Art and Conscientization

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the actors of the participatory theatre troupes I have worked with in Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, and DR Congo. Without their readiness to explore the power of theatre for peace, this book wouldn’t have been possible.

I am grateful to Gabor Csetneki for teaching me his alternative approach to theatre.

Thank you Harald Hahn for introducing me to Forum Theatre and encouraging me to write this book, and for your trust and believe, that it will add value to the “world of theatre practitioners”.

I want to thank Christiane Kayser for motivating me to finally start writing about my experiences, and for publishing an article in her Building peace series.

I wish to thank all organizations that have supported my work in Africa, especially the United Evangelical Mission, Bread for the World, the German Association for Development Cooperation (AGEH), and the German International Cooperation (GIZ).

A special thanks goes to Uli Thum, who invited me to South Sudan to share my experiences and to form a theatre troupe.

I am grateful to Rev. Joshua Lusenge Kasereka, coordinator of APRED-RGL, for giving me space and time to explore the use of participatory theatre in peace work in Rwanda and DR Congo.

Finally, I would like to express heartfelt gratitude to my wife Sophie and my sons Mano and Lou, for living with my passion for theatre. This book is dedicated to you.

August, 2015

Claus Schrowange

1. Introduction

In 2009 I attended the World Forum Theatre festival in Graz. Forum theatre troupes from Asia, Europe and South America were presenting their work. Workshops during the day, performances in the evening. Three performances touched me especially. Actors from the London-based group Cardboard Citizens created an emotional link with the audience[1] by just being themselves. The actors were homeless people, playing their real life experiences on the streets of London. Through the authenticity of their way of acting they became believable. The audience felt with them and for them. This immediately broke the barrier between spectators and actors.

The second group which left a lasting impression was Jana Sanskriti from India. Their style of forum theatre includes dance, movement, images and a lot of symbols that leave a space for personal interpretation and imagination, and are both artistic and educational. Jana Sanskriti is working mainly on Gender-Based Violence in India.

Finally, there was TO-Tehran, a University-affiliated Iranian theatre group, using forum theatre against oppressive systems. With simple black T-shirts and with just a few symbolic items, they were acting injustice and abuse of power in a serious as well as an absurd manner, speaking out the truth while making the audience simultaneously laugh and reflect on the issues presented.

What was missing in Graz was a group from Africa. This fact and the visually powerful impact of some performances motivated me to integrate forum theatre in my practice and explore its opportunities for peace work.

My theatre background is more or less an alternative one. I was trained by Gabor Csetneki, a Hungarian theatre director, who has an actor-centered approach, where theatre becomes a discovery and expression of “body, heart and soul”, rather than the classical approach where actors repeat some sentences others have written.[2] I also had the chance to meet and be trained by Keith Johnstone, the inventor of improvisation theatre. Harald Hahn—a German TO-practitioner—introduced me to Augusto Boal’s methods.

I started in November 2009 to work for EAIGCM[3] in Kampala, Uganda. It was a contract within the framework of the Civil Peace Service[4]. In January 2010 I gathered 12 students and young graduates of Music, Dance & Drama from Makerere University, Kampala, all of them hungry to apply what they had studied. Rafiki Theatre was born. During the next four years we explored the possibilities of participatory theatre for the promotion of peace, human rights and sustainable development. We developed our own style—an emotional and provocative, authentic and believable way of acting; integrating music, dance, movements, images, and symbols.

Productions on various topics were designed, and then more than a hundred performances were given in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Seven forum theatre troupes in Uganda and one in South Sudan[5] were trained by Rafiki. We developed plays with them and supervised their work. We participated in festivals and larger campaigns, did street theatre as well as indoor performances. Rafiki Theatre did forum theatre with illiterate people in the remotest places as well as with the intellectual city elite. The style we developed became known and experiences were shared at universities and during various workshops.

2013 I left Uganda for Rwanda, where I started as UEM[6] Co-worker for APRED-RGL[7], a regional peace initiative hosted by protestant churches from Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi. APRED-RGL is building local capacities for peace and promoting reconciliation in the African Great Lakes region, a region that has been plagued by decades of instability and armed conflicts, leaving behind humanitarian crisis, poverty, and deep-rooted hatred against the perceived “enemy”.

In August 2013 I found myself in Goma, DR Congo, in a not yet completed, dusty small building of the CBCA[8], together with the youth group “Jeunesse en Action”. We did a forum theatre workshop while 7 grenades were exploding, one less than a kilometer away as the crow flies. The local people were blaming Rwandans for being behind the attack. The atmosphere was tense. Despite this we decided to continue, developed a short play and integrated the fears of our workshop participants into some of the scenes. Finally we performed to 200 people in a CBCA church. The play was about the hatred of the people of Goma for the people of Rwanda. I saw that the “Rafiki style” could add value to the program of APRED-RGL.

Together with the Rwandan youth center “Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle” we formed Badilika (“Change”), a Rwandan-Congolese Forum Theatre troupe. Badilika works on the prejudices, stereotypes, myths and rumors that divide the people in Africa’s Great Lakes region. After some performances in the border towns of Gisenyi and Goma we toured around for 6 weeks in 2014, entering into conflict-affected communities in Rwanda and DR Congo. 59 performances were done, reaching out to more than 6000 people.

In this book I propose to describe the forum theatre approach developed by Rafiki Theatre in Uganda and South Sudan, and the experiences of Badilika with this approach in Rwanda and the DRC. I will conclude with a chapter about the trauma-healing effect of theatre and some remarks about the opportunities and limitations of forum theatre in peace work.

2. Why theatre and what is “Forum Theatre”?

"Theatre is a form of knowledge: It should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it."[9]

Theatre can strengthen the emotional and psychological appeal of messages and provides a believable and interesting way to explore sensitive issues. It can change the way a person thinks and acts.

Theatre can engage the audience, it focuses the attention of the spectators and actively involves them in a vivid and touching experience. Active involvement means that the emotions of the spectators, and not just intellectual or cognitive skills, are affected. It is this ability to touch the “heart and soul” that allows theatre to influence attitudes in ways that traditional instruction cannot.

Since January 2010 I have been working with interactive theatre methods such as Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, Debate Theatre, and Invisible Theatre. These methods were developed by the Brazilian Augusto Boal and used in many parts of the world to transfer knowledge and enhance dialogue. Augusto Boal established the “Theatre of the Oppressed” in Brazil in the early 1970s. It is a form of participatory theatre that fosters interaction among participants. Augusto Boal began his experimentations in participatory theatre in the 1950s and 60s while he was artistic director of the Arena Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. He went beyond the stage and organized performances with the Arena troupe in the streets, factories, unions, churches where they could reach the people of the favelas or slums of Rio. Boal discovered how theatre can be used as a mirror that reflects the defects in a society.

Augusto Boal was influenced by the educator Paulo Freire, author of the acclaimed Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The interactive Theatre of the Oppressed is rooted in the four “liberation” principles developed by Paulo Freire:

1. To make the situation lived by the people visible;

2. To analyze the root causes of the situation, including both internal and external sources of it;

3. To explore individual as well as group solutions to these problems;

4. To act for change following the precepts of social justice.[10]

Paulo Freire called his liberation concept conscientização or “conscientization” in English. Conscientization is “The process of developing a critical awareness of one’s social reality through reflection and action.”[11]

Boal's explorations were all efforts to transform the “monologue” of the traditional performance into a “dialogue” between the audience and the stage. He believed that dialogue is the most common and healthy dynamic between humans, and that all humans desire and are capable of participating in dialogue. He developed methods whereby members of the audience could stop a performance and suggest different actions for the actors who in turn carried out the audience suggestions—thus giving the spectators themselves an opportunity to come up with their own solutions to their collective problems. This was the beginning of Forum Theatre.

Forum Theatre is the most commonly used method of the Theatre of the Oppressed. In what Augusto Boal calls “Forum Theatre”, the actors begin with a dramatic situation from everyday life, for example parents trying to help a child addicted to drugs, a neighbor who is being evicted from his home, an individual confronting racial or gender discrimination. The play proceeds to a sad ending, with the “protagonist(s)” being abused, oppressed, and maltreated by the antagonist(s)[12]. After the first performance, the content is discussed with the audience, some scenes are repeated with one crucial difference: the spectators become “spect-actors” and can at any point replace an actor to attempt to change the situation portrayed. In this participatory process anyone can speak and anyone can act.

During the re-play of the situation, audience members are urged to intervene by stopping the action, coming on stage to replace actors, and enacting their own ideas in order to find solutions, while the other actors remain in their character. The audience realizes, if they don’t intervene, nothing will change. And change needs to be done strategically. The people acting as perpetrators of direct, psychological or structural violence on stage will maintain their positions of power until they are convincingly stopped, and just like in life, changing someone’s attitude and behavior isn’t easy.

“Role-playing serves as a vehicle for analyzing power, stimulating public debate and searching for solutions. Participants explore the complexity of the individual/group relations at a variety of levels of human exchange. They are invited to map out: a) the dynamics of power within and between groups; b) the experience and the fear of powerlessness within the individual; and c) rigid patterns of perception that generate miscommunication and conflict, as well as ways of transforming them. The aim of the forum is not to find an ideal solution, but to invent new ways of confronting problems. Following each intervention, audience members discuss the solution offered. The experience has been called a ‘rehearsal for life’.”[13]

The actors interact with the audience, based on real problems that people face in their daily lives. The play then presented to the audience, thus becomes a mirror of the problems experienced in the community. Forum Theatre provides an opportunity for the public to observe, think, talk, and ask questions about the performed situation. The audience is encouraged to propose a nonviolent approach that could address the problem presented. Forum Theatre, consequently, becomes a laboratory to experiment upon the possible ways to address problems and conflicts. New behaviors and new kinds of relationships can be exercised and learned.

By taking part in this transformative process the spectators experience the possibility of change and realize their potential to influence other people’s behavior in a positive way. The audience becomes empowered to generate ideas for social change, to imagine and practice those changes, and to reflect collectively on the suggestions made.

“When does a session of The Theatre of the Oppressed end? Never—since the objective is not to close a cycle, to generate a catharsis, or to end a development. On the contrary, its objective is to encourage autonomous activity, to set a process in motion, to stimulate transformative creativity, to change spectators into protagonists. And it is precisely for these reasons that the Theatre of the Oppressed should be the initiator of changes...” [14]

A Forum Theatre event usually lasts 2 to 3 hours, guided by a moderator, called ”Joker” by Augusto Boal. The Joker is a specific figure within Forum Theatre, whose function is to moderate and facilitate the event, mediate between actors and spectators, and in all ways possible assist the latter’s participation. His/her task is to guide the audience through the process. It is important that a safe place is created where people feel free to exchange their stories and look for solutions to their collective problems.[15]

After the welcoming, introduction and explanation of ground rules by the moderator, the play is presented. The play portrays a conflict or problem with a negative ending. It is based on real problems people face in their daily lives. At the end of the play the audience is asked by the moderator to share or comment upon what they have observed during the play, what the play is all about. After this, the reality check is done, by asking the audience, whether these situations are really happening. Spectators are invited to share their own experiences and stories. Together possible root causes of the problem are explored and discussed. A short input from a resource person is possible at this point, if necessary. Then the moderator shifts the attention back to the concrete situations that were shown in the play and asks, if any of the characters could have acted differently in a way that would then have changed positively the end of the play. Scenes are re-played. This time, however, members of the audience have the opportunity to replace a character on stage to demonstrate their ideas for positive change. The ideas and changes are analyzed together.

The aim hereby is not to solve the problem or conflict immediately, which is unrealistic, but to at least slightly influence the attitude and behavior of the antagonist(s). With these small transformations a process towards problem solving/conflict resolution has started. At the end strategies are designed to use the knowledge to actually make improvements as individuals or groups. Working groups are sometimes formed and concrete action plans can evolve out of it.

Forum Theatre is a way through which people may build an understanding of their own situation and explore in a creative and constructive way their needs and potential solutions to their problems. It enhances the capacity to analyze local problems. It teaches critical thinking, interrogates on