SCS EU co-funded project: Empowering local NGOs in Lebanon (2006-2008)

Cross Cutting Workshop 3

On

Theatre of the Oppressed

21-22 of february

Houna holistic center in Hamra

 

 

Facilitator: Johanne Allard

Organiser: Tamam Mroue

 

I. Introduction:

 

The EU co-funded project “Empowering local Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon” in Save the Children Sweden, would like to invite you for the Third cross cutting workshop on the “Theatre of the Oppressed”.

 

Theatre of the Oppressed” is an extraordinary tool for children and adults to interaction, dialogue, critical thinking, action and fun. It was developed by the Brazilian director and activist Augusto Boal, based on Paulo Freire’s approach to popular education (to see, to analyze, to act). It is also a tool to encourage the child participation and it is designed for use in schools, community centers, trade unions and grassroots organizations.

The workshop will present the concept of the “Theatre of the Oppressed” in addition of a collection of exercises and games based on Boal’s interactive approach to theatrical expression emphasizes physical dialogues, non verbal imagery, consensus-building and techniques for developing awareness of both external and internal forms of oppression.

 

II Theater of the oppressed and Save the Children Sweden work

 

Save the Children Sweden works for children rights around the world. Children are often oppressed, their voices are not heard. They and their well being require special attention; Children have special needs and there are entitled to special protection and assistance. This is all described in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This convention was adopted in 1989 and entered into force 1990 and is the core of Save the Children Sweden work around the world.

For Save the Children Sweden participation of children and the well being and best interest of children are key elements of our work. Both elements are considered in this workshop and methodology. Through the different approaches and methods used during the workshop NGO activist and staff working with children will be empowered to have children participate more actively and more creatively in their work. Some hidden problems, aspects of violence and suppressed conflicts will be made visible and vocal. The goal is to create a transformative learning community through the lens of children. Children’s views and their special needs should be better considered in work with children through the techniques of the theatre of the oppressed.

Such work is especially important in a post conflict context. Children affected by war and armed conflict are in need of special attention going beyond the conventional sphere. Many NGO and other care and child rights bearer are still challenged by the impact of the 2006 war. Save the Children Sweden wants to present an interesting tool for work with children.

 

III Logistics  

 

Where: Houna holistic center, Hamra Street, cinema Montreal Bldg, 10^th floor.

 

When: Days 21 -22 of February

 

Time: From 9:00 to 16:00

 

Language: English with translation for Arabic

 

For whom: Two participants from each NGO, one from the middle management and one from the field.

 

Trainer:  Johanne Allard is a Canadian youth theater specialist. Her involvement into theater began as an actress on stage in Canada. Since 1999 she’s been living mainly around the Middle East where she taught at various institutions in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and South Korea. Her involvement in the Theater of the Oppressed methods started during college which she followed by many theater workshops at the Theater of the Oppressed Lab in New York under the direction of its founder Augusto Boal. Ms. Allard has earned a Bachelor of Theater and Education from the University of Québec in Montréal.

 

IV.  Methodology: 

 

A structured series of capacity-building activities that form the core of Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed.  Based on Paulo Freire's approach to popular education (to see, to analyze, to act), these activities are designed to create a transformative learning community through the lens of oppression.

 

V. The Agenda:

 

The first day training

 

WARM-UP ACTIVITIES     Exercises and Games

 

Colombian Hypnosis

·  demonstration  (self-hypnosis)

·  pairs—alternate

·  pairs—simultaneously

·  3 people—1 person leading 2 others

·  Whole group – one person leading two with hands, everyone else lined up behind each other, hypnotized by a point on the person in front of them

·  Process game: Did you prefer guiding or being guided? Why? How does this relate to your life?)

 

Bombs and Shields

Each person silently picks someone in the room they think of as their protector and one person they fear.  Everyone moves around the room, trying to keep their protector between them and the person they fear.

 

Forest Sounds

The group divides into pairs.  One partner is blind. One is the guide. The guide makes the noise of an animal of the forest. The partner listens.  The guide continues making the sound and starts to move away.  The blind partner follows the sound. When the sound stops, the follower stops moving. The guide plays with distance and often stops making sound; the guide gradually increases distance. At a certain, the partners switch roles.

 

Process De-mechanization Games

 

Complete the Image –
Elaboration of Paulo Freire methodology – To See, To Analyze, To Act.

·  Demonstration with 2 volunteers shaking hands: What do you see? Objective, Subjective.

·  One steps out and re-enters, changing the scene.

·  Practice in pairs

·  pairs with one prop

·  groups of 3

·  groups of 5

 

Two Revelations of St. Teresa

Two volunteers are chosen. The group decides on their relationship (it should be a close relationship with a history and a charge), who plays what, where they usually meet and their age. Each of the actors must decide on a secret, which if revealed could dramatically change their relationship to the other actor for better or for worse.  The actors improvise a normal conversation between them.  At a certain point, the joker tells the first actor to reveal his or her secret.  The scene continues.  At another point, the joker tells the second actor to reveal his or her secret. The scene continues. Finally the joker tells the actors to find a way to end the scene.  They must find a way to depart from each other.

 

Shaking Hands Improv  (Lead In To Forum Theater)

One volunteer participant moves happily towards another volunteer participant who is offering his or her hand to shake.  When the first actor gets to the second actor, the second actor turns away and won’t shake hands. Who is the protagonist?  Who is the antagonist?  What does the protagonist want?  What strategy has the protagonist used?  The participants who have been spect-actors now have a chance to offer other strategies.

 

Dialogue – What is Forum Theater?

What do you want/need from workshop?

Discuss Forum model.

Show dramatic structure on board.

Talk about the role of the joker.

 

 

LUNCH

 

People to People

Group walks around freely, joker calls out two body parts, and people have to connect to the closest person possible and continue walking. Joker calls out another two parts and pair has to try to connect those parts as well and continue to walk.  When joker says “people to people”, everyone separates and continues walking – only to pair up again.

 

 

Circle of Balance

The actors arrange themselves around a pivot point. The joker gives one half numbers and then gives those across from them the same numbers in opposite order.  When the joker calls out a number, the pair must begin to move. His or her opposite must move in such a way as to keep the circle/pivot point balanced. At all times, there should be a straight line between each person and the pivot. The joker can continue to call out numbers so that all of the pairs begin to move. 

 

Stories

 Participants form a circle and stand with their backs faces the center of the circle. At a signal from the joker, each makes an image of his or her oppression. At another signal, all turn into the circle so that they can face each other. They look around the circle at each other. At a signal from the joker, they start to move towards an image they feel an affinity with.   Affinity groups are formed through frozen images (modified NY/Vancouver). The groups talk about their experiences and then look for overlapping themes in the group. They discuss how the stories told could be modified or used whole for exploration of the group’s themes through a forum model. Some stories may be good, but may not be suited for exploration through Forum.

 

 Discuss

 Write out themes that came up in the groups.   People divide themselves based on themes they want to work with. Any issues or questions about choosing stories are brought up

          

Image Making – Each group works on their story, creating 3 frozen images, of the beginning, middle, and end.  

 

Presentation of Frozen Images – Groups receive feedback on clarification of characters, conflict, allies, etc.  If there is time, some of the images will be dynamized.

 

This is not a bottle – The group forms a circle.  A bottle and a piece of cloth are put inside the circle.  Each participant enters the circle one at a time and silently shows how these objects can transform into something completely different.

          

Group Work – The groups go back to clarify their scenes. They must try to improvise and dramatize their stories through physical action and words.

 

Presentation and Feedback II – The groups present silent versions of their scenes.  Feedback is given about what is clear/ unclear by rest of the participants.

 

Discussion– Any comments and questions about the work of the day can be aired.  Any last questions about the upcoming rehearsals and performance can be brought up. Instructions will be given about bringing props, costumes, music and “clean garbage” for the rehearsals.

 

Closing: The participants pass a clap around the circle, first slowly, then faster and faster.

 

 

REHEARSAL TECHNIQUE: TABLEAUX

 

Image 1: The Beginning (or Set Up) What is the problem? What is the setting? Who are you? What is relationship between characters? What does protagonist want? Who is preventing the protagonist from getting what he/she wants? Historical, repetitive, mechanized, ritualized; you see the system in operation.

Image 1 is first frozen and then dynamited

 

Image 2: The Middle. The Conflict (or Positional clash) escalates. The protagonist rises up and there is a confrontation. (I want it/You can’t have it). What is the strategy of the protagonist and the counter-strategy of the antagonist.

Image 2 is first frozen and then dynamited

 

Image 3: The End. The failure of protagonist’s strategy and resulting action.

Image 3 is frozen and then dynamited.

We see the ending pose that signals the end of scene

 

 

The second day

 

Questions from the day before. 

 

Stop and walk

Joker gets the group to follow certain commands, such as stop/walk; jump/say name.  Then, the commands are reversed so that walk means stop, stop means walk, etc.

 

Rhythms circle (Monteiro Lobato)

Everyone stands in a circle. One person goes to the center of the circle and makes a rhythmic/repetitive movement with sound. Everyone else tries to repeat the same movement. This person goes to someone else on the circle and switches places with them.  This person moves into the center of the circle and slowly transforms into his/her own movement and sound.  With a word from the joker, one person will challenge the person who is on the center of the circle with a different sound and movement. At this point, all the participants in the group will stand behind and follow whichever rhythm they prefer. The group who has less people repeating the movement goes back and a new person gives a new challenge movement.  

 

2 Revelations CTO Rio Version

Everyone is walking in the space when the joker announces 2 characters who have a relationship, for example, father and son, or student and teacher.  People partner with whoever is nearby and begin to improvise as these characters.  Since they have no time to decide who plays what, their roles will be determined by who starts first. Then at a certain point, the joker asks for the first revelation. One of the characters will say a revelation and the pair will continue to improvise.  At another point, the joker will call for the second revelation. At this point, the second character will make his or her revelation. The joker will then say one minute to end, and the pair have to wrap up their scene, and finally the joker calls “walk” and everyone walks in the space freely again.

 

Forum Preparation:

Improvisation focused on the set and props - “image of the things”.

·  Show the set only, participants have to give their thoughts on where they think it is, who might live/work/be there.  What significance does the set and props have, why?

·  Each character, one at a time, moves through the set as they would in the actual scene.  No words. Participants give their thoughts on who this character is (oppressed, oppressor, ally of oppressed or oppressor) and why.  What did they do, show?  Where did they go?

·  All characters in the scene run through the scene in gibberish

·  All characters run through the scene as an improv, with words, etc.

 

 

Jana cabana

Pairs must form a house, with their hands, with one person squatting in it.  One participant is not in any image, they call out command of “house”, “person”, or storm. (We used “tempest”!)  When they call “person”, only the people in the house run out and try to find another one to run into.  When “house” is called, the pairs forming the houses must move (leaving the person in the house squatting there) and re-form a new house.  Participant calling has to try to step into the house, or be a house so that someone else is left out and they become the caller.  When “storm” is called, everyone moves.

 

Rehearsal techniques

 

2 emotions

 Scene is done twice in a row.  The first time around, everyone is in love with everyone else, second time is hate.  The words and the intention and the conflict remains the same – only the emotion changes.

 

Hot Seat or Interrogation

Scene is run through and viewers are allowed to raise their hand and ask questions to the characters directly.  Joker pauses the scene and they answer as their character.

 

 

Stop and think

Scene is run through, Joker calls out “stop and think” at a certain point and the character/s have to start speaking non-stop, a running internal monologue of their feelings and inner thoughts at the moment.  Characters are not explaining the scene or action, but their inner thoughts.

 

Scenes and forum of each scene

The 3 scenes are presented, with 3 interventions.

 

Discussion: questions and comments

 

Closing

The rain exercise – hitting palm with one finger, two, three, four, five.  Then shutting eyes and doing it, trying to guess how many fingers are being used. Each person makes their own rain rhythm.

 

 

 

 

VI. Requirements from the trainer :johanne Allard

 

·  Clothes: Theater of the Oppressed involves a lot of movement, so wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothes.

·  Attendance: The only ground rule we make is that participant commit to attending the workshop in its entirety.

·  Timeliness: There is a certain process and continuity that develops in each workshop and when people arrive late or leave early (or don’t return for subsequent sessions) that process and continuity is disrupted.

 

Theater of the Oppressed is a very open and cooperative process. And we are all in the workshop to learn with and from each other. No one is in competition with anyone else and if you feel uncomfortable participating in something you are free to sit it out.