback from the project coordinators
was really good and enthusiastic, they realized that with a forum play or a forum
structure workshop, you can easily work with youngsters and their problems,
and reach good results.
Image theatre helps the rural women to empower themselves in the labour market.
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Sonho de Amanda - Amanda’s Dream (Baal 17)
Here is an example of a process of making a forum theatre demo.The demo was
Jouni
created in Baixo Alentejo by the BAAL 17 theatre group. This project was part
Piekkari
of the Drama Way’s national workshops in Portugal, held 7th – 15th November,
and the
2003.The process lasted altogether for seven hours and five actors were involved
BAAL 17
in creating the demo.
What is Forum Theatre?
Forum theatre is an interactive theatre form aiming at solving problems in the
community. In a forum theatre performance the audience is allowed to solve the
problems presented in the play by re-acting the scenes on the stage. The themes
of the plays are specially designed for particular audiences, and the themes often
deal with the common oppressions that the audience members themselves
experiences in their lives. Forum theatre aims at helping people to learn how to
changes their lives. Therefore, it is also called as the Theatre of the Oppressed.
Forum theatre was created by a Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal in the
60s-70s.
Theatre of the Oppressed is a method that also utilises drama workshops,
where a group of people can identify and explore the themes that are of great
importance for them.The origins of the forum theatre are closely connected to
the ideas of Pedagogy of the Liberation, created by another Brazilian educator
Paulo Freire. According to him, it is essential that liberating education has no
forced curricula, but should deal with themes that the learners themselves feel
as important and problematic in their everyday lives.
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The Applications of Forum Theatre
Nowadays forum theatre is applied in multiple ways all around the world. Apart
from exploring oppressive situations based on the original political idea, it is also
used as a didactic tool to learn about different behaviours, for example, how to
say no to drugs. Different techniques have also been developed and integrated
into the forum theatre method.
Especially the British traditions of pedagogical drama (Drama in Education)
has had a strong impact on the development of interactive drama in Europe.
These traditions have allowed a more flexible use of time, swap of characters,
non-linear story line, participant involvement and integration of other forms of
art in the process. Furthermore, Jacob Moreno has used similar techniques in his
psychodrama and sociodrama, but forum theatre, however, emphasises the
theatrical aspects of the work. Forum theatre can also be seen as an independent
art form; one special genre of theatre art.
Aims of the BAAL 17 Forum Workshop
• to explore how forum theatre works
• to define the local themes to be dealt with the young people, and to define
the social injustice they experience in their everyday lives
• to create a model of making forum theatre with and for the young people
(“youth to youth”)
• to introduce different joker (facilitator) techniques of audience interaction
The BAAL 17’s Interest in Forum Theatre
The BAAL 17 is a theatre group from Serpa in Baixo Alentejo, working with the
Theatre-in-Education method. Besides working with touring theatre productions,
they also work as theatre educators. Their aim is to take the theatre arts into
schools and integrate it with the literature lessons in the formal curriculum. The
group wanted to find new approaches to their work in order to use drama in
dealing with the important issues of the young people in their area. Forum theatre
techniques might be useful for this purpose;
• as an audience workshop technique in context of conventional theatre
plays to help the audiences to analyse the plays: for example, finding
similarities in their own lives
• as separate forum theatre performances for the young people concerning
locally relevant themes
• as a workshop technique to explore the important themes of the school
youngsters and other children
• as a tool to help the more theatrically oriented youngsters to create
interactive forum plays and to perform them to other youngsters (peer
group education)
• as a technique inside the process drama method where the children work
with local fairy tales and stories
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Young Amanda is standing for her ideas in the BAAL 17 forum theatre demo.
1st Session (2 hours)
Dramaturgical Process
Short introduction to forum theatre
• Origins in Brazil
• Freirean approach: how to find the themes concerning the participants;
forum as a community dialogue and problem solving process
• Aims and purposes of forum theatre
• Some criticism on Boal’s approach: the aim should be at understanding,
not at judging
• Applied forum theatre - examples from the Finnish context
• Sci-fi drama in army barracks dealing with family relations
• Forum theatre dealing with the dialogue between transvestites/transsexuals
and mainstream people
• Forum theatre about bullying of teacher students
• Dramaturgical variations: realistic, allegoric, different styles, puppet theatre
Brainstorming local themes
Some examples of the typical themes of young people in Baixo Alentejo; the
BAAL 17 members discussed shortly the following issues:
• isolated villages and isolation of young people complicates the socialisation
of young people
• due to lack of activities alcohol and bars form the central free time leisure
activity
• suicides
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• moving from a small school to a bigger one can cause bullying and other
difficulties
• even though there were various activity opportunities, young people are
not able to use them in many cases: they are often too apathetic
• social limitations of young women
• being different and active is difficult
• sexuality: a taboo, not discussed; teen age pregnancies
• attitudes of the teachers, teachers often have a low motivation in their work:
they have to move from one school to another, they are often like nomads
Warm-up exercises
Grab the thumb. Participants sit in a circle and try to grab the thumb of the
person sitting next to them. The aim is to avoid being catched.
Purpose: to start the interaction, create laughter, energise, grow attention
Animal mothers and children (a blind game)
Performed in pairs.The other one is the animal mother creating a call sound and
a stop sign (danger) for the other one who is the animal baby. The baby follows
the mother blindfolded.
Purpose: trust building, listening, concentration, different senses, awareness of space
That is my seat (isto é o meu cítio – não, é meu!)
Performed in pairs (through out the game). Each pair takes a chair.The other one sits
on the chair and the other one takes different roles and comes to demand the chair
to him/herself, the person sitting on the chair tries to refuse. No direct violence
allowed. Only the sentences ”That is my seat” and ”no, this is my seat” are allowed.
Purpose: to study various forms of manipulation; non-verbal communication and acting
Circle of images of oppression
In order to make ourselves sensitive for the problems of young people, we had
to go back to our own experiences. The participants were asked
a) to think about one moment in their youth; an unfair situation where they
were forced to do, think, say or feel differently than they actually wanted to.
They were asked to memorise this feeling, body positions, the environment
and the other people physically or mentally present in the situation
b) silently sculpt a still image of the situation in a small group, with the help of
other people in the group and finally to place oneself in the image as the
main character
c) Share the similarities and differences; share the stories of others
d) Create a fusion image that combines the essence of all the small images
into one big image (may be symbolic)
This procedure could have been a beginning for a forum theatre play, but we
used this exercise merely to sensitise ourselves to the theme: we decided to
create an imaginary and a parallel story reflecting the actors own life experiences.
This technique can be called distancing. When this process is done with target
groups that are not familiar with the highly emotional process of theatre making,
distancing creates safe distance to the participants actual experiences, in a manner
where the relevance of the issues is not lost.
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Collective story telling
The participants were asked to invent an imaginary name for a small village of 300
hundred people in Baixo Alentejo: Cangalhos. What kind of a village it is? What are
the people in the village proud of? A village festival is annually organised in the
surrounding of old pre-historical stones (antas).
Roles. Creating/imagining the character
Thereafter we invented the main character: a young person – Amanda, a girl of
17. How is Amanda different? – She is a little bit imitating Gothic style, and is
interested in prehistory, rituals etc. She has got a few friends; many of them call
her Bruxa (a wizard) on the streets.
Hot seating. Sonya was selected into the role of Amanda. Other participants asked
her different questions concerning the role.
Purpose: building the character, clarifying the motives, hopes and fears.
Storyline/scenes
We defined the order of different scenes on a piece of paper (could be separate A4s).
1. Amanda´s dreams of a better world.
Dramaturgy: Situated at the pre-historical stones. Stones and trees speak
about Sonya’s dreams.
Soundscape
2. A priest and a teacher talk about a council meeting.Amanda hears this and
asks the teacher, who she is interest in, to come to a meeting of Junta da
Fregesía (local council).
Dramaturgy: scene in a shop
3. Junta Meeting – After a moment of hesitation, Amanda tells she wants to
present her idea concerning a festival in the next meeting. The teacher
supports her, telling that he thinks that the ideas of young people are
welcome. (Characters: priest, teacher, chairperson of council, Amanda)
4. Amanda collects visual material from the Stones.
Dramaturgy: actors as objects (stones etc.), Sonya takes photos. Soundscape:
pre-historical music
5. Amanda presents her ideas to the junta. In the end she hears the junta
member’s gossiping in the corridor. The priest did not especially like the
idea. She says nothing
6. Meeting the chairman of the junta at the town hall who tells that there is
no money for Amanda’s ideas. Freeze. (characters: Amanda and the
chairperson of the council)
Feedback on the working process
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2nd session (3 hours)
Reasons for using audience warm-up exercises
If we want to help the audience to participate in solving the problems of the play
by inviting them to the stage to act the scenes, we have to warm them up first.
The purpose is to make them feel comfortable of experimenting different issues
and to play, to know each others and to tell their ideas. It is also essential that the
Joker shortly tells the audience what is the purpose of forum theatre, and what
will happen during the process. These exercises facilitate the understanding and
performance of the following stages.
Warm-ups
(to be used in a form of interactive performance with the audience):
We tried these exercises as our own warm-ups for the work in the workshop
with the actors, but they present also an example of a typical pre-workshop
exercises for the audiences.
• 1-2-3- YESS!! A group affirmation in a circle: Are we ready for the forum
workshop?
• Gibberish (pork’s Deutsch) presentation. Tell your partner what you have done
today by using a non-sense language
• Toronto handshake (introduction), try to greet all people in the surroundings
by keeping always one hand in somebody’s hand (the actors also mix with
the audience).
• Random still images: ”Life in Alentejo”. People move randomly and suddenly
freeze. Ask someone to pick three people in a same situation and with the
same theme. Others try to imagine and guess what the situation could be.
Ask for several interpretations.
• Statement circle. If you agree with some insight, take a step on the circle
and find somebody else who thought in the same way and change places
with that person while keeping the eye contact.
Automatic writing. Write rapidly and without stopping a story about Amanda’s
role and dreams. ”I dream of the world where…”. The story can be nonsense,
poetic, repetitious. Read the products. Choose the best sentences to be used in
the opening scene spoken by the stones and trees and Amanda herself.
Improvising the scenes
Unfortunately the rehearsal time was rather short, thus we did not have time to
try many of the different techniques of animating the scenes and deepening the
characters.
The final scene, however, was rehearsed with a silent technique; using only
mimics to analyse the important gestures of hiding and revealing the thoughts
and intentions of the characters. After that the dialogue was added to the scene.
It some scenes we also tried techniques of freezing the impro and exploring the
hidden thoughts to clarify the tensions.The actors were asked to find the costumes
and props for the scene.
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The changes between the scenes were made in such a manner that the actors
played the wind that blows away the old scenes and carries the new set on the
stage. Dramaturgically the wind is a repetition of the wind of the beginning scene
at the pre-historical stone circle. The whole play was rehearsed again without
stops.
Discussion
We discussed the purpose of the demo and the nature of forum theatre
dramaturgy. We decided to have no extra rehearsal due to the tight workshop
schedule, but instead to enjoy the advantage of developing the play with a live
audience in a workshop situation.
Forum theatre performance demo
The demo of the forum was performed for the Drama Way workshop participants:
drama workers, teachers, youth and socio-cultural workers.There were no young
people of Amanda´s age in the audience, thus the aim was to emphasise that the
workshop is an opportunity to learn to understand young people and their
problems.The focus was, right from the beginning, on the issue: how the 17 year
old Amanda could win her obstacles. On the other hand, it would be possible to
explore, for example, what the teacher could do to help Amanda. This point of
view would have been interesting, while many of the audience members were
teachers. However, this point of view was studied in other interventions and
later in still images as well.
Introduction/drama contract with the audience
In the beginning, the joker told the audience what forum theatre is and how it
works. The process and theme of the play were also shortly introduced, and the
audience was asked to take actively part in scripting and developing the play
further: without an audience there is no forum. Joker also explained that the
focus of the workshop on this occasion is to experience and explore the viewpoint
of a young Alentejo woman. What kind of choices can she make in difficult
situations?
Warm-ups (see above):
• Grab the thumb
• Random still images.
• Statement circle:
”I sometimes feel that I am an alien here”
”Creativity is essential for human beings”
”For a young woman it is often difficult to express ones own ideas”
”Alentejo should be conserved as it is”
”Alentejo needs changes – cultural development”
1 1-2-3-YESS!
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Watching the performance
Facilitation/Joker questions
How did you experience this play – tell in your own words? What else would
you like to say about it?
What was the problem? Whose problem it was?
Are the events truthful? Does this kind of things happen often in real life?
Most of the participants admitted that the problems they saw on the stage were
quite common in the real life in Alentejo, but could also happen anywhere. And
therefore, we were able to continue; the audience recognised the problem.
Hot seating the character
• Defining the names and ages of the characters, creating characteristics
features: how do you see them, how do they see themselves?
• Audience makes questions to the characters
Brainstorm of solutions in small groups
What could Amanda do to achieve what she wants?
Are the things that she wants all good?
Interventions
Some volunteers from the small groups were asked to present their ideas. Joker
made the propositions more specific and concrete through questions like:
How should she do that?
In what situation should she do that?
What should she exactly say and to whom?
” OK – come and do it” – the volunteer (never called as volunteers) was taken to
the stage and helped to start to act from a specific moment onwards.
Each intervention was shortly analysed through with the help the joker’s questions
to clarify the issues to the spectator-actor and to the audience:
Was the intervention successful? What would be the consequences?
Did the intervention present the same character with same mentality?
In order to get more interventions the joker asked:
What else could she do to achieve what she wants?
Due to the lack of time, only three interventions were tried through acting
based on the propositions.
Still images in small groups
What could Amanda do in some other situations in the future? How could she,
for example, create a golden bridge, a win-win situation? Images were observed
one after another. The others tried to guess, whether the images could be e.g.
• made alive (words and action)
• hidden thoughts of the characters were explored in frozen moments
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Feedback from the participants
We discussed shortly how the audience and performers experienced the
technique.
• How could it be used in their own work?
• Was the theme relevant?
• In which situations and communities this forum could and could not be used?
• Should the teachers be present when the students create forum theatre?
• Is it possible to achieve clear results through forum theatre?
• Importance of networking and collaborating with communities, stake-holders,
school psychologists etc.
Some analysis and further thoughts
As a joker, I decided to give an example of an easier way to “joke” a scene. I tend to
proceed directly to the audience intervention phase (re-acting the scenes), but it is
more demanding to proceed straight to the joker questioning technique. Easier
way would be to divide the group into small units right after watching the play.
Storyline itself did not offer big hooks or surprises. Furthermore, the theme
was not directly targeted to the demo audience; it did not heat up the audience
as much as it could, if prepared with proper production time.Therefore, I decided
to continue straight into writing the play with the audience by using still images.
With the help of the same technique of making still images in small groups we
could have continued trying to find how Amanda´s situation is getting worse: the
Finding solutions through still image excercises.
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dramatic conflicts developed. This could have been a good alternative for the
long process of making a forum theatre play, as well, but we did not have time for
that. Perhaps it is even more a participatory solution to come with a half-finished
performance infront of the audience and continue the play making with their
open minds and bodies?
Forum theatre becomes alive with the audience. Without an audience that
has got an interest in the theme due to their own real life experiences there can
not be forum theatre, but only a simple play without interaction. Most apparently,
the play even in its present form would work quite well with the 17-year-old high
school youngsters of the area. However, in order to hook the interest more
effectively the dramaturgy should be more compact and clearer.The development
of a dramatic conflict should also be such that creates a more conflicting contrast
between the dreams and realities of Amanda’s harsh life.
Music, costumes and stage design could be developed to adapt to react to
and with the play. Such visual materials as real Power Points and other projections
could also be used. Stage lighting could be used to facilitate the transfer between
the scenes. In the gossip scene it would be essential to draw the audience’s
attention to the fact that Amanda really heard the gossips, but did not say anything.
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Finland
Finland
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Free fall – Project in Lohja
Project description
FREE FALL is a drug prevention programme using the techniques of participatory
Titi
drama.The target group is the 7th graders in the comprehensive school (children
Lillqvist
aged approximately 12 – 13 years). The project has been annually realised as a
co-operation project of the Lohja youth work, the educational services of Lohja
and the youth work education programme of Kanneljärvi Institute/the Humanistic
Polytechnic. The project consists of a series of annual sub-projects realised in
Lohja during five years, 1999 – 2004, and altogether around 150 school classes
have participated in these projects. In addition to the participatory performances
created for the youngsters, drama session for parents and teachers have been
organised as well. Altogether around 3,000 youngster have been reached with
the project. The results of the project and the feedback have been positive.
The project planners and educators were Tom Joutsen, Titi Lillqvist, Reetta
Myyrä, Micke Renlund and Katri Tamminen. The planning and creation of the
drama have been annually organised through a five-week long ”Methods of
Participatory Drama in Youth Work” training course, where the participants
consisted of 13 – 15 youth work students + a couple of health care students. A
project-study group was compiled after the training course, and this group together
with the educational services realised the performances in the schools of the
area. The aim of the students in the group was to learn to use these drama
methods in their own work later on.
During these five years the project has required a following number of working
hours:
– students’ study hours ( 15 h ) 11,300
– students’ project hours (7h) 5,300
– educators ( 1-2 h) 1,000
– youth workers (2 h ) 3,000
– teachers 500
altogether 21,100 HOURS
The educational services of Lohja has created a working method for maintaining
the contact with different schools, has taken care of the contacts with the rector,
teachers and the student guides and has been responsible for the follow-up of
the project.The Kanneljärvi Institute/Humanistic Polytechnic has been responsible
for the planning of the education and for the creation of this project-study method.
The drama educators organised the education and the guidance for the actual
work.
The performances were organised during the years 1999 – 2002 in expressive
workshop NoStatus situated in the centre of Lohja – in an old bakery building,
and during the years 2003 - 2004 in the youth centre DIXI. Each year a drama
space has been staged in these buildings, and the school classes have arrived in
the building during their school time.
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Aims of the project
The aim has been to make a preventive influence on youth drug usage in one
area and with one class at a time.
How to reach this goal:
• The preventive educational work has been directed towards the whole age
group, in such age period where the crucial issues of guidelines for living are
considered and realised.
Drama session have been realised with the 7th graders, since in this age the
crucial decision of life are made.The transition from the lower level to the
upper level of the comprehensive school, in some cases meaning a transition
from a small village to a bigger central school, are such periods of increasing
independence and growth, in which it is easy to imagine and apply drug
abuse drama considering the adulthood and the decisions of adults. These
transition periods are the transition rites of this age group. Youngsters of
this age observe and consider drugs and the lifestyle related to them, but
most of the youngster, nevertheless, do not have personal experiences of
drugs at this age. We have tested this working and drama method with
other age groups, but we did not receive the same kind of intensity and
willingness for consideration as with the 7th graders.The younger age groups
were not aware of the drug issues and the older age groups, for example
8th – 9th graders (13 – 15 year olds) regarded the educational work as
childiss and thought that it came too late for them. Researches show that
intoxicant and drug experiments start approximately in the 8th grade, thus
the preventive work must be organised before that.
• The aim is to reach the certain age group in the target area in its entirety
through a school-specific working method
In the realisation of the project it has been essential to get all the youngsters
in the area to consider this issue during one school term. In this way the
whole network of friends has been dealt with at the same time, and a basis
for the after work of the project team was created.
• Creating a strategic model, in which the purpose is to concentrate on creating
class-specific performances and workshops, as well as to increase co-operation
and networking of different instances of education and problem solving in different
schools and areas.
This project was created as a activity-network facilitating the co-operation
between education services, youth work, intoxicant work and the parent’s
of the pupils. Youth work and intoxicant work instances organised factual
drug and intoxicant information campaigns in schools.
Creating the schedule plans for the preventive drug education dramas, and
implementing them well in advance into the curricula, usually in the previous
term while the curricula was still on a planning stage.
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The preventive drug education drama under consideration was orderly
dealt with among the different education instances before the performance
season by organising a teacher performance in the area, where all the
teacher handling the issue in lessons were invited. During couple of these
five years this performance was organised as a part of teachers’ VESO-
education programme (education that is a part of the collective bargaining
contract). In addition to familiarising with the performance, introducing
the theme, pre-performance preparations, arriving on the performance,
participation of the teachers, realising the aftermath in classes etc. were
agreed on. Teachers were provided with aftermath and feedback material
considering the drama.
The drama performance and the related workshops were also discussed
in the drama nights of the parents. Parents gave their own contribution on
how the issues are to be handled.
The media in the area was invited to co-operate already in the planning
stage, and their duty was to support the spirit of the project and to report
truthfully about the issues (for example, it is important to emphasise that
the participants of the project are NOT drug abusers, etc.).
Aims of the project concerning the attitudes of the youngsters
• Considering drug usage as a chosen way of living with means of performative
drama.
Avoiding the image of drug usage as a result of bad conditions at home and
other similar reasoning, in which the youngster can not influence, and
concentrating on considering the situations where the drug usage has
started as a result of admiring the ”cool” and successful way of life, in
which drug use is often connected to, thus so called fun druging.The purpose
was to break this attitude model and to explore what this ”successful” life
with drugs means.
• Guiding the youngsters to form their own opinions on good and successful
way of life with the help of the training of attitudes techniques of the participatory
drama.
Performing and discussing a story of a young person, with whom the
audience could identify, with the techniques of the participatory drama.
Portraying the decision making situation of the youngster dealing with
starting to use drugs and the interaction related to that with drama. Defining
the alternative decisions and, instead of dwelling in the horror stories
related to drugs, the youngster’s own control of life and decisions, which
emphasise the possibilities of a good and intoxicant-free life, formed the
central part of the consideration.
• Avoiding the preaching and patronising style, but instead, offering possibilities
to discuss and to choose what kind of life the youngsters want to lead, now and
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in the future, what are the aspects of good life and, furthermore, what kind of life
the youngsters do NOT want to live.
Such activating situational exercises of participatory drama techniques were
used, which facilitated for the youngster as spectators/participators/creators
identifying the conflicts related to different decision making situations and
conflicts born when the youngster tries to escape from the influence of
the friends: thus learning to express one’s own opinions. Different endings
for the main characters life were created in the drama – happy and unhappy,
observing the affects of drug abuse on the characters life (professional
exclusion, loneliness, indebtedness and crimes etc.).
In the end of the drama the focus was transferred form the character to
everybody’s own life;What do I think of these issues, which kind of support
and safety networks are there in my life, do I dare to say no to drugs, how
do I want my life to go and what is good for me in life.
• Creating a drama that suits for the local needs and situations, and for the
situation in life of the youngsters, thus a drama that is real and believable for the
youngsters.
The core of the issue guaranteeing the believability of the project was to
produce the drama material from the local aspects and by listening to the
local youth.This technique meant that the plot was created in such a manner
that the actors – young students – collected the material of the drug story
from the local youngsters, for example in schools, youth centres, on the
streets, and then producing in co-operation with the drama educator the
drug story of Lohja. This procedure created a story that has a special
meaning for the target group. It is essential to know the target group well
in order to create drama and to be able to enter into the role of the
youngsters.The drug usage culture was also introduce through the visits of
ex-drug abusers, exploring pro-drug web sites and organisations. The
intoxicant instance of Lohja introduced the state of drug abuse and the
usage profile of different drugs. Educational visits and the material provided
by YAD (Young Against Drugs) and Irti Huumeista ry.(organisation against
drugs) offered an insight of preventive drug education and treatment of
drug addicts.The educational influence on attitudes of this process continued
therefore among the actor-student group even after the project ended.
• Protecting the intimacy and safety of the audience
It was told beforehand in the beginning of the drama that the point is not
to explore and bring forth anybody’s own or friends experiences of drugs,
thus not to deal with intimate issues, but the aim is to make the participants
consider drug usage and intoxicant-free lifestyle in general. In the beginning
of the drama the actors were introduced as real persons and in the end of
the drama the masks were again removed. This procedure ensured that,
for example, the actor acting the role of a drug dealer is normalised in the
eyes of the audience by removing the mask and telling what was the aim of
his/her performance instead of remaining as a scary character in the fragile
mind of the youngster.
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Work descrition and responsibilites of the productive team
Project team: representatives of the youth work + the educator. Responsible for
the management, schedule, creation of co-operation with schools, information
on local level, funding and arranging premises for the project.
Person maintaining the school connections + person in charge of the performances:
specialised youth worker or other youth worker. Made a preliminary visit to
each school class. Ensured the school specific schedules and the arrival of the
pupils to the performances. Participated in the performances as a professional of
his/her field = as a trustworthy adult (thus did not take roles).Was the ”trouble
shooter” in the performances (first aid and other helping situations). Took care
of the after-drama connections to the classes and teachers. Organised the teacher
and parent drama events.
Educator: From the ”Free Fall” team. Professional community theatre educator.
Responsible for educating the actor team, creating the drama for the classes and
for adapting and performing of the drama for the teachers and parents. Participated
in the information meetings. Gave guidance for the work of the actor group in
cases where the performance session was long.
Joker: From the”Free Fall” team. Professional youth worker who has studied the
joker technique of applied drama. Participated in the education of the actor
group by applying his/her leadership work in the story of the drama. Leader in
each performance.
Actor: person active in local theatre scene and a drama student, 5-7 actors per
performance. Prepared the performance, among other things, by collecting the
stories and experiences concerning drug usage and the consequences of that
from the local youngsters. Participated in the course where the drama was created.
Acted in the drama in the roles of friends, adults and drug users.
The teacher/s responsible for the class: Agreed separately with each school.Was,
for example, a teacher of health, Finnish, or a student guide. Participated in teacher
drama event, arranged the contacts with the class in co-operation with the person
maintaining the school contacts, prepared the class for going to the performance
and took care of the discussion and aftermath of the drama.
Person responsible for the follow-up. In order to follow the results of this project,
it was essential to create a follow-up system that enables annual follow-up of the
effects of this training of attitudes on the drug/intoxicant use of youngsters.
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Drama plots and methods
The plots of the yearly Free Fall drama performances have been stories of
youngsters and the trips in the drug world. Different methods have been used
when processing drama in the end of the performance.The scenes are processed
in the middle and in the end of the scenes with participatory drama method
exercises – for example, by producing alternative thoughts, by interviewing some
characters, by creating happy/unhappy endings for the story and by experimenting
different problem solution alternatives.
Drama plots in years 2000 – 2004
1999/2000 – NoStatus
A story of a boy inside the drug world. Several scenes were staged in the
performance area and in the cellar – for example a drug abusers hanging place
was staged in the cellar, and the path leading to the cellar was lit only dimly to
create the right atmosphere. The main scene was the boy + Mr. Drug, where the
boy is interviewed by the audience, but Mr. Drug actually provides all the answers,
thus is controlling the boy.
2000/2001 – NoStatus
A story of a girl in the drug world. A ”mental beach” was staged on the
performance area. The participants went through this beach in groups. During
the journey the participants experienced a transfer from the soft hippie-style
drug experiments to hard drugs, blackmailing drug dealer and ending up to the
drug rehabilitation in a mental hospital. The main scenes were: peeking to the
girl’s room where she lied overdosed and the interviewing the girl’s mother.
2001/2002 - NoStatus
A story of a girl in the drug world. A decision making situation in a home party –
shall I try drugs or not. Portraying the change of the friend network, stealing
from mother and lying. The main scene: drug hallucination situation, in which the
people closest to the girl were dancing as distorted masque theatre figures around
the girl.
2002/2003 – DIXI
A story of a girl. Home party. Change of hobbies. The reactions at home, father
trying to take the girl to drug tests. A dance of a black and a white figure fighting
over the girl. The main scenes: producing the sounds; girl’s experiences during
the drug abuse, the feeling of the close people interpreted as screams and whispers
and the end scene; the girl is battling and hanging in ropes while the black and
white figure are fighting over her.
2003/2004 – DIXI
Several stories. Framing story formed by a group of young LARPers, who are
creating a value game in school. Stories of different values; desire to experience,
desire to dare, desire for life to go well. The stories considered different drugs
and the reasons for using drugs. In the end the story returned to the role play
situation: ”Take the sword of courage and start following your own path…”
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The most impressive scenes and situations
• all aspects related to home parties received a lot of interest – the audience
wanted to have longer home party scenes
• parent and family characters were important. Although the parents were
always seen as too strict, the meaning and need of home as safe haven was
crucial especially in problem solving situations
• such hot-seat interviews that dealt with drug related problems (mother of the
drug user, heavy-users of drugs, the boy under influence of drug + Mr. Drug)
• decision making situation concerning starting to use drugs, in which the
voices from inside the head were used
• creating better alternative for the decisions in the end discussion; a possibility
to see one’s own proposal as a improvised performance; it was nice to
have a chance to direct by oneself different alternative solutions
• listening to the sounscape – ”really cool”
• visits to rehabilitation centre and meeting a drug dealer face-to-face
• part of the audience found it great to be able to participate and that
everybody got the change to be involved, it was exciting
• part of the audience would have wanted to participate more, to act more
• some people found it hard to answer the questions
Exercise methods
The drama performance with the class lasted two lessons, thus 90 minutes. This
time period was too short in most of the cases.The pupils would have wanted to
stay longer and to discuss the issues further.The schedule was limited due to the
lesson frame of the schools, lunch hours and the buss schedules for the groups
arriving from a longer distance. Ice-breaking techniques were used with new
groups. Due to the tight schedule there was no time for real open forum theatre
type drama, since it was likely that the process could have been interrupted.
Therefore, we decided to create rather structured and partly theatrical TIE-
drama (Theatre in Education) with its extensive exercises, since it was the bet
possible method to use in these time limits.
The performance was divided in the following parts:
Beginning – beginning information
app. 15 min – warm-up games (question game: ”Yes.No-Maybe” concerning
attitudes towards drugs, ice-breaking games). Aiming at
concentration, relaxing the group, departure from the school
mode, increasing group spirit, preparing the coming drama
situation.
Performance – app. 5 – 7 short scenes
app. 20 min – part of the scenes in the present time, part in the future of the
youth and part abstract; for example happening in the main
characters mind and feelings
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Exercises – in between the scenes
app. 20 min – the used exercises
• hot-seat (the main character a youngster/drug abuser/ mother
of a long-time drug abuser/friend of the drug user). Aiming at
building the character and to clarifying the perspective and context.
• voices from inside the head (mainly used in decision making
situations – the first drug usage situation). Aiming at bring forth
and deal with contradictory and conflicting thoughts and behaviour
models.
• value path (why to go to the party/why not). Aiming at create
personal experiences and thinking models.
• voting (how does the character decide). Aiming at activating to
participate and influencing in the drama. Provides also information
of the thoughts of the audience for the joker.
• picture of sounds – soundscape (of the main character’s life
while the drug abuse is continuing). Aiming at creating images,
combining the different parts of the story into one entity.
• still-pictures (the girl’s worse nightmare of drug usage, dreams
and nightmares of the end result). Aiming a crystallising and
clarifying the attitudes and thoughts and the end results. Facilitates
the possibility to continue the process by creating a sketch based
on the situation presented in the still-pictures.
Conclusion discussions
app. 30 min • group discussions
• creating alternative solutions (actors improvise better solution
models)
• making slogans and banners of good values in life for the main
character
• value game, where 25 own good values are defined and set in
an intuitive order
• the still-pictures created in the groups concerning the crucial
situations/end situations
• a sociogram of the close people of the main character + their
sentences
Aftermath
Each year there is drama aftermath package produced for the teachers, including
one or several alternative exercises, to be used for one lesson after the drama.
Exercises:
• Writing a letter, imagining to be some of the characters in the drama as an
old person describing his/her situation after the happening in the drama
• Writing an essay concerning youth drug usage
• Drawing a comic strip of different values in life/choices of the main character
• Making a poster of own good values
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• Creating alternative solution models for the situation of the beginning of
drug abuse
• Reading the letter from the main character girl and writing a response to
that/answering the questions in it
o What good is in everybody’s life as a alternative for intoxicants?
o How to live in such a manner that one would not end up as Netta?
o How/who could help Netta?
Drama process ”netta in a spin”, year 2002
• Additional appendix – not yet available in electronic form
• map of the scenes
• process description
Feedback
A class is such a big group of people as audience that it is hard to estimate what
happens in one person’s mind during the performance. Therefore, one of our
aims was that in each school the pupils participating in the drama would discuss
their thoughts of the theme of the drama, for example, in the Finnish lesson. We
sent the co-operation teachers a aftermath package including means to unravel
the drama.We received feedback from these means mainly from the ones writing
an essay. This method created discussions on drug abuse, the effects of drug
abuse and on the intoxicant-free way of life.
Pupil’s feedback on ”Netta in a Spin” from different schools
In school ”A” there were 42 essays and in school ”B” 51 essays written concerning
the themes in Netta’s letter. The themes in the essays were concerning the
following issues:
• telling about the dangers of drug abuse in general
• direct answers to Netta’s letter
• the story of the drama as a new version
• how to live in such a manner that one would not end up as Netta
All the essays were clearly against drugs.
Recommendations for Netta:
• most of the pupils offered Netta clear suggestion of how to live and survive
• the most common alternatives for intoxicants were friends ( 39 % ), hobbies
( 34 %) and family ( 25 % ). Other alternatives were, among other things,
sports, healthy life, school, animals, future plans and good life in general.
• Pupils proposed that Netta could get a pet, spend time with the family and
good friends
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• 19 % hoped that Netta would find a peer group from other youngster
fighting against drugs.
”We think that you should just continue with your life…Forget the past and the
guy…Concentrate now just on yourself and your family, they love you, no matter
if you do not always notice that...Find new and better friends.”
”If you would have never even tried drugs, you would not have ended up in a
rehabilitation..”
”You get through it and feel as a winner…It was really brave to admit that you
have a problem and to get treatment…and you will be some day happy again…Now
that you have been to the bottom there is only one way to go…And that is upwards!”
Who could be the best helper for Netta:
• friends ( 49 % )
• parents ( 27 % )
• professionals ( 20 % )
• rehabilitation ( 20 % )
• family ( 16 % )
Altogether 92 % emphasised the meaning of the closest people and 40 %
professional help.
”how to live without ending up like Netta” answers:
• saying no to intoxicants (53 %)
• friend network (30 %)
• thinking what one is doing (18 %)
• other proposals: for example, to get a hobby, maintaining good relationships
with the parents and friends, to have a strong self confidence and to be
optimistic. ”Nothing special is needed, with the basic things one can survive”.
Rehabilitation:
• pupils found the rehabilitation centre as a cruel place (17 %), but thought
that it was a good place for Netta, since she was in need of treatment
• rehabilitation process was easy (7 %)
• the decision to go to treatment and stop using drugs have to be made by
Netta (17 %)
Netta’s destiny:
• worried about Netta’s financial situation (23 %)
• worried that Netta is lonely in the rehabilitation centre (31 %)
• a couple were interested in Netta’s relationship with her mother
• in a way or another, drug usage leads to death (some of the substances)
(12 %)
”It is not good to use drug, because you die for them. With drugs you can die in
many different ways.You may die for overdose, diseases from drugs, doing something
stupid, because you are so wasted and you can die shot by the dealer or beaten.”
• Saying no to drugs when they are being offered was considered to be hard
( 12 % ). This was mainly due to the peer pressure.
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• The biggest issues was the future of Netta and what she will do when she
is released from the rehabilitation centre ( 31 % )
”Have you thought about the life after the treatment? Do you continue your
school or are you going to work? You have time to think about your future in the
rehabilitation centre.You are the one to decide on your life.”
Pupil’s feedback on the technical realisation of the drama
Feedback material included 5 schools, 8 classes, 180 pupils
• the story was believable, this could happen to a 7th grader in Lohja
almost agree 61 %
totally agree 24 % together 85 %
• using drama in this kind of education creates a relaxed atmosphere when
considering the hard/boring issues
almost agree 44 %
totally agree 49 % together 93 %
• I think that it was nice to participate in the story
almost agree 38 %
totally agree 46 % together 84 %
• I thought about the drama afterwards / I talked about it with my friends/
parents/siblings
yes 84 %
• it is not always easy to behave in such a manner as one likes when there is
a danger of being discriminated by the others
totally disagree 6%
somewhat disagree 26 % together 32 %
almost agree 44 %
totally agree 23 % together 67 %
• a grade for the whole performance
4 1%
5 0%
6 2%
7 2%
8 23 %
9 53 %
10(the best grade) 19 %
+ actors’ skill to live the role + humour
+ drama believable, humorist, impressive, provoked thoughts
+ movement in space
+ possibility to participate in the drama
+ joker questions were a good method to digest the seen events
+ drama is a good method to deal with drug problems
+ open discussions of the issues
+ desire for the project to continue
+ wanted that others besides the 7th graders could see the drama as well,
children of all ages
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– changing the roles was difficult – more actors in the performance needed
– transfer from one scene to another and the change in time difficult –
scattered
– joker questions annoying interruptions
– the shortness and incompleteness of the story bothering ( 35 % )
– boring / always the same preaching
– could be less stupid exercises
– there should be less uncomfortable talks
Thoughts and feedback from the parents
Parents’ feedback was gathered through the after-discussions of the parent
performance. The drama gave rise to a lively debate. The parents were mainly
pleased with what they saw and how the project was organised. Some of the
parents were frightened by the harshness of the description of the world of the
youth – however, the drama was not created for the needs of the parents.
Discussions were born of the change of the drug culture, the fact that the person
offering drugs is nowadays a familiar person instead of a stranger, the availability
of drugs. One of the discussion issue was the responsibility of the close ones of
the drug user; who should interfere and how, and is it appropriate to tell the
parents of a friend of one’s child that the child is using drugs. The participation
percent of the parents was rather low, for example only about 30 parents
participated from a school of 650 pupils (4,6 %).
Thoughts and feedback from the teachers
In the beginning phase of the project there was a teacher from each upper level
of comprehensive school present in the information gatherings of the teachers.
Mostly these representatives were Finnish teachers, since drama lessons are
part of the Finnish education lesson frame. During the years some other interested
teachers were involved as well, student guides, persons who have studied
participatory drama, school nurses , ET-teachers (education of life, replacing the
teaching of religion for some pupils) and others. Unfortunately, the teachers’
interest in the information gatherings dramatically declined during the later years
of the project, reaching a point where as few as 1 – 3 teachers were present.This
happened in spite of the fact that the information gathering was at that time a
paid VESO-education. This low participation percent affected the functioning of
the project, since the working methods required the participation of the
connection teachers. In many cases the situation was such that only one teacher
was informed about the project; s/he arranged the arrival of the class to the
drama and got the aftermath material, but then another teacher, who had no
idea what was going to happen, was sent with the class to the drama situation.
Therefore, it was at times hard to motivate and offer information to the classes.
In some cases the aftermath was taken care by a teacher who was not familiar
with the project and did not participate in it.
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The following issues, among other things, were discussed in the teacher meetings:
• is this drama too much for some of the 7th graders. It was agreed that the
school decides if someone has psychical or other similar problems, thus
the drama is not suitable for him/her (only 1-2 pupils during the project
years)
• the aim of the performance is to prepare the pupils for the decision making
situation, thus the majority of the pupils should be those who have not yet
faced this decision making situation
• would it be possible that the aftermath session would be arranged during
the control of life lessons
• what is the role of the teacher in intoxicant education (teachers are not
doctors nor polices, they are not all familiar with the drug world, but can
educate as laymen and honestly say that they do not know everything on
this issue)
Experiences of the work group
The producers of the project are divided here in two groups – project team (2
youth workers and educators) and actors of the year (drama students).
Feedback from the drama students
• considered the project as extremely meaningful and educating
• many students felt that they have grown during the project
• feeling of success; the drama reached its target audience
• participatory drama was considered as meaningful due to its interactive
nature + it was nice to be put in practise
• after the drama was learnt, it was possible to try changing the roles – to
have a chance to realise oneself in multiple ways
• the skills and creativity of the work group were used in versatile ways
• the project was extensive and intensive, thus in some cases quite heavy
and demanding – some days there could be three performances and only
a few pauses, which was due to the schedules of the schools
• repeating the same story for 35 times created frustration and routines –
change of roles helped
• more work guidance would have been needed – due to the scarceness of
the resources there were only one period of 5 weeks when it was given
• the drama was planned to be too long, thus there was quite a hurry in the
end and the time ran out
• the group was not yet professional – personal weaknesses affected the
project. People were late, concentration was weak at times and there was
no self produced spirit raising
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Feedback from the project team
• the project was considered as a meaningful way to work
• drama was considered as extremely successful and suitable method of
drug educating – the interest was visible during the performances
• cutting the resources in the education has strained the core team of the
project – the contact teaching of the students have diminished from 170
lesson to 112 – 120 lessons in five years and part of the studies are home
studies! (intoxicant education).This has clearly decreased the skills, target-
orientation and professional pedagogical considerations of the performing
team. There are too few work guidance lessons
• the youth workers have worked in the project besides their own work
duties, they took care of the management of the project and led the
performances, which led to tiredness and their own work suffered occasionally
• participation activity of the schools and parents has been low. The project
has been considered as a youth work’s own project. On the other hand, this
passivity can be interpreted as a sign of trust; people know what this project
is all about and trust us. This theme is often considered as hard and heavy.
• Feedback from the audience has been surprisingly positive
• The lack of continuing follow-up research is evident – this project could
offer a meaningful way to create a continuing intoxicant behaviour and
attitude follow-up research, but a skilful instance would be needed to realise
it. Schools and the town did not offer a person for such research and the
project team did not have time to launch such a project. The follow-ups
are realised annually with students, without research guidance.
• the main source of motivation was the youngsters; they appreciated this work:
It is so great that somebody is goes through all these troubles to protect young people!
There is not many of you kind! Peace!
Titi Lillqvist
is telling
about her
methods in
Salo in June
2003.
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Photo as a step to drama
Psychotherapists Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert elaborated their method “Photo
Ulla
as a Step to Drama” during the Drama Way project. This method combines
Halkola
different approaches of phototherapy and participatory drama. The aim of the
&
method is to help the participants to increase their self understanding, to create
Tarja
alternative means for analyzing the present, important or current themes in
Koffert
their lives and to disclose aims for the future. The group processing form of this
method creates an interactive forum; characteristic to this forum is sincerity,
experience orientation and sociality.
Photos in Therapeutic and Educational Uses – What does it mean?
The aim of phototherapy is to use photos and photographing to enhance the
person’s self awareness, to support the personal growth and psychical harmony
and to help the person to get through the crisis in life. By using photos in therapy
it is possible to reach such matters that can not be reached with words, and also
to enliven memory and to create alternative means for analyzing life.
Methods of the phototherapy include viewing biographical photos, viewing
associative and symbolic photos and taking new photos. These methods may be
widely applied in individual and group work sessions depending on the aims of
the educational or therapeutic session or the needs of the participants.
“Photo as a Step to Drama” in the DramaWay Project
Instructors and the Theme of the Workshop
Psychotherapists Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert participated in the DramaWay
seminar held in Salo, Finland, in July 2003.They were inspired with the rehearsals
and performances of the forum theater in this seminar, and decided to carry out
their own performative photo session called “Annie Immerin ja Elena Einmalin
Armas Arki” (Annie Immer and Elena Einmal: Sweet Everyday life). This photo
session is a nostalgic photographic story of two women, photographed in a place
where youngsters spend their free time. The photographic scene is the
surroundings of an old grain Silo.
On the wall of the Silo there used be an advertisement of Anni-Helena wheat
flour. Now all that is left of the silo is ruins.There is some waste material brought
to the scene: stove, refrigerator, washing machine and mattresses, thus the basic
furniture of a small apartment.The walls of the surrounding buildings are covered
with graffiti. The beloved everyday life in these surroundings and photos appears
to be nostalgic, but nevertheless joyful. Who are these women, where do they
come from and what is their life like? The creators of the photo series began
asking these questions from themselves, and from others. “Photo as a Step to
Drama” method was born.
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The Participants of the Workshop
There were held two Photo as a Step to Drama workshops during Drama Way
project. One in Barcelona in Spain and one in Turku in Finland. About 30
participants took part in these workshops.The groups consisted of drama workers,
art- an phototherapists, social worksers, teachers, counselors and students.
The Steps of the Workshop
The program of the workshop based on the performative photo series, viewing
the photos and creating a story based on the photos was following:
1. Phototherapy and the related methods were introduced.
2. 40 photos of Elena and Annie were hanged in a clothes line in the workshop.
3. The participants were divided into two groups.
4. The participants in the first group chose photos of Annie and in the second
group photos of Elena. Each participant chose their own photo.
5. The photos were viewed together in the group.There was a group discussion
on the images and stories that the photos evoked.
6. Both of the groups chose one photo and created a story based on the
photo.
7. Both groups presented their story as a drama performance.
8. After the drama performances the participants discussed how the choosing
of the picture and creating the story went. Discussion handled issue such
as how the participants took part in the co-operation, what kind of roles
each participant has taken and which themes each participant brought to
the story.
9. Then the group analyzed the contents of the stories and considered the
issues that were handled in the stories.
10. The procedures in the workshop were evaluated with the help of associative
cards.
Feedback from the Workshop
The participants of the workshop described the “Photo as a Step to Drama”
method as an interesting and effective way of approaching different issues. The
participants became interested in the characters and lives of the persons portrayed
in the photos; the photos became alive and stories were born. There was a
competitive situation inside the group concerning the choosing of the photo to
be used in the drama performance, but after the group had chosen the photo, it
was easy to dramatize the story and to create the roles.
The entirety of the group work, the choosing of the photo, the story telling
and the drama performance were later analyzed in a group discussion. Assessing
the group process and observing the own role in the process in a group discussion
was a new experience for most of the participants, and this reflective observation
was considered as a significant part of the process. The reflective observation
was seen as a useful approach for different group productions.
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The following procedure was to discuss the contents of the stories.
The following questions were used in analyzing the drama stories:
• Which personal matters were involved in the stories?
• Which universal themes were related to the stories?
• Did the stories include some common national characteristics and features?
• How did the personal experiences show in the stories?
• Which of the stories was the most touching one for the participants?
• In what way the persons in the photos were involved in the stories?
• What did the created story tell for the persons taking the photos?
The final assessment with the photo cards was a natural way of expressing
own personal experiences of the workshop, and by circulating the cards the
instructors got insight on the effectiveness of the workshop.
The workshops in Barcelona and Turku are the first one to use the photos of
Annie and Elena. In the future the aim is to carry out the workshop with other
groups.
During the workshop different scenes of the stories can be photographed
and analyzed separately, and alternative stories could be created according to
the methods of the forum theater. Drama can be enriched in multiple ways by
using photos.The co-operation of the drama workers and psychotherapists using
photos in therapy in Drama Way project was productive, and new methods were
born. This project was encouraging; the co-operation will continue.
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Arts, Educators, Communities – a Participatory Approach
Presentation at the Jornadas
Jouni La Caixa, Granollers, Spain
Piekkari 2003-11-22
Background
This is a brief and modified version of a speech presented at the Jornadas, which
was a seminar event on theatre and drama organised by one of the Drama Way
project´s subpartners, La Caixa Foundation, in Granollers, Spain in November 2003.
The projects presented in this article have not directly been a part of Drama
Way project. However, many of the elements have been presented and adapted
in the workshops and seminars of the project; therefore it is reasonable to include
this text in this handbook in an abbreviated form.
Aims of the Presentation
• to explain what does participatory approach in arts education mean
• to tell how we train art educators who want to work with the communities,
part of which are the young people
• to tell about some of the international impacts that have inspired our
work in Finland
• to show some examples of different kinds of community art projects that
have also served as trainings for the educators
• to speculate how the future of this work is going to look like in my country
I will focus this presentation on the performing arts, especially drama. However,
in a community context different forms of expression are often used simultaneously.
The use of the forms depends on the skills and training of the educators, as well as
the needs of the community and the ongoing projects. Some practitioners like to
specialise in the use of one single method, but I, as a producer of events, like to
offer people different artistic ways to reach the same goals. For some practitioners
this tool can be snow sculpting – a natural and available resource in Finland – or
installations of natural materials in the forest. For me it has been more common to
use drama, or songs and dances, of the different cultures and my own country. In
my work, as a producer of trainings and events or as an educator or popular artist,
I usually use drama as a link between the various artistic expressions. My emphasis
is also on more issue based content of education, such as discussions on up-to-
date topics or concrete future planning workshops.
Often in this work we do not separate the young people from the other age
groups.We prefer to facilitate the communication between the old and the young.
For example, if the aim is to use drama for drug prevention, we try to work with
the community as a whole entity. We try to make youngsters and their peers,
parents, teachers, social, health and youth workers, police, shopkeepers etc. meet
each other.The same applies to the events of celebratory nature. Community art
event can, at its best, be a meeting point of the different age and social groups like
”in the good old times”. In this way we hope to be able to facilitate the natural
learning process between the different generations, lifestyles and experiences.
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Theoretical Ideas and Inspirations
If I should mention only one source that inspires for my work, it would definitely
be Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and his Pedagogy of Liberation. Freire
developed his pedagogical ideas in the 60s - 70s amongst the illiterate farm
workers who owned no land, and they are still relevant today, even after his
recent death. He recognised that the effort to teach literacy in the traditional
”tanking” method of teaching where the teacher speaks and the students listen,
was not successful. It did not activate people, quite the contrary; it made them
feel valueless and to feel that they are not capable of learning complex issues.
The main idea of Freire was that in order for the education to be liberating it
should always begin with those issues that the learners themselves find most
important and troublesome in their lives and immediate environment. These
issues are, for example, lack of money and land, working conditions, household
problems, social problems etc. These are the hot issues, of which these people
talk about in their everyday discussions. The first step of the process is to give
names to these phenomena, to conceptualise and to share these experiences in
the group.After that the group of learners progresses towards the analysis of the
reasons of these problems. The group finally tries to progress into such kind of
understanding of these issues that they can actually start solving their own
problems. In this perspective, education turns into a politicising process.The role
of the teacher changes as well: the teacher transforms into a co-learner; co-
researcher of the realities of the learners. From the teacher’s point of view,
liberating education is more about making questions than giving answers.
What does Freire’s pedagogy of liberation have to do with the arts? In his
ideology, various forms of art are seen as indigenous means of communication.
People express themselves through popular songs, dances, and other forms of
culture that indigenous to them. Let us take a modern example: in Finland so
called Live action role games have become very popular amongst the young
people. Usually the LARPs are fantasy games taking place in the history or fairy
tale world.The participants of these games often openly admit that their purpose
in playing is to escape from the harsh reality. However, nowadays many of the
larpers do have more society-oriented intentions in their role games. LARP is
said to be one of the few genuine young people’s movements born in the 90´s.
Paulo Freire’s pedagogical ideas have provedly had an enormous impact on
the Third World countries on the grass root level work of people’s activism,
popular education, arts, theatre, trainings, community planning, development work,
women’s liberation movements, decolonising the universities to mention just a
few areas.
I have worked with and been inspired by the Zambian grass root theatre
movement. I have been impressed how the young school drop-outs have changed
and turned into being the developers of their own societies.They are wandering
theatre makers, having a high awareness of the social issues with a clear intention
to help people to solve their problems on their own.
Another inspiring example for me has been an Indian theatre group Natya
Chetana, which travels ecologically by bicycles from village to village to provoke
discussion concerning the important issues with their theatre performances.The
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group also makes research on the local popular art forms, organises festivals,
trainings, maintains folk art museum and produces publications. The group has
been especially active in the post-work and prevention of natural catastrophes
by using their art as therapy, for information purposes and for political advocacy.
For them being an artist is a lifestyle of active citizenship.
Freire’s revolutionary ideas are often regarded as too romantic and nostalgic
to be directly applied to the contemporary western context. We do not have
mass poverty or super cyclones. Our country is listed as the least corrupt country
in the world, whereby in India and Zambia this problem is very acute. However,
I can see parallel ideas to those of Freire in the modern constructivist paradigm
of learning, which is based on cognitive psychology. The contemporary Finnish
National school curriculum has been based on these principles since 1994. The
change of paradigm aimed at replacing the frontal teaching methods by creating
active learning environments where the students construct their understanding
of the world rather than ”tank knowledge” according to a strict curricula. The
schools also open up to the wider society, and the value of informal learning in
non-school contexts is recognised.The contemporary school system, at least on
the level of principles, encourages such art forms as interactive drama and issue
based art projects where the students observe and comment their environment
through arts.
What is the Participatory Approach?
By the participatory approach we mean a working method, where
• the target communities are actively involved in identifying, planning,
implementing and evaluating the project
• the participation should be a democratic process and provide all groups
and individuals a chance to participate in the process regardless of age,
gender, cultural background or social status
• the aim of the process is socio-cultural change – development - of the
communities
• what is ”positive change” or ”development” is however not defined by the
educators, but rather by people and communities themselves
• the people in the communities know which issues or what kind of work is
important for them
In art education participatory approach has got several consequences:
• as an educator coming from the outside one cannot push one’s own strict
plans. It is necessary to negotiate the aims, content, timetables and ways of
working with the group. For example, usually you do not direct a play with
a pre-selected text and detailed dramaturgical plan.The more participatory
way would be to create the play together with the group.
• ”aesthetic” is always a relative concept – local aesthetics are as good and
valid as those held by the trained or ”elitist” artists.
• artistic ”end product” is often less important than the process of making it.
• in fact there is no ”end”, but a continuous circle of planning, experiencing
and evaluating what we create and learn.
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• in participatory approach art is a collective learning process of sharing
meanings through art
• the artist is a midwife for the ideas – not a dictator using people as raw
material for her own expression. In other words the purpose is to ”tickle
up” the creativity in people with whatever means appropriate to them
• we need to know who are the people we work with: their history, social
circumstances, way of seeing and constructing their world view through
symbols characteristic to them
• education is a dialogue: both the educators and the learners have a chance
to learn from each other
• art can not be a separate island from the realities of life
When dealing with the training of artists we can see that many of the traditional
conceptions of ”artist” become less functional in the community context. It is
not enough that the artist only ”knows his own field”, but it is necessary to
create a mentality of perpetual questioning about the world and one’s own mission.
The artist is, therefore, a field researcher, who creates new ways to adapt in
different community contexts in suitable ways. In the participatory approach,
however, an artist is a cultural anthropologist, who uses his skills to give tools for
the communities to explore their own lives in creative ways. The artist will help
the community to re-write its history, recreate its identity and revitalise artistic
lives of the members. Usually the focus is on the less privileged communities.
Training of the Art Educators in Finland
In Finland, the mainstream of artists has not been widely interested in the needs
of the communities. For example, the municipal theatres have just recently started
to get interested in theatre education, such as organising audience workshops
dealing with the plays for the schools. However, new kind of theatre trainings
especially in the polytechnics have created promising visions for the community
oriented work.
The interest for finding creative methods to work with the communities has
been much greater amongst the professionals and students of youth, social, socio-
cultural/pedagogical and health work. Their perspective towards the arts has
been more instrumental from the very beginning.The teachers also seem to have
an interest for using arts for different educational purposes. For example in the
FIDEA (The Finnish branch of International Drama Education Association) teachers
have expressed their desire to move towards more participatory and community
oriented approach.
Interestingly, people in the so called Development NGO’s, who work in the
fields of activism and development co-operation in the Third World countries,
have also played an important role in starting the promotion of arts in development
education and socio-cultural animation and mobilisation of people, both in the
North and in the South. Art has been used both to tell about the different
realities of the Third world countries as well as for popular education in various
development projects. One example of this emphasis is Mozambique, which is
one of the most prominent bilateral partners of the Finnish development co-
operation. Promoting civil society and local democracy have been defined as the
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most important fields of development instead of former emphasis on sanitation,
health, roads, schools or developing agriculture. In this effort arts have a surprisingly
important role. For example, popular theatre groups are widely used to achieve
these aims. Here the North has been interestingly following the example of the
South, where the ideas of Paulo Freire have been already applied for decades –
very strongly in the field of progressive arts.
In the participatory approach of art education Finland seems to be far behind
from such countries as England. However, in the 1990´s we experienced a rapid
development in this field. For applied drama the new Polytechnic system offered
an ideal setting for this new approach. Drama educator trainings in the Polytechnics
of Turku and Helsinki have emphasised the community orientation, which has been
neglected by the traditional theatre training in the Theatre Academy of Finland.
The continuing education courses within the universities and polytechnics, as well
as in the Theatre Academy, have also played a rather instrumental role in the
distribution of these methods in real life contexts.The participants of these courses
are professionals who want to adapt the new methods into their own work.
The polytechnics organise also professional education trainings for educators
of participatory drama, thus for youth, social and cultural workers. Pedagogical
drama in teacher training has gained a stronger status, and research in the field
takes mostly place in the teacher training drama courses, especially in the
University of Jyväskylä.
Community art work is best learned in real contexts.The following examples
of the community art projects have been trainings for the practitioners in the
field, as well as with working with the ”real people”.
Communities in the Projects
By communities we mean any group of people whose members live in a close
proximity to each other, either physically or mentally. In participatory approach
we also work with what we could call potential communities. For example, in
modern and new housing areas people usually have little social interaction with
each other. We presume that at least some of them, in a safe situation, would like
to come out and join different kinds of social activities (whereby many do not
want to – often for a good reason!). Our task as educators is to facilitate this
process, make it easier for people to communicate through organising events,
trainings and other activities. These events have to serve the needs of these
people and be carefully planned together with these people.
The most typical community art projects concentrate on working with
communities in closed settings, such as the centres for senior citizens or youth
houses. My special interest, however, is to create arenas for different people to
meet each other, exchange ideas and perhaps understand each other a little bit
better. Popular arts can facilitate this process by offering a celebratory aspect to
this process – it can be a lot of fun!
Creating community feeling in places where it does not normally exist can be
a demanding goal. It could push the communities further towards changing their
everyday lives. In several projects we have used arts to animate people to take
part in concrete area planning. In creative future workshops people have analysed
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their problems, and found concrete – and often very imaginary and creative –
solutions to these problems. These suggestions have then been elaborated with
the local administration. Often the process has inspired people to take direct
action: they have done collective work by renovating buildings, planting gardens,
organising festivals etc.
Some Examples of the Projects
Forum theatre in Finland
Forum theatre is an interactive theatre form created by a Brazilian theatre director
Augusto Boal, who used to be a workmate of Freire in the early literacy campaigns.
Boal’s forum theatre is based on similar ideas: audiences define their problems,
which are then dramatized in a theatrical form. Forum theatre does not offer
solutions for the problems, but invites the audiences on the stage to act out the
solutions for the problems. Forum theatre becomes thus a forum for debate and
discussion. It is a creative game to find solutions for everyday life problems. Boal
emphasised the revolutionary action against oppression, but in our Western
context we have also seen forum theatre as a useful form of exploring more
complex and vague social problems. Forum theatre has also been a method for
layman to learn to make theatre by using one’s own experiences as a starting
point to more theatrical explorations.
Forum theatre has been used mostly for young people, and in these cases it
mostly deals with ”Sex, and drugs and rock-n-roll”. Forum theatre has been
considered as an effective tool for drug prevention and school violence, as well
as for sexual education. Furthermore, it has been interestingly applied to
discussions concerning family problems, bullying of young people in the work
places and for critical media awareness. For example, in army barracks we discussed
the problematic relation of the young men to their mothers and girlfriends with
the help of this drama. In another case, with a group of transsexuals we used
forum theatre to build a bridge towards the mainstream culture.
Some groups have found it easy to get the young people in the classroom
performances to act on the stage, whereby other practitioners find that it is too
threatening a situation for the youngsters. They choose to use other techniques
such as small-group problem solving, games and other ways to involve the pupils
into the drama.
We seldomly use forum theatre in its strictly Boalian-revolutionary way. We
use it rather intertwined with the other forms and techniques of interactive and
educational drama. Forum theatre has also changed its political-participatory
focus towards a more didactical intention: for example, it has been used to teach
young people how to learn to say ”no” to drugs, instead of tackling the root
causes of the drug problem itself. Some of these projects can be criticised for
offering posed-upon answers instead of leaving the questions open in order to
activate the thinking process of the audiences. Promising results have been achieved
through the work with the larger network around the young people. Many projects
have organised separate discussions or workshops with the parents and teachers
to involve them in collective efforts in prevention of the problem.
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Becoming Visible – art and activities with asylum seekers
Finland has a relatively strict immigration policy. Finland is ranked one of the
lowest in the EU in terms of allowing refugees a permanent asylum status in the
country. Only recently the asylum seekers were allowed through legislation to
get a work permission after three months of stay in the country. However, for
most of them it has been very difficult to find even temporary employment due
to the lack of Finnish language skills or understanding how to apply for a job.
The EU/ESF Equal programme includes a special programme for the
development of the work with asylum seekers. This was seen crucial, since most
of the asylum seekers are waiting for their insecure future in refugee centres for
as long as for four years. The main aims of the Becoming Visible project are
facilitating the entrance into the employment, maintaining the mental health and
integrating them in the society during the indefinite processing time of their
asylum application. The goal is also to create a more participatory culture inside
the asylum seekers centres: the goal is that the dwellers themselves could take
responsibility for the daily activities of the centre as much as possible. For example,
asylum seekers teach each others new skills, languages, take care of cleaning,
cultural activities etc.
Methodologically we have used different kinds of artistic and experiential
education techniques to achieve our goals.The feedback from the asylum seekers
is also essential: we try to use methods that they like and feel useful. We are not
restricted to work only in Finnish, but all the languages that we know are used,
also the body language.
One of the most successful sub-projects has been the Kuuluvaks! (”To be
heard!”) music research project. It has got a simple, but functional idea. By a
suggestion of a Bosnian man, a multicultural band was created. A specific theme
was chosen, for example ”humanity” or ”light in different cultures”. Everyone
then memorises songs or dances from one’s own country and teaches them to
the others, and explains its meaning. Some even have written new rap texts.The
group consisting of the dwellers and university students or teachers has made
performances in various events, recordings, and organised dance courses and
made dramatisations of the songs.We have also helped people to make research
on their own music cultures, to find written materials and recordings, and to
brush up the teaching skills. Some of the members have presented the project
even in international research seminars. For us it has been an important
participatory effort: we try to give the right for ”knowledge” and ”research” to
the target groups themselves. On the other hand, the task of educators has been
to identify the problems that people might find worth teaching to each others,
say, certain African concepts of dance or music for the Finnish people.
Ethnomusicological understanding of our own and the foreign culture is required
to learn these concepts.
The main challenge in this work is its unpredictable nature. You never know
who will be there. The decision, negative or positive, can come at any time. The
other challenge is the language: for some of us Finnish is the only familiar language.
(see: www.becomingvisible.net)
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Sampocak – global folk tradition in a local setting
As a community artist I feel it is important to explore areas that are unfamiliar. If
you want to lead the communities to unbeaten tracks, you as an educator should
be ready for adventures, too! Sampocak was an offspring of this personal need.
Sampocak is a village project in my contemporary home village in Suomusjärvi. In
this project we combined Balinese percussive body music, dance and masks with
the Finnish traditions of rune singing, chant and dance. I collaborated with a
group of my fellow artists, one of whom is a Balinese youth worker and a traditional
temple dancer living in Finland.
In similar way as in the Indonesian island of Bali, the roots of Finnish culture
are quite literally in the shamanistic tradition, in the spells and rune songs, wedding
and hunting cult descriptions and heroic and mystical stories of Kalevala, the
Finnish National epic.The Kalevala is actually an artistic compilation of thousands
of songs in thousands of local variations. The”Book” of Kalevala, has however
made us neglect the fact that Kalevala was sung in local variations and it was
indeed sung. Not read, neither acted, but sung.
The idea of Sampocak project was to revitalise these roots, and do it in a
universal spirit. We also wanted to explore the Big Question: is it possible that
different cultures in different parts of our planet could somehow have same origins?
Even if it apparently is not so, is it possible that there are some universal archetypes
that transcend the aeons and continental distance; just as Carl C. Jung has proposed?
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European seminar participants in the Balinese-Finnish Sampocak workshop in Turku.
The aim of Sampocak was to offer in the countryside such experiences that
you cannot find in cities. In the background of this aim are the ecological and
anti-globalisation ideas.Through these good experiences we want to create local
networks of artists, amateurs, a whole life-style where the sheep, children, old
people, farming, and people from the whole world can come together. Perhaps
in minimal scale it could be an experience where different religions, myths, artistic
expressions and food can create new and further develop local identity. The aim
is to re-write our mythology to suit better in our modern realities.
In many rural settings in Finland artists with good intentions have ended up in
conflicts with the local status quo of the church, farmers, school or the established
associations.The reason for this is often simply that they have forgotten to involve
themselves in the planning process in the early stages of the projects. Even more
importantly, local people have felt that they have been left out from the process
of re-defining their local identity. Many times the conflict has been difficult to
avoid due to the cultural and ideological differences. In the northern parts of
Finland, for example, some religious movements are strong and sometimes set
restrictions on the activities of art. Understanding the local power structures,
maintaining good community relations, respecting the local values and creating
dialogue between the life styles is therefore very important. In the Southern
Finland we are lucky to live in the area that is relatively tolerant and has got a
long history of alternative life-styles and urban-rural movement.
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Sampocak workshop facilitators Markku Kykkänen (right) and Sutisna I Wayan (middle).
Participatory Art Trainings and Mega Trends – trying to see the future
Finland is a country with a small population of only five million people. In many
ways our society has aspects that can be admired. According to the latest news
Finland has again been ranked the most corruption-free country in the world.
Our school system was evaluated in many aspects as one of the best amongst
the OPEC countries. Most notably, there is very little interrelation between the
learning results and social status of the parents. Does it suggest that we are a
democratic society?
Small countries like Finland can be vulnerable to the changes in the local
economy like the recession of the early 90s has shown. However, nowadays
Finland is one of the fastest growing and stabile economies in the Europe. But for
how long? What about ecological price of this success? When is the payback
time? What about the climate change? What about the international insecurity?
What happens in Russia – the Big Question Mark that is so close to us?
Do we have a say in the European Union? Is it possible to maintain our identity?
Is it worthwhile trying to maintain something called the ”Finnish” identity? Should
we talk like the British about our multicultural identity, even if Finland does not
have any colonial history and thus is quite a homogenous culture? In my opinion
arts should also be used in trying to answer these questions.
What are the reasons that suggest that participatory approach in arts would
be more important in Finland in the future?
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Perhaps the simplest way to answer this question is to say that it already is
more important: the interest in the community art trainings has grown rapidly. Its
popularity can be explained by simple fashion: more and more people know that
arts can be applied in various fields. Cross-disciplinary approach has become
more accepted, and professional border lines are defended less. Trainings have
been considerably subsidised economically by the state and municipal bodies.
Different EU programmes, especially within ESF programmes, have supported
the use of arts as a means for cultural inclusion or - in the old fashioned words
- combat against social marginalisation.
Within a short period of time there has emerged a large group of people who
have more training for participatory art methods. Self-evidently that has lead to
the wider application of the participatory and pedagogically oriented approach.
The future will also be more demanding, and then the participatory approach
in arts can offer one part of the answer. In Finland these are for example:
• the growing number of immigrants, originating especially form Russia and
Estonia
• the mass retirement of the large post-war generations: Finns are getting
old and there will be less people to feed the non-working population.
• Opening of the EU borders to Estonia will also lead to the easier access of
illegal drugs and legal alcohol that has never been so cheap in the seriously
state regulated alcohol culture of our country.
• The farmers and villages have to change their lifestyle completely: either
survive or die, fast. The EU does not understand that in our climate it is
impossible to compete with the cultivation capacity of the Southern Europe.
• climate changes: no-one knows how it will affect our fragile local and global
systems
These are some of the more obvious changes that we can see in the near
future, but what about the values, identity, the meaning of life – all that arts is
about? There is no easy answer.
One area of future development affecting people’s lives is the effects of new
forms of media. Firstly, in the participatory drama work the development of
information technology should provoke critical approach towards the media.
Drama can be used in media education to develop critical literacy of the modern
media. Secondly, new media can be used as a tool for a new kind of participation,
new forms of art, creating new kinds of communities. This can already be seen
amongst the young LARP sub culture members. They take their dramas into the
internet, and use the new technologies in the most imaginative ways.We educators,
as usual, seem to follow these new generations a few steps behind.
Participatory approach, in my opinion, should help us professionals to
understand the realities of the young people: their ways of thinking. We should
not try to make the young people accept without questioning our out of date
realities that we are still living, in our thoughts, deeds and methods. We should
neither accept the new technological future as given. Participatory art could be a
bridge between what was good in the past and what could be good in the future;
it should help us to see what choises we had and will have.
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Kullervo. Social Exclusion of Youth in Mythology
Process drama/ drama adventure
Titi
KULLERVO
Lillqvist
&
Origins: This drama pretext / drama adventure is designed to be a starting point
Jouni
for the Drama Way project in Finland 2003.
Piekkari
Theme: Social exclusion of the youth; psychology of oppression; helping a
traumatised person; cultural roots of exclusion.
The Concept: Kullervo is an autonomous part of the Finnish national epos
Kalevala, compiled by Elias Lönnrot on the basis of pre-Christian rune songs he
collected in the early 19th century. Kullervo is the main character in the story.
Unlike the other heroic and wonder-making stories, Kullervo epic is rather socio-
realistic in its approach. The story is used here as an allegory for the social
exclusion of the youth in the modern times.
This process drama is designed for a specific natural and pre-historical
environment ofVuohensaari Island at Halikko bay in Salo.As such it carries elements
of drama/ theatre-in-education (DIE/TIE), adventure pedagogy and live action
Mythical blacksmith Ilmarinen is expecting an orphan boy to help his childless family in
the hard daily work.
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role play (LARP). Kullervo is an extremely heavy story.Therefore, it could also be
used in drama therapy in a professional therapeutic setting. However, in our case
it is targeted to the professionals and students, who deal with questions of social
exclusion of young people.
The version presented here is a long process drama, and it covers several
themes. We have later splinted this process into shorter drama processes that
can be easier applied, for example, in a class room context.
Objectives:
• to explore the social and psychological dynamics of social exclusion
• to understand the phenomenon of social exclusion through a mythological
/ national point of view in a historical perspective
• to experiment application of a process drama in a natural environment
• to encourage the use of local cultural heritage of each country to find
allegories and connections to the modern times
Target groups: People working with the youngsters and social marginalisation,
e.g. in youth shelters, prisons; youngster peer groups in colleges, polytechnic
students etc.
Due to its “psycho-dramatic” nature this drama pretext is not as such suitable
for the groups of marginalised youth. These methods can be too similar to the
actual traumatic experiences of the socially excluded youngsters, in cases where
there is no chance for follow-up and counselling after the drama. However, it can
give ideas for using other stories of Kalevala with young people in different
natural settings.
The drama offers possibilities to use elements of adventure pedagogy (group
building games, cliff climbing, cooking, camping etc.).
Time required: 2-3 hours + pre- and post-drama workshops (0.5 and 1-2 h each)
Learning opportunities:
Drama skills
Social skills
Other possible learning areas:
Improvisation
Empathy, helping
Understanding self-destructive behaviour in psycho-historical perspective
Understanding prejudice
Making real life strategies for change
Change of concept of childhood and youth in historical times
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Facilities and equipment:
• Suitable clothes and shoes for nature tracking (weather: warm, rain?)
• Kullervo’s objects: piece of burned wood, 2 authentic knives (the other
broken), a loaf of bread
• suitable natural environment (when realised in e.g. class room, the
environment can be improvised through story telling, stage design etc.)
• costumes and props according to availability
Literature and other materials:
Lönnrot, Elias: The Kalevala. Oxford World´s Classics. (1999) Oxford University Press.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela´s paintings “Kullervo´s Curse (Kullervon kirous) and “Kullervo
departs for the War” (Kullervon sotaan lähtö) can be seen at:
http://www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~xyu/kale-gb/gapic.html
The drama wanders from spot to spot as follows.
Inside the text the suggestion for the facilitator’s (teacher) narration is written
in cursive letters.
Before the actual drama (pre-session):
Story telling + Continuum
“Jokainen” is a Finnish proverb, which forms the core question of the Kullervo
drama:
Jokainen on oman onnensa seppä (Everyone is the smith of one’s own life).
Is everyone really the smith of one’s own life?
Are we really in all situations able to create our own happiness?
Are there such impacts in our growth process that force us to live unconstructively,
without being able to live a good and self-sustained life?
Is the distributing of wealth and possibilities uneven, even in our so-called democratic
society?
Choose your position on the line. Step to the line according to what you believe
that is closest to your opinion of the truth, closer to either end.You can choose
any point on the continuum.
Jokainen on oman onnensa seppä <—> jokainen ei ole oman onnensa seppä.
Discuss the choices.
Puppet theatre + group building games
Bird comes and catches the two brothers and throws them in different
geographical locations.
Firstly, games for group spirit for the large group, then splitting into smaller
camps and creating tension and competition between the camps.
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Evil stepmother has baked a stone in the bread of Kullervo.
Drama contract
• We shall explore some aspects of the theme (see above).
• We shall go to Vuohensaari in two groups. One takes the ancient rowing
boat (Untamo´s clan), and the other group goes directly to the island
(Kalervo’s clan). You are not going to be in these two different camps for
the whole drama, but you are actually taking different roles. Sometimes we
step out of the drama to observe things from a distance or do some other
exercises.You may ask questions between the exercises, but we wish that
during the exercises we shall stay in the given role.We hope that you have
proper clothes on, and go to toilet before the drama. We are going to eat
a very small snack on the way. You can stop participating the drama at any
time if you feel you absolutely have to do so. Please, come and tell us.
However, we consider it important to be involved throughout the whole
process. Out of game signal can be used: crossed hands above the head, OK?
• Departure to the island by boat: explanations about Finnish history, learning
to row,
• seeing landscapes and historical spots.
• historical background
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• explanation of the environment: the old Viking routes of the prosperous
Halikko bay; clan
• graves (“crowns”)
• The historical development of the concept “childhood”; history of violence
between the
• clans.
b) The other group goes directly to the island (see below)
Actual drama (on the Island):
Installation + improvisation + story telling
The group present on the island (Kalervo´s clan) constructs a miniature model
of Kullervo´s home village with different natural objects. The arriving group
(Untamo’s clan) destroys the village and Kullervo´s home:
“You have taken fish from our nets, you bastards! And your goats have eaten our oats!”
And this was how the anger and hatred between the two brothers, the clans of
Kalervo and Untamo started. There were only some faint memories afterwards
of what actually happened in that horrible and cruel fight between the two
brothers, the ancestors of the Western and Eastern Finns. Some people said that
Kalervo and his family were killed, some could have escaped in the forests, far
from the reach of Untamo´s clan. Only the pregnant wife of Kalervo was catched
and taken as a slave to Untamo’s house.
Creating a character
Showing the Gallen-Kallela’s painting (what do you see?) or drawing an image of
Kullervo on the sand (if sand available)
• give adjectives
• some storytelling about Kullervo
Objects + story telling
Kullervo’s mother had given Kullervo some memories of his past: a piece of hair curl
of his lost sister, who had long before went to the forest to pick berries and never
find her way back home again.And she gave Kullervo also a piece of burned wood. It
was a piece of a roof log of his burned home, and a knife of his father, a precious tool
for work, hunting, eating, fight. Soon after that her mother disappeared, where and
how, that did Kullervo not remember. He remembered faintly her mother saying:
“Keep these things with you as memories of where you came from.”
Still images/ “silent film” improvisations in small groups
+ narration + soundtrack/music
Main points of the settings of Kullervo’s Story (beginning) are written in small
pieces of paper, and each group of 3-5 people is given one of the papers.The still
images are shown in chronological order to the rest of the group. Facilitator or
a group member will add narration to the image. (alternatively: if the group finds
it difficult to find one single image, short speechless improvisations may be used)
✃- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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1. As a baby Kullervo was making a trouble-maker and threatened Untamo by
his superhuman and revengeful powers. On the third day after his birth he broke
himself out of his cradle and ripped his clothes off.
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2. On the third month he started planning revenge against Untamo. People
started to be afraid of Kullervo; a child with superhuman powers.
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3. Villagers decided to put Kullervo in a barrel and throw it into the water falls.
After several days they discovered the boy alive: sitting on the waves of the sea,
fishing and measuring how deep the water is.
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-
4. They decided to make a big fire, thousands of logs, and burn him. Kullervo was
burning one day, two days. On the third day they went to see him. The boy was
covered in ashes and sparks having a poker in his hand, to boost the fire, but he
did not burn!
✃- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
5. Kullervo´s mother disappeared.There was no idea what happened to her, but
the villagers speculated about it.
Storytelling / object
And since they could not kill him by these ways and means, finally they tried to hang
him. (The group moves to the tree)
(we also show the tree where Kullervo has drawn weird paintings: people in the
village being killed – the revenge…).
Rumours / gossips
(At the gallows): The villagers of Untamo’s clan gossip about the boy and the
weird paintings on the tree. Fear and tension is growing.
What should the villagers do with the boy? What should Untamo decide to do?
Storytelling
Finally, Untamo was forced to accept Kullervo, whose revenge he was afraid of, saying:
“I have given up trying to kill you. I will raise you up - a slave as my own son. If you live
decently, you may stay in my house, do the work a son has to do. Salaries you will get
afterwards according to what you deserve: a beautiful belt on you waist; or a hit
on your face”.
So for the first time being a son of a man, Kullervo said: “Tell me what I have to do, I will
do it”.
So he was ordered to take care of a child, look after a baby, wash the napkins. But
Kullervo lost the napkins in the stream, broke the arm of the child, dug the eye and the
child was killed by a disease.
Untamo thought, the boy is not good for looking after the kids. So he said:
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“Go and do the forest work!”.
So he took an axe and went. He chopped the trees, small and big, spoiled all the good
logs for the houses. Untamo thought; the boy is not good for forest work. So he said:
“Go and make the fences for the cattle!”. So he took his axe and went. He chopped all
the trees, big and small, made a fence that was rising up to the clouds, and there was
no gate to enter in this fence. Untamo thought: the boy is not good for making fences.
So he said:
“Go for the harvest, go for trashing the ray!” So he took his thresher and went. He
treshed all the crops of ray, smashed and spoiled it all.
Untamo thought, the boy is not good for treshing. I don´t need a son of his kind. I will sell
him as a slave for the smith Ilmarinen.
Thought bubbles + comic strips (still images) + costumes
Improvise a series of still images (by 5-10 hand clappings), where Kullervo
accompanied by Untamo enters the house of Ilmarinen. Ilmarinen and his wife
are waiting for him in the house. At a chosen point ask the participants to go to
the shadow of either Ilmarinen or his wife. Ask what they are thinking at that
moment (but not said aloud).
Finally, make a queue of people that passes behind Kullervo: each one whispers
the thoughts of Kullervo to his ears.
(All the characters are in costumes).
Scene (teacher/partner in role) (or story telling)
Kullervo sees a dream. He takes the bread that the wife of smith Ilmarinen had
baked and given to him. He rests down, takes the bread, his fathers knife and cuts
the bread.The knife hits something hard, there is a stone in the bread! My father’s
knife is broken, the only thing that reminded me of love!
Story telling + voices
That was Kullervo’s dream, but when he woke up he wanted to have a bite of
bread. However he was hesitating. He started sweating heavily.What if the dream
really was an omen? What if my ancestors are warning me through the dream?
What if there really is a stone in the bread? Does the smith’s wife hate me, or
love me? Kullervo asks help from the ancestors, who whisper around him.
Questions for the group:
Could there really be a stone in the bread?
What would the motives of the step mother be to do so?
If it is a symbolic dream, what does it mean?
The facilitator and the actors try to create tension and opposing opinions
concerning the issue.
Story telling (narration) + group improvisation
We have to cut the bread now.
Cutting the bread collectively. There either is a stone or not.
(A SNACK BREAK)
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Puppet theatre scene
A little bird flies to Kullervo and tells that his parents are actually alive.They have
escaped to the north. The father had stolen her wife from the slavery at his
brothers, Untamo’s house. Kullervo decides to travel there and find them.
Chain dance and song / Story telling
So Kullervo meets the surprised family, mother, father and the brother. He tells about
the slavery at the house of smith Ilmarinen. He tells her family that he is going to
revenge Untamo. They don’t
like the idea,They warn him. “You can’t win in that war, and who is going to take care of
us when we are old, if you die. Please, stay with us!”
So for the first time being a son of his real father, Kullervo said: “Tell me what I have
to do, I will do it”. Kalervo, his father, thought, the boy is not good for looking after the
kids. So he said: “Go and do the forest work!”, his father said. So he took an axe and
went. He chopped the trees, small and big, spoiled all the good logs for the houses.
Kalervo thought; the boy is not good for forest work. So he said: “Go and make the
fences for the cattle!”. So he took his axe and went. He chopped all the trees, big and
small, made a fence that was rising up to the clouds, and there was no gate to enter in
this fence.
Kalervo thought: the boy is not good for making fences. So he said: “Go for the
harvest, go for treshing the ray!” So he took his tresher and went. He treshed all the
crops of ray, smashed and spoiled it all. Kalervo thought, the boy is not good for treshing.
So he said: „Go and take the silvers and linens, the taxes for our protection, for the chief
of the area.”
So Kullervo took the horse and the carriage, and the silvers and the linens to take
them to the chief of the area.
Scene
Kullervo is riding a horse on a carriage. He passes on the road, watching the landscapes.
Suddenly, he sees a young girl walking on the roadside. He stops and asks the young girl
to come on the carriage. She refuses several times, blaming the ugliness and poverty of
Kullervo, telling not to come with a stranger. Kullervo lies that he is from a rich family.
He shows the silvers and linens he has.
The young girl is seduced by these riches and comes on the carriage. Kullervo starts
to seduce the girl, and they have a sexual intercourse under the blankets, riding a
carriage.
After the act, the girl asks about the family of Kullervo.The girl is shocked when he
realises that Kullervo is actually his brother. The girl, Kullervo´s long lost sister, jumps
from the carriage, runs to the water falls and drowns herself. Kullervo is broken, for
spoiling her long lost sister.
Meeting + improvisation / teacher/facilitator-in-the-role
The animals in the forest have always been the best friends of Kullervo, they
actually honour and obey him. Kullervo gathers a meeting with the animals of the
forest and asks them to help with his anger. Create animals in pairs.
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Improvise a negotiation with the animals
One of the animals: “but your family says to you, you should not go to revenge.
You cannot win alone. They ask who is going to take care of them if you die.”
Other arguments.
However, Kullervo orders the animals to help him with the attack.
Improvisation / tag game:
Two teams are created: the animals and the Untamo’s villagers. Create a setting
in two different groups: what are the villagers doing, what kind of a strategy the
animals have?
In slow motion (one movement at a clap): The forest animals attack. The cows
and other cattle try to protect themselves.
Killed if they touch your neck. Hungry animals and cows and other cattle.
Chain dance + song (narration)
Dance: Walking in a line hand in hand in spirals with the choir-chorus alternate
singing.
“Ajoi maita ajoi soita, He drove over lands,
ajoi aavoja ahoja. over marshlands.
Ajoi päivän ajoi toisen Drove another day,
ajoi kohta kolmannenkin. even a third one
Sitten tuonne tultuansa, Then on arrival there,
Isän pitkille pihoille, On his fathers large yards
noin ne vaakkuvat varikset So the crows are croaking,
harakat hakahtelevi. Magpies are nagging:
Jo on kuollunna isosi, Your father has died already,
kaonnunna kantajasi, your dad has disappeared
muamo maassa jo makavi, Your mother is lying underground,
mullassa muhaelevi. In the soil she is humming
emo hauasta havasi, In the grave she wakes,
alta mullan muistuttavi: answers from the underground:
”jäihän multa Musti koira “I left my Blackberry, dog,
käyäksesi metsämaille for you to go hunting
Ota koirasi keralle, Take your dog and go
havulinnan liepehille To the outskirts of the needle tree castle
evähiä etsimähän, To search for you snack,
antia anelemahan.” Asking for your meal
+ rhythm: SIRR dit pong dit dit ( _ ^_^ ^)
As the song suggests; when Kullervo returns to his home, he finds all of his family dead.
Only the dog is waiting and welcoming him.
| 138 |

Dialogue in 4-5 languages
Do you guess or know what, according to Kalevala, happened to Kullervo?
Read the dialogue with the knife in three - four languages:
Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo´s son
tempasi terävän miekan Snatched up the sharp sword
katselevi kääntelevi, Looks at it, turns it over
kyselevi, tietelevi Asks it, questions it;
Kysyi mieltä miekaltansa, He asked his sword what it liked:
tokko tuon tekisi mieli Did it have a mind
syöä syyllistä lihoa, To eat guilty flesh
viallista verta juoa? To drink blood that was to blame?
Miekka mietti miehen mielen, The sword followed the mans drift
arvasi uron pakinan It guessed the fellow’s chatter
Vastasi sanalla tuolla: And answered with this word: “Why
”Miksen söisi mielelläni, Should I not eat what I like?
söisi syyllistä lihoa, Not eat guilty flesh
viallista verta joisi? Not drink blood that is to blame?
Syön lihoa syyttömänki, I’ll eat even guiltless flesh
juon verta viattomanki” I’ll drink even blameless blood.
Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo´s son
sinisukka äijön lapsi The blue-stockinged gaffer’s child
pään on peltohon sysäsi, Pushed the hilt into the field
perän painoi kankahasen Pressed the butt into the heath
kären käänti rintahansa, Turned the point towards his breast
itse iskihe kärelle Rammed himself upon the point
Siihen surmansa sukesi, And on it he brought about
kuolemansa kohtaeli. His doom, met his death.
se oli surma nuoren miehen, And that was the young man’s doom
kuolo Kullervo urohon The Kullervo fellow’s death –
loppu ainakin urosta, The end for the fellow,
kuolema kovaosaista. death for the ill-fated.
Was this suicide inevitable?
Was this a good thing, as Kullervo wished this so many times while cursing himself?
Marking the moment / moment of change /
constellation of different characters
Even though the suicide is irreversible, in drama we can do things differently;
change the course of the events.
Ask the group to choose a moment of time in drama when someone could
have changed Kullervo’s life, when Kullervo could have been helped.
In groups of three: create a character, real or imaginary (ancestor, forest spirit,
animal) that could have helped Kullervo by saying or doing something. If possible,
create some simple costume. One of the group will perform the characters,
others are the whispers who help with the dialogue.
What could you SAY and DO?
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Partner-in-role / forum theatre
Improvised dialogues / acts with Kullervo.
Kullervo tries to make it difficult for the others to help him.
Evaluation of drama
In your opinion, how did the drama function? Which elements were working and which
not?
Feelings about the characters and roles you took?
Leaving the roles behind, and greeting everyone by their real names. Telling
the participants that we continue further evaluating the themes of the drama on
the following day. The focus will be on the analogies to real life and on our own
experiences as professionals.
Post drama session (next day):
Here are different alternatives for working, according to the available of time.
The story of Kullervo has actually been an educational story in Finnish oral
tradition showing, through reversion, a good model for education. This comes
apparent through the final words of Kullervo story sung by the hero Väinämöinen:
Then the old Väinämöinen,
Silloin vanha Väinämöinen
when he heard that e was dead
Kunpa kuuli kuolleheksi
Kullervo was lost,
Kullervon kaonneheksi,
uttered a word and spoke thus:
sanan virkkoi, noin nimesi:
“Do not, folk of the future
”elkötte, etinen kansa,
bring up a child crookedly
lasta kaltoin kasvatelko
with someone stupid lulling
luona tuhman tuuittajan,
a stranger sending to sleep!
vierahan väsyttelijän!
A child brought up crookedly
Lapsi kaltoin kasvattama,
Or a son lulled stupidly
poika tuhmin tuuittama
Won’t come to grasp things
ei tule älyämähän
Have a man’s understanding
miehen mieltä ottamahan
Though he should live to be old
vaikka vanhaksi eläisi,
Or should grow strong in body
varreltansa vahvistuisi
As we see, in the original story Kullervo headed step by step towards a predestined
end: he decided to end his own life.We all meet, in our professional or voluntary
work, people who have had troubles in their lives, and who seem to destroy their
lives in one way or another. Often it is hard to say what is the Kullervo story of
their lives.
What could and should we do?
Can we actually help?
Should we do something to the society instead?
What are the reasons and what are the causes?
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Sharing analogical situations and experiences in real life
What are the cultural connections?
What are the similarities with the modern times?
Is it possible to help anyone? Has anyone been able to help you?
Can a professional help? Can a friend help? Can these two be combined?
Often it is said that only a drug addict himself can help himself. Is that true?
Where do we need other people then?
Brainstorm themes
The participants brainstorm different themes that they found in Kullervo with
post-it stickers. The post-its are grouped into bigger theme groups. Each one
chooses one theme that interests him or her most. (approximately 5 groups).
Sharing personal experiences, making fusion images, presentation scene or
performance.The participants share their own experiences (mostly professional)
about the themes in real life. Based on these stories, the group makes a
presentation for the rest of the group in a chosen form.
Sharing the demos with the rest of the group, discussion.
Exhibition of newspaper articles
There are modern stories of Kullervo collected in the exhibition (news paper
clips etc.). Those can be used in the performances, as well.
Future planning / brainstorm of the real life, steps & guidelines
“Taking the gallows into pieces”.
The drama can be a starting point for many kinds of workshops of community
planning and decision making.
Three personal guidelines
What were the main points of learning for me personally? Could I crystallise
some guidelines for my own life on the basis of these points?
Three community commitments
In small groups: make community commitments of actions that will be done for
preventing these kinds of events. If we recognise beginnings of similar stories in
our own community, what should we do? Even small steps are acceptable, but try
to create concrete strategies. Consider also what you decide not to do: where
are the limits of our intervention; as a community member/ social worker /
youth worker / artist/ relative / friend?
| 141 |

New York, New York. Parents Making Choices
Between Their Careers and Children.
Drama Pretext
Jouni
Piekkari New York, New York
Origins: This pretext was created for the starting seminar for the Drama Way
project in Finland in 2003. It has not been tested in any “real” context, so it is still
under development.
Theme: Drama pretext on the theme of psychological distance in families, created
through the modern dilemmas of self-realisation; possible problems and conflicts
created by this.
The Concept: The modern strategies of health education targeted towards the
youth, emphasise that education on substance abuse (drugs, alcohol, smoking),
emphasises the early prevention of the problems: the problems should be tackled
positively before they even come up. This means that instead of threatening the
parents with the dangers of the drugs, the preventive programmes should support
the parents and the families as whole in their educational task and personal
growth. But what is good and what is bad, and for who? This is what this drama
should be about.
This drama pretext takes a point of view of a carrier-making mother of a 14-
year-old boy. The idea of this pretext is to create a drama story that can be
explored further, and used by a whole network in a chosen community, to share
different points of view, and create collective understanding on the dynamics of
family life.
This drama pretext is under development. If you choose to use it in your own
context, we are happy to get feedback on how it works with different groups!
Objectives:
• To explore the theme of commitment of the family or the carrier.
• To understand possible conflicts and their possible solutions
• To give a starting-point for a drama tackling of the theme of substance abuse.
Target Groups: Parents, educators, social and youth workers. Parents with
children in college.
Time Needed: 2.5 hours.The drama can be done in many parts during separate
sessions (see the suggestions below)
Some Possible Learning Areas:
Analogies to famous TV-series and films depicting everyday life
Improvisation
Making family agreements
Understanding the dilemmas of the modern times
Making real life strategies for change
| 142 |

Facilities and Equipment:
• A flip chart and pens
• Simple costumes
• Tables, chairs, etc.
• A3 sized paper, blue tag
In the following text the suggestions for the narration of the facilitator (teacher)
are in written in cursive.
Drama Contract
Explain the purpose of the drama. This drama is a starting point to tackle issues
that the target groups or we are most interested in, and that are considered to
be the most important.
Warm-up Game
+ / - magnets
Lists of Dreams
List the dreams of your life on post-it notes. They can be any kind of dreams –
spare time, family, love, travelling, studying or work. Put all the dreams on the wall.
Advertisement of the town made by the participants of the New York, New York drama
workshop in Salo, Finland.
| 143 |

Story Telling and Drawing a Map or Scenery
This story takes place in a town called Meadow. The town is an ordinary, small
and actually quite an ugly town. In history it was famous for… (What? Ask for
suggestions).This town would be nothing out of the ordinary, if not by coincidence,
one of the biggest high tech companies had not settled-down there.The company
is famous for its internet satellite modem technology products that are market
leaders.
Advertisements or Slogans (in small groups)
Each town tries to polish their image with advertisement campaigns. Create
advertisement slogans in small groups of three for the town. Draw and write
them on the big pieces of paper. Put them on the wall.
Role on the Wall
Kaija is the main character in this drama. She is an economist working for the
company. Martti is his husband. Martti has got his own company that makes “this
and that”. Martti is a kind of a man, who is interested in a thousand and one
things. He has always got a new idea, and immediately wants to make it a business
project – with very little economical success. Kaija and Martti have known each
other since they were teenagers, these days they obviously have less spark in
their relationship than then, but they still share the same bed.
Ask participants to pick different characteristics for Kaija and Martti, the
couple in this story.Ask them to pick-up post-it notes (of the participants dreams),
to be possible dreams for the both of them. Ask them to choose as many as
possible. Place them around their role images. The only problem about realising
all these dreams is that they also had a son, who is in his puberty (he is 14-years-
old) He is a serious chap called X (ask for suggestions for a name).
What does he look like?
How does he do in school? Does he have hobbies?
Invent characteristics or adjectives that describe him.
Stage Design
Create Kaija’s office (using imaginary objects, if real ones are not available).
What is on the table? What does she look like, how does she sit and move?
A Satellite Telephone Conversation (Teacher-in-role, Improvisation)
The boss calls Kaija from Kuala Lumpur from a company meeting. She has great
news to tell. She has an interview with their company’s New York office. She
would work 50% in New York and 50% in Meadows.And that would mean travelling
between the two countries.
There is very little time to make the decision.
“This kind of decisions have to be done quickly due to the competition between the
companies, you cannot leak”. You have time until tomorrow, is that enough?
| 144 |

Storytelling and Partner in Role
Everyday when mother returned back home in her car, she passed by the
advertisements. (“Drive” the car pass by the advertisements).
Small Group Improvisations (others observe)
In groups of three take the roles of the mother, the father and the son. Prepare
an improvisation of the family at home.
Prepare improvisation and present it to the others. Create a clearly defined
space, add objects. First find a typical action that Martti and the son are involved
in before Kaija arrives. Let the improvisation be mostly silent before Kaija takes
up the hot issue.
OR:
If the group is big (15-30 people) you can do this improvisation simultaneously in
the small groups, or share the group into two groups (other observes, the other
plays). Pick some of the experiences for the whole group to discuss.
Was it difficult for the characters? What arguments did they use?
Did they stay calm or did it become a big conflict?
Story Telling
Finally, after a lot of arguing, Martti said to her: “We are not going to object to
your career. You would be unhappy for the rest of your life, and you would just
blame us for spoiling your life. Make your own decisions.”
Conscience Alley
The following night Kaija did not sleep, neither did the rest of the family. Kaija
was walking up and down the corridor, trying to make-up her mind.
Should I leave or should I not?
The participants create a tunnel, whisper arguments to her trying to seduce her
to their side: side a) those who don’t want her to leave b) those who want her to
leave.
Story telling
Kaija decided to leave or not to leave. In both cases there would be different
kinds of problems in the family.
Improvisations / Still images / Conflicts
In small groups of three or four create situations of conflict, or problems in the
family. (You may also create a series of still images.)
Constellation of people watching the situation
Take a point of view on the problem, or the conflict situation. Each participant
takes a role and a position of an outsider. They go to a chosen still image or a
problem situation, either far, or close, to the characters. The facilitator touches
each one of them, and asks them who they are, and what they think about the
situation.
| 145 |

Gossips
After each one of the improvisations, the rest of the group takes a collective role
of gossiping neighbours or relatives. Move and let the gossips grow. (Gossips can
be alternatively used for the constellation).
Forum Theatre
What should we do in these conflict situations? Choose one of the themes or
improvisations with the group to explore further. It should be the one that interests
the group the most, or crystallises the different themes. What could or should be
done differently? Who would, could or should change the situation? What should
he or she do and how? Try different alternatives. After the intervention ask:
What would the consequences have been?
Did it work?
Was it realistic?
The forum theatre can also be the starting point for the following day’s session
of planning alternative tracks for the story, picking different themes. How to
continue from here to the drug issue?
For continued work:
TV Discussion Programme
Psychologist Ben Fuhrman discusses with the son of the family at the age of 30
(or with the parents), how he overcame these problems he had when he was
young.
Still Images
Alternative childhoods. What suggestions do you, as parents, give to this family?
Create images of an ideal childhood for the boy in small groups. Group discussion:
would these images have worked for this family? Would they have been possible
or realistic?
Diary
Each participant writes the diary of the now 30-year-old son of the family. In the
diary he reflects on how he feels about his childhood and how he thinks it could
have been. Where is the boy now at the age of 30?
REFLECTION OF THE DRAMA:
For a group of drama workers:
Creating the Moment
Go to a physical posture and a specific spot in the space, where you where
during the drama, that was especially powerful for you. The facilitator asks each
person where they are, and why did they choose that spot.
| 146 |

Questions and Discussion
• Are there some popular films or programmes that have dealt with these
issues?
• Take examples from the guidelines of different prevention programmes or
research.
Further development (discussion)
What did work and what not work in the drama?
Suggestions for the continuation of this session, or the next session of this drama.
How would the story go on? What should we concentrate on? How should the drug
theme be tackled?
For a “real life group”, e.g. group of parents:
Sharing and Evaluation
Each person in turn tells in a circle what they have learned from this drama.
What did I start to think?
Can this kind of life style create drug or substance problems in the family? Can it create
other kinds of problems?
Personal Commitments
What should I commit to do in the future? Make a few decisions for yourself.You
can share them with the others if you like.
Community Efforts (future planning)
• What should we do as a community? Discuss first in small groups, then
present to the large group.
• What would be an ideal community of parents (etc.) like? Brainstorm
principles. Decide for action – next achievable steps. What should we do
next in reality?
Information and Research
For discussion, take examples from the guidelines of different prevention
programmes or research. Could we apply them or create our own? Alternatively,
you can take this information before the group making their own future planning,
but you would then create less joy of discovery and possibly less personal and
group commitment or feeling of ownership for the programme.
| 147 |

Aleksi. How do I know someone is using drugs?
Drama Pretext
Jouni
Piekkari ALEKSI
Origins: This pretext was created by Turku Polytechnic continuing education/
“Drama in the community” course students and the teacher, Jouni Piekkari, in
2001. Later it has been used in the Drama Way training of Finnish Red Cross’
Turku youth shelter work team in the spring of 2003.
Theme: Drama pretext on the theme of possible substance (drugs, alcohol)
abuse and how friends, family and other involved people around a young person
relate to it.
Image by Jouni Piekkari
| 148 |

The Concept: The modern strategies of health education targeted towards
young people emphasise that education about substance abuse (drugs, alcohol,
smoking) should not be limited to the target group youth only. Rather, to gain
sustainable results, any campaign should work with the whole network around
the young person (school, youth workers, parents, shop keepers etc). Also the
emphasis is in the preventive work, concentrating on the social support during
early age (Primary school and pre-primary) (Huoponen et al. 2001).
This drama pretext concentrates around a 15-year-old boy, a son of a single
mother. The idea of this pretext is to create a drama story that can be further
explored and used by a whole network in a chosen community to share different
points of view and to create collective understanding and involvement around
the issue of substance abuse. It can also be used to help different groups meet
each other and share the problem. It would be ideal that the people participating
in creating this process drama could discuss it, just like they discuss TV soap-
operas at work places, school, e-mail etc.
This drama pretext is under development. If you choose to use it in your own
context, we are happy to get feedback on how it works with different groups!
Objective:
• To explore the social dynamics around the issue of substance abuse.
• To think who should we ask help from? How do we create understanding
in a situation collectively?
• To share different points of view.
Target Groups:
Also combined groups (teachers/parents; youth shelter workers/teachers; young
people of different ages; youngsters and youth work students) to facilitate different
viewpoints inside the work group.
Time needed: 2.5 hours
Some Possible Learning Areas
• Improvisation
• Creative writing
• Recognising analogies to famous TV-series depicting everyday life
• Problem solving, getting information on a problem
• Making family agreements
• Understanding different age groups’ needs
• Making real life strategies for change
• Identifying the bottle necks of communication between different interest
groups (parents, youngsters, school personnel, etc.)
• Learning about youth and school cultures (adults)
| 149 |

Facilities and Equipment
This process drama pretext can be realised by one facilitator and a group of 6-30
people. Alternatively there can be an assistant that plays different roles (partner-
in-role) of mother, school house keeper, headmaster, Aleksi, etc.
• flap board and markers,
• 50-70 small pieces of paper (10 x 10 cm)
• blue tag
• pens
• a cd-player and appropriate dance music
• Aleksi’s cap
• removable walls or tables (for the toilet)
• a classroom with different light possibilities (an overhead projector can be used)
In the text the suggestions for the narration of the facilitator (the teacher) are
written in cursive.
Drama Contract
The purpose of this drama is to explore the social relations around a young 15-
year-old boy. In this drama, everyone will have an opportunity to take different
roles. No one has to be in one and the same role for a long time. There will also
be other kinds of exercises apart from acting. All we have to do is live with the
story of Aleksi and participate in these exercises. No one is forced to do anything,
but it will be very helpful and comfortable for us if you will participate actively in
making of the story. Do not be afraid to talk or do things, unless I ask you to be
silent in the exercise. First we will do something to warm us up. Is everything
clear to you, can we start OK?
Circle of statements
The group stands in a circle. The facilitator reads the following statements for
the group.
If anyone thinks that the statement is somehow or completely true, they
must take a step forward. Then each one of those who moved will find another
one who took a step, and make eye contact. Then they will move back to the
large circle. This happens silently, no commenting:
• I should always help my friend to not get into trouble.
• It is easy to see if someone is under the influence of drugs (or alcohol).
• I know someone who is using or has used drugs.
• Adults do not understand what kind of a world the young people are living in.
• There are a lot of communication problems between the???
• It is important that the schools organise discos and other extra-curricular
activities.
• Parents should be involved in the activities of the schools.
• The sons or daughters of single mothers are more at risk of social exclusion
than those who have both parents at home (this question is very provocative,
so consider using it carefully!).
| 150 |

Storytelling + Role-on-the-Wall
Aleksi is the main character of our drama. He is a 15-year-old boy, and he lives in
the town of ——
(Ask:What could be the name of this town?). He usually writes his name with
an X (Alexi): he feels it is cool that people see that there is always some mystery
to him. He hates being an average guy.
Aleksi lives with his mother and they get along well with each other, they
actually really love each other. Aleksi also loves his father, though he does not live
with them anymore.They see each other every week and do some things together
(what do they do?). His mother has a new boyfriend, (ask the participants to give
him a name), but Aleksi does not like him, because always when he comes, he
listens to country music. X really loves line-dancing.
In his class, Aleksi is everyone’s favourite. Even the teachers usually like him.
What makes a boy of this age be popular in his class? What are the characteristics
they like?
Aleksi’s favourite subject in school is English and his the best in his class in it.
His mother has promised him, he can go to a language course in England the
next summer. Mother will pay one third, Dad one third, and Aleksi himself one
third of the trip. Aleksi earns money for the trip by —— (ask the participants:
How can boys of this age earn money?).There is only one condition: Mother has
said that Aleksi must behave well during this year to convince her that he can be
responsible during the trip to England. So, there still is a long winter to go until
summer. Aleksi was so excited about the trip that he could not resist telling
about his plans to everyone.Well, even the mother’s new boyfriend X helped him
to get some weekend work as a… (What?)
Role-on-the-Wall
The group is asked to give ideas to draw an image of Aleksi together. What kind
of a hat does he have? What kind of clothes? He has printed his own T-shirt: Is
there a text on it? What does it say?
Write more information on Aleksi around the image: What are his hobbies?
Aleksi also plays in the school band: what kind of music? What is the name of the
band?
You can draw the image of Aleksi during the storytelling, and add new characters
and facts to it as the narration goes on.You can ask some of the group to draw,
or ask for drawing advice from the group.
Storytelling and Brainstorming
After many years, the pupils are allowed to organise a school party again. Until
now the headmaster has not been willing to let them organise it, because there
had been some problems in earlier years. Some of the parents will come and
supervise the party.
Ask the group: What kind of problems have there been?
Who will come to supervise the disco? Define the character a bit: Who is she or he?
Why do they come?
| 151 |

Creating a Space
Go to small groups of three persons. Give each group ten small pieces of paper.
You are now the school party committee consisting of the chosen group of
pupils that begins to dream up the School Party of the New Millennium – the
best party EVER! No budget or imagination limitations!
Each group writes the things, objects, programme or decoration that they
dream of for their party on the pieces of paper. These pieces are then put into
their places in the space (use the blue tag) on the walls, floors, etc.
Defining the Space / Storytelling
The facilitator asks someone from the group to give a tour in their dream space.
Give applause to each idea! “Well, the pupils did not get quite everything.The parents
and teachers did not allow them to have…and…, but it still became quite a fiesta,
because they had quite good sponsors (who were the sponsors?)”
Still Images
The party starts. All the participants are asked to move in the space along the
music, to do all the things that can take place there, relate to each other etc.
When the music stops, everyone freezes.
One person is taken out of the situation to choose three people who are in
the same situation or in relation to each other by touching them.The others are
asked to unfreeze. They are asked to tell different interpretations of what is
happening in the image. The exercise is repeated three or four times: an hour
later, two hours later…
Gossips
“Someone is missing: Aleksi is not at the party, even though several hours have passed.
He is supposed to play in the school band, which is just about to start playing. He has
said that he will “prepare well for this party…someone had seen him at the shopping
mall in the afternoon talking to some people. Where is he? Who were the people he
was talking to? What should we do?”
The participants move randomly while gossiping and speculating on what is going on.
Teacher-in-Role / Partner-in-Role
“Suddenly…there is loud shout C´MOOON EVERYBODYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! At the door”
The facilitator or someone prepared or dressed for the role of Aleksi, makes
a dramatic and an extravagant entrance, he starts to dance and act wildly, obscurely
and theatrically.
Group Discussion
Group discusses or gossips on the situation alike earlier speculating on Aleksi’s
actions. The facilitator creates tension in the group by provoking the group with
opposite opinions like “But how do we know? He is just happy. That is typical of
him…” etc.
“Suddenly while they were talking, they realise that Aleksi has disappeared. Someone
says that he had gone to the toilet”
| 152 |

Defining a Space
Construct a single toilet (for both sexes) using the tables.There is a small window
in the toilet. Improvise a queue of waiting youngsters, who are in a hurry to get
in, but do not know about Aleksi’s problem. Some people, who have seen Aleksi,
come and tell that Aleksi is there.
Group Improvisation and Teacher-in-Role
The group tries to knock and hear answer. “He is lying there, but he is awake.What
should I say?” Facilitator echoes the “answers” of Aleksi. Aleksi does not want to
come out.
Small Group Improvisations (alternative solutions)
and Evaluation of the Solutions (group discussion)
What do you think these youngsters would do in this situation?
Do they risk Aleksi’s trip to England?
Who would they ask to help or would they choose to do something else?
Go to groups of four people.
Create improvisations of possible solutions or acts, these young people could
suggest to each other and then try them out. The improvisations are presented
to the large group. Facilitator asks:
What did they suggest? How would it work?
What would be the result of this?
Is this a typical way for young people solve this problem?
What would be the best thing to do in this situation?
How would Aleksi react if his mother refused to let him go to England?
Poems and Individual Creative Writing
Each participant is given a piece of paper.
“When they finally could open the toilet door, they noticed that Aleksi had written
poems all over the toilet walls!”
Each participant writes a poem that Aleksi had written on the wall.The poems
are read in the circle, so that the participants change papers and read poems
written by other people. Alternatively, everyone can wander around and read
their poem out loud in turns.
Circle of Statements
Make the same statements as in the beginning. Ask if anybody has changed his or
her mind.
Suggestions for Action
What should we do in a situation, in which we suspect that someone is feeling ill
due to drugs but we don’t know for sure? What should we do or think in our
own lives to be better prepared in this kind of situations. Small groups of three
or four people make from two to four statements or suggestions for action.
| 153 |

These are read to the whole group. People write them down and hang them on
their wall or calendar at home or work place.
OR: Sharing in circle: What did I learn? What did I understand about the problem?
How does it relate to real life? Was it realistic? What real life problems did it bring up?
Is the communication easy between the different interest groups around a young person?
QUESTIONS: How many of you finally thought that Aleksi was really intoxicated?
Was this just because you thought the drama was supposed to deal with the
issue of substance abuse?
Other Directions and Developments of Drama:
Depending on the time used, there are many possibilities for beginning to develop
the drama. If the group chose that Aleksi had really used drugs, we can explore
how he got involved with them.
What happens if this is revealed? Was this the first time or just one of many times?
The group can create improvisations on this, or the drama teacher can create
the next steps of drama pretext on these suggestions.
Still Images or Improvisations and Forum Theatre
What happened at home the following day? Who was there?
Create an improvisation on how mother (and possibly other people there) reacted.
Forum theatre: How should she have reacted better? Try different alternatives!
Family relations: Improvisations in small groups OR Drama pretext: Conflicts
within the family, mother’s new boyfriend, the real father, etc.
Alternative futures: Where would Aleksi be in ten years? (Still images,
improvisations, writing Aleksi’s Diary individually)
Childhood experiences: the problems in later age are said to have originated
in earlier age: what kind of problems might cause serious problems later? Was
Aleksi at all
“under the threat of social exclusion”, because he seemed to be quite social?
Reality workshop: share some of the real life experiences of the participants
(parents, educators or other adults). A future workshop or a brainstorm of ideas
for action.
Forum theatre can be created on the basis of the real life experiences of the
participants; either distanced if the group does not know each other well, or
straight if the participants volunteer and feel comfortable and safe
Exploring a chosen theme or topic suggested by the participants
further. Lectures, group studies, asking a police or a psychologist come in…
Literature (in Finnish):
Huoponen, K. et al. (2001): Päihteiden käytön ehkäisy. Opas koulujen ja sidosryhmien
yhteistyöhön. Opetushallitus, Stakes ja Terveydenedistämiskeskus, Helsinki
www.stakes.fi/
| 154 |

4. Literature
Literature & other sources on participatory,
applied or educational drama
This list may help you in finding some useful literature and other material for
developing your practice as a drama worker. The list includes different genres of
applied, educational and participatory drama.We also tried to help you by classifying
the materials under the following categories:
• “BASIC” (very useful and practical materials)
• “OTHER” (additional reading and other approaches, e.g. for study
purposes)
• “THEORY” (for those who are interested digging deeper into the topics)
There is also some more general reading on education, socio-cultural work,
evaluation of drama practice etc. on the list.The materials mentioned on the list
are at the moment mainly in English and in Finnish.
1. Drama in Education (DIE)
2. Theatre in Education (TIE)
3. Forum Theatre
4. Invisible Theatre
5. Legislative Theatre
6. Theatre for Awareness / Theatre for Development
7. Devised Theatre / From Fact to Fiction
8. Playback Theatre
9. Sociodrama
10. Celebratory Drama
11. Hospital Clownery
12. Site-specific Theatre
13. Drama, Myths and Ritual Forms of Performance
14. Live Action Role Play (LARP)
15. Street Theatre
16. “Community Theatre” / Theatre in the Community
17. Text-based Amateur Theatre
18. Improvisation Theatre
19. General Viewpoints & Other Topics
a) Genres of Applied Drama
b) Drama in Multicultural Contexts
c) Sociocultural Animation; Meaning and Purpose of CulturalWork
d) Evaluating Drama
| 155 |

1. Drama-in-Education (DIE)
BASIC:
Kanerva, P. ja Viranko, Viivi (1997): Aplodeja etsijöille. Näkökulmia draamaan sekä
taidekasvatuksena että opetusmenetelmänä. Laatusana oy/Äidinkielen
opettajien liitto, Helsinki.
Owens, Allan ja Barber, Keith
• (1998): Draama toimii. JB-kustannus, Helsinki.
• (1997): Drama works. Planning drama, creating practical structures,
developing drama pretexts. Carel Press Ltd, Carlisle.
• (2002):Draamasuunnistus. Draamatyö, Helsinki.
• (2001): Mapping drama. Carel Press.
Østern, Anna-Lena (toim): Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena, Jyväskylä.
Neelands, Jonothan
• (1990): Structuring drama work. A handbook of available forms in theatre
and drama. Cambridge University Press.
• (1992) Learning through imagined experience. The role of drama in the
national curriculum. Hodder & Stoughton, London
• (1984): Making sense of drama. A guide to classroom practice. Heinemann
Educational Books, Oxford.
Woolland, Brian (1993):The teaching of drama in the primary school.The Effective
teacher series. Longman, London and New York.
OTHER:
Bolton, G.:
• (1984): Luova toiminta kasvatuksessa. Tammi, Helsinki.
• (1998): Acting in Classroom drama. A critical analysis.Thornes (Publishers)
Ltd, Cheltenham, England.
• (1992): New perspectives on classroom drama. Simon and Schusters
Education, Cheltenham, England.
Bowell, P ja Heap, B.H. (2001): Planning process drama. David Fulton, London.
O´Neill, C:
• Drama worlds. A framework of process drama. Heinemann, Portsmouth.
• (1991): Drama structures. A practical Handbook for teachers. Stanley
Thornes (Publishers) Ltd, Cheltenham.
Fleming, M. (1996): Starting Drama teaching.
THEORY:
Heikkinen, Hannu (2001): Pohdintaa draamakasvatuksen perusteista. Kirjassa: Korhonen,
Pekka ja Heikkinen, Hannu (2002): Draaman maailmat oppimisalueina.
Draamakasvatuksen vakava leikillisyys. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä.
| 156 |

Østern, Anna ja Länsitie, Janne (toim.) (2000): Kasvot ja naamio. Vuosikirja 1999-
2000. Draamapedagogiikan yksikkö, Opettajankoulutuslaitos, Jyväskylän
yliopisto, Jyväskylä.
Wagner B.J. (1976): Dorothy Heathcote. Drama as learning medium. National
Education Association of USA, Washington D.C.
Hornbrook, David (1991): Education and dramatic art. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Johnson, Liz & O´Neill, Cecily (toim) (1990): Dorothy Heathcote. Collected
writings in education and drama. Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd,
Cheltenham.
2. Theatre-in-Education (TIE)
BASIC:
Jackson,T. (toim) (1993): Learning through theatre. New perspectives on Theatre
in Education. T.J.Press (Padston) Ltd/ Routledge, Cornwall.
Schutzman, Mady ja Cohen-Cruz, Jan ( ): Playing Boal. Theatre, Therapy, Activism.
Routledge, London.
3. Forum Theatre
BASIC:
Rohd, Michael (1997): Hope Is Vital.An interactive theatre and community dialogue
training manual for educators, youth, community workers and artists. Owings
Mills.
Boal,Augusto:
• (1979): The theatre of the oppressed. Unizen Books, New York.
• (1992): Games for actors and non-actors. Routledge, London.
• (1995): Rainbow of desire. The Boal method of theatre and therapy.
Routledge, London.
• (1998): Legislative theatre. Using performance to make politics. Routledge,
London.
Diamond, David: Theatre for Living. Julkaisematon.
OTHER:
Häkämies,Annukka (1999): Pinokkio. Sairaanhoidon opiskelijoiden päättötyöprojekti
forumteatterin keinoin. Kirjassa: Mielenterveystyö ja opetus – matkalla kohti
muutosta. Mielenterveystyön opettajat ja ylihoitajat ry. Kirjayhtymä Helsinki,
Tampere.
Schutzman, Mady ja Cohen-Cruz, Jan ( ): Playing Boal. Theatre, Therapy, Activism.
Routledge, London.
| 157 |

www.headlinestheatre.com
www.formaat.org
Nikkilä, Päivi: Teatterin tekijä sorron yössä. Teak, verkkolehti.
http://www.teak.fi/teak/Teak199/6.html
THEORY:
Nikkilä, Päivi (2002):Augusto Boalin sorrettujen teatterin teoria sekä sen sovellus:
Forum-esitys ”A Woman of no importance. Pro gradu. Helsingin yliopisto,
teatteritieteen laitos, Helsinki.
Riekki, Janne (pro gradu)
4. Invisible Theatre
BASIC:
Boal,Augusto:
• (1979): The theatre of the oppressed. Unizen Books, New York.
• (1992): Games for actors and non-actors. Routledge, London.
5. Legislative Theatre
BASIC:
Boal, Augusto: Legislative theatre (see in 2.)
Piekkari, Jouni (1995): Rautala-projekti TopToijala! Raportti asukaslähtöisen suunnittelun
kokeilun kännistysvaiheesta Rautalan asuinalueella Toijalassa.Toijala.
Headlines theatre web-site: www.headlinestheatre.com
See also 6.
6. Theatre-for-Awareness / Theatre-for-Development
BASIC:
Backman, Idalotta ja Piekkari, Jouni (1994):Teatteria todellisuuden toreilla. Kirjassa:
Ervamaa,Tomi & Piekkari, Jouni (toim): Sambia sinisin silmin. Kehitysyhteistyön
Palvelukeskus, Helsinki.
Kennedy, Samuel (1995): ”A Woopsy, woopsy, BANG; BANG”. A manual for doing
popular theatre in the Eastern Caribbean. Eastern Caribbean Popular
Theatre Organisation ECPTO, Dominica.
Pattanaik, Subodh (2000a): Psyco-cyco theatre. Natya Chetana, Bhubaneswar.
Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä (pro gradu).
Tampereen yliopisto, musiikkitieteen laitos.
| 158 |

OTHER:
Kerr, David (1995):African popular theatre : From pre-colonial times to the present
day. Studies in African literature. New Series. Heineman, New Hampshire.
Mavrocordatos, Alex ja Martin, Pathika (1995):Theatre for development: listening to
the community. Kirjassa: Nelson, Nici ja Wright, Susan (toim.): Power and
participatory development: theory and practice. Intermediate Technology,
London.
Pattanaik, Subodh (2000b): Natya Chetana´s creative response super cyclone ’99
(A Report). Natya Chetana, Bhubaneswar.
Mirii, Ngugi wa (toim.) (1986): Community based theatre skills. Bulawayo workshop
1986.
ZIMFEP, THEORY:
Mda, Zakes (1990): Marotholi travelling theatre:Towards an alternative perspective
of development. Journal of Southern African Studies,Vol 16, no 2, June.
Mda, Zakes (1993): When people play people: Development communication
through theatre. Zed, London. Bulawayo.
Mlama, Penina Muhando (1991): Culture and development. The popular theatre
approach in Africa. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala.
7. Devised Theatre / From Fact to Fiction
BASIC:
Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.
Routledge London.
Bray, E. (1991): Playbuilding.A guide for group creation of plays with young people.
Currency Press, Sydney.
OTHER:
Björkman, Ingrid (1989): Mother, sing for me: Peoples theatre in Kenya. Zed Books.
O’Toole, John ja Donelan, Kate (toim) (1996): Drama, culture and empowerment.
The IDEA Dialogues. IDEA Publications, Brisbane.
Aaltonen, H. ja Østern, A-L (2001): Organising young people´s dramatic practices.
Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä (University of Jyväskylä).
THEORY:
Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.
Routledge London.
| 159 |

8. Play Back Theatre
BASIC:
Fox, Jonathan (1994): Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the
Nonscripted Theatre. Tusitala Publishing
Salas, Jo (1999): Improvising Real Life. Personal story in Play Back theatre.Tusitala
Publishing.
OTHER:
Fox, Jonathan ja Dauber, Heinrich (1999): GatheringVoices: essays on playback theatre.
Tusitala Publishing. (1999):Tarinateatteri – Playback Theatre”.Tarinateatteri
Mielikuva,Tampere.
www.helsingintarinateatteri.com
www.tarinateatteri.net/tampere
http://www.tornio.fi/eve/tarinateat.htm
http://kansalaistalo.jns.fi/tarakka/mika_tarinateatteri.htm
www.playbacknet.org
9. Sociodrama
BASIC:
Blatner, Adam (1997): Toiminnalliset menetelmät terapiassa ja koulutuksessa.
Psykodraaman tekniikat käytäntöön sovellettuna. Gummerus, Jyväskylä.
Jennings, S.(toim)(1992): Dramatherapy. Theory and practice for teachers and
clinicians. Routledge, London.
THEORY / OTHER:
Marineau, N. (1989): Jacob Levy Moreno 1889-1974. Father of Psychodrama,
sociometry and group psychotherapy. Tavistock, London.
Nieminen, S. ja Saarenheimo, M. (1981): Morenolainen psykodraama. Historiallinen
ja filosofis-psykologinen analyysi. Psykologien kustannus, Helsinki.
http://www.mopsi.org/psykodraama.html
10. Celebratory Drama
BASIC:
Coult,Tony & Kershaw, Baz (1983): Engineers of the imagination. Methuen Books.
www.welfare-state.org
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11. Hospital Clownery
Adams, P. (1998): Gesundheit. Healing Art Press,Vermont.
Jackson, Hildur (toim.)(1999): Creating harmony. Conflict resolution in community.
Gaia Trust, Holte.
12. Site-specific Theatre
BASIC:
Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.
Routledge London.
13. Drama, Myths and Ritual Forms of Performance
BASIC:
Welfare State International web-site: www.welfare-state.org
Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä. Tampereen
yliopisto, Tampere.
Neelands, Jonothan (1998): Three theatres waiting: Architectural spaces and
performance traditions. The Nadie Journal, 22(1).
OTHER:
Fox, Jonathan (1994): Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the
non-scripted theatre. Tusitala Publishing
www.uaf.edu/theatre/litooma/
THEORY:
Backman, Idalotta (2003): Teatterikorkeakoulu, Helsinki.
Edwards, F. (1976): Ritual and drama. The medieval theatre. Luttenworth Press,
Guildfor and London.
Schechner, R (1985): Between theatre and anthropology. University of Pensylvania,
Philadelphia.
Turner,Victor (1982): From ritual to theatre: the seriousness of play. PAJ publications,
New York.
14. Live Action Role Play (LARP)
BASIC:
Käll, Hans (1999): Matka keskiaikaan. Opas live-roolipelaajalle. Otava, Keuruu.
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15. Street theatre
BASIC:
Mason, B. (1992): Street theatre and outdoor performance. Rotuledge, London.
16. Community Theatre or Theatre in the Community
BASIC:
Kennedy, Samuel (1995):”A Woopsy, woopsy, BANG; BANG”. A manual for doing
popular theatre in the Eastern Caribbean. Eastern Caribbean Popular
Theatre Organisation ECPTO, Dominica.
(See also 6.)
17. Text-based Amateur Theatre.
BASIC:
Sinivuori, P. ja T. (2000): Esiripusta aplodeihin. Opas harrastajateatteriohjaajille ja
ilmaisukasvattajille. Gummerus, Jyväskylä.
Koskela,Virpi (1999): Elämäntehtävä Legioonateatterin opetukset – Kokemuksia ja
ajatuksia ohjaajan ja kouluttajan roolista. Kuikka, Suvi (toim.): Friikki.
Nuorisoteatteritoiminnan opas.Vapaan Sivitystyön liitto.
18. Impovisation Theatre.
BASIC:
Johnstone, Keith (1996): Impro. Kirjallisuutta: Johnstone, Keith. Impro.
Improvisoinnista iloa elämään ja esiintymiseen. Helsinki:Yliopistopaino 1996.
• Impro. Improvisation and the theatre. Methuen drama, London.
• Impro for storytellers. Faber & Faber, London.
Spolin, Viola (1987): Improvisation for the Theatre. A handbook of teaching and
directing technics. Northwestern University Press, Evaston, Illinois.
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General viewpoints & other topics
a. Genres of Applied Drama
Teerijoki, Pipsa ja Lintunen, Jarmo (2001): Kohtaamisia eri tiloissa – osallistavan
teatterin näyttämöt. Kirjassa: Korhonen, Pekka ja Østern,Anna-Lena (toim):
Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena, Jyväskylä.
Østern, Anna-Lena (2001): Teatterin merkitys kautta aikojen lasten ja nuorten
näkökulmasta. Kirjassa: Korhonen, Pekka ja Østern, Anna-Lena (toim.):
Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena Kustannus, Jyväskylä.
Teerijoki, Pipsa (toim) (2000): Draaman tiet – suomalainen näkökulma. Jyväskylän
yliopisto, Jyväskylä.
b. Drama in Multicultural Contexts
Heikkinen, Hannu (2001): Process drama and multicultural education. IN: Mistrík,
S.; Haapanen, H; Heikkinen, R; Jazudek, N. Ondrushková & Räsänen (toim):
Kultúra a multikultúrna vychova / Culture and multicultural Education. Iiris,
Bratislava.
Stuhr, P (1995): Social reconsturctionist multicultural art curriculum design. IN:
Neprud, P.W. (toim.): Context content and community in art education;
beyond postmodernism. Teachers College Press, New York.
c. Sociocultural Animation; Meaning and Purpose of Cultural Work
Kurki, Leena (2000): Sosiokulttuurinen innostaminen. Vastapaino, Tampere.
Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä. Pro gradu.
Tampereen yliopisto, musiikkitieteen laitos, Tampere.
d. Evaluating Drama
Østern, A-L. (toim) (2001): Laatu ja merkitys draamaopetuksessa. Draama-
kasvatuksen teorian perusteita. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä.
Owens, Allan ja Barber, Keith: Draamasuunnistus. Draamatyö, Helsinki.
Østern, Anna ja Korhonen, Pekka: Katarsis.
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Information of the writers of the articles
Estonia
KADI JAANISOO is a student of the history of Estonian culture in Tallinn
Pedagogical University Culture Department. She has been connected to
the Forum Theatre since 1999 and at the moment she also is a VAT Theatre
Forum Group actress and has taken part in most of the performances all
over Estonia. Just as Soosaar, Jaanisoo has also got her experiences in leading
Forum Theatre workshops, she has taken part in many Forum Theatre.
PIRET SOOSAAR is a student on the history of Estonian culture in the Tallinn
Pedagogical University Culture Department. She has been connected to
Forum Theatre since 1999. At the moment she is a VAT Theatre Forum
Group actress and has taken part in most of the Forum Theatre plays,
which have been performed all over Estonia in different schools and youth
centers. She has experiences in leading the Forum Theatre workshops
with youngsters. She has taken part in many Forum Theatre.
MARGO TEDER graduated in 1997 from the Tallinn Pedagogical University
Culture Department and his specialty was directing. Since 1997 he has
been a VAT Theatre professional actor and has participated in almost every
one of the VAT Theatre plays.The VAT Theatre mainly performs for children
and young people. Margo has been connected to the Forum Theatre since
1999, and has participated in Joker training. He has also been developing
the Forum Theatre in Estonia from its very arrival. At the moment he is a
director and a Joker in the VAT Theatre Forum Group.
MARI-LIIS VELBERG graduated in 2004 from the Tallinn Pedagogical University
Social Work Department, where her final thesis topic was “Forum Theatre
as a possibility to handle social problems among school youngsters”. She
has also been working as a support person for the Tallinn Children’s Support
Center since 2003. Mari-Liis has been a Forum Theatre actress since 1999,
when the first forum theatre courses were held in Tallinn, Mustpeade Maja.
She has participated in several Forum Theatre plays and has taken part in
many Forum Theatre training sessions.
Spain
ANNA CAUBET is co-founder of Pa’tothom and teaches there; she is an
actress and also acts as a Joker in different groups.
JORDI FORCADAS is a graduate of stage direction and a co-founder of
Pa’tothom. Along with Anna Caubet and a team of specialists, he applies
drama techniques in different social collectives (with children and parents in
schools, social centres, youth centres, penitentiaries and immigrant shelters).
DAVID MARTÍNEZ, An actor and a theatre creator, mainly works in awareness
raising theatre workshops and provides theatre classes for young people
in secondary education and to non-Spanish speaking immigrants. He is a
member of the directive Drama Way Catalunya in co-ordination with “Forn
of teatre Pa’tothom”.
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Portugal
MARCO FERREIRA is an actor and a theatre creator in Companhia de Teatro
na Educacão do Baixo Alentejo in Serpa in Portugal. In his work he uses
various forms of participatory and applied many drama methods like devising
emansipatory performances and celebratory drama.
Finland
ULLA HALKOLA is an education coordinator and organisational developer
at the Centre for Extension Studies at the University of Turku. She is also
a professional psychotherapist in private practice and a photographer.
Phototherapeutical methods and also drama methods are important tools
in her work both in education and psychotherapy. She is a chairman for
the “Finnish PhotoTherapy Association” since the year 2004.
TARJA KOFFERT is a professional psychotherapist and psychotherapy trainer
both in family and individual therapy. She works a lot with young people
and their families. As well as Ulla Halkola she is also an organisational
developer and counsellor. She has developed phototherapeutical methods
and drama methods in her work. She is an active member in “Finnish
PhotoTherapy Association”.
TITI LILLQVIST is a freelancer community worker trainer of coming drama
and youth workers. She is specialised in drama in youth work, historical-
tourist drama and community and development work.
JOUNI PIEKKARI is a specialist of participatory drama and community work,
who has developed curriculums and projects in these fields on polytechnic
and university trainings levels and in non-governmental organisations in
Finland, Zambia and Estonia. By background he is an ethnomusicologist.
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Appendix:
Drama a Way to Social Inclusion CD
1. Drama - aWay to Social Inclusion – practical process descriptions for drama workers
Book edited by Jouni Piekkari
2. Drama - aWay to Social Inclusion – practical process descriptions for drama workers
PowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari
3. Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive Drama
PowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari
4. Art, Educators, Communities – a Participatory Approach
PowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari
5. Photo as Step to Drama, Workshop in Barcelona
PowerPoint version by Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert
6. Facas nas Galindas
PowerPoint version by Marco Ferreira and Baal 17, Companhia de Teatro do
Baixo Alentejo
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DRAMA
- a WAY to
social inclusion