Forum Theatre

Augusto Boal, the inventor of 'Forum Theatre', ‘Image Theatre', 'Invisible Theatre' and other such tools of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed' has challenged many preconceptions of what theatre is about.

The Brazilian director was raised in Rio de Janeiro. He was formally trained in chemical engineering and attended Columbia University in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Although his interest and participation in theatre began at an early age, it was just after he finished his doctorate at Columbia that he was asked to return to Brazil to work with the Arena Theatre in Sao Paulo. His work at the Arena Theatre led to his experimentation with new forms of theatre that would have an extraordinary impact on traditional practice.

Prior to his experimentation, and following tradition, audiences were invited to discuss a play at the end of the performance. In so doing, according to Boal, they remained viewers and "reactors" to the action before them. In the 1960's Boal developed a process whereby audience members could stop a performance and suggest different actions for the actors, who would then carry out the audience suggestions. But in a now legendary development, a woman in the audience once was so outraged the actor could not understand her suggestion that she came onto the stage and showed what she meant. For Boal this was the birth of the spect-actor (not spectator) and his theatre was transformed. He began inviting audience members with suggestions for change onto the stage to demonstrate their ideas. In so doing, he discovered that through this participation the audience members became empowered not only to imagine change but to actually practice that change, reflect collectively on the suggestion, and thereby become empowered to generate social action. Theatre became a practical vehicle for grass-roots activism.

He took the Brechtian ideal of theatre as relevant to the social context of the times and as a tool for change to a very logical conclusion - moving the focus of the play into the hands of the audience, who alone can understand the reality of their predicaments - their lives, the pressures they have to bear whether from bosses, the government or members of their own family. Now each individual in an audience is called a 'spect-actor.' The spect-actor can voice his own oppressions and seek to overcome them through a variety of means developed by Boal.

‘The theatre is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it’

Boal.mp4

Watch this quick guide to Boal

Enhanced Forum Theatre.

In Boal's original model, the actors perform just one scene that dramatises a particular instance of oppression. Once the audience have viewed the scene once, it is performed again and this time members of the audience are invited to intervene, but only to take the role of the protagonist. This structure means that even the most complex forms of oppression are portrayed only very briefly, without any exploration of the history or context of the issue, and audience members are encouraged to intervene in role and "solve" the oppression immediately through a dramatic action. At the same time, the intervention has to be apparently realistic and true to the situation - it cannot use Magic to solve the problem. Furthermore, members of the audience can only intervene as the protagonist, even though this is often the character least likely to be able to resolve the problem.

Aesthetically, this single scene structure and the limitations placed on intervention lead to a very limited form of theatre performance. Characterisation is often minimal, and stereotyping and caricature are common. Narrative, plot development and the use of the elements of drama are severely limited in the performance of just one scene, and there is an over - riding imperative to solve the oppression rather than explore it. Although the performance style is supposedly realistic, there is strong temptation for both the actors, and the audience who intervene, to veer towards comedy or descend into melodrama.

One particular adaptation of Boal's work that has proved especially valuable in both addressing issues in the classroom and in developing a sophisticated understanding of the form is Enhanced Forum Theatre. Enhanced Forum Theatre works by making the structure of the forum play more complex and sophisticated, and by weaving in the use of key process drama techniques. These enhancements allow participants to explore serious issues such as conflict and bullying in depth, and at the same time make the form itself more challenging and engaging theatrically.

The structure of Enhanced Forum Theatre

Enhanced Forum Theatre involves the creation of a realistic play in three scenes, rather than the single scene structure of Boal's version. The action of the play occurs over a period of time, and the conflict or bullying escalates during this time, as it does in reality. Participants are encouraged to make sure that days or weeks elapse between each scene so that there is a genuine development of the plot, the characters and the issue being explored. This also means that the audience can intervene early in scene one or scene two, a conflict or bullying situation, before it has become critical.

The second enhancement deals with audience intervention. Unlike Boal's version, which limits intervention only to the role of the protagonist, in Enhanced Forum Theatre any member of the audience may intervene and take on the role of any character in the play. This is particularly important when exploring conflict and bullying situations because very often it is the bystander or an outsider who can most effectively modify what is happening.

In the structure of Enhanced Forum Theatre performance itself other process drama techniques are also integrated. These include Thought Tracking, where any member of the audience can stop the action and ask any of the actors to speak aloud what is in the mind of their character at that moment - a kind of stream of consciousness for the character. At the end of a scene a Hot Seat is conducted, where a chair is placed in front of the audience and they are invited to question one of more of the characters in the play. The characters take it in turns to sit in the seat and the audience cross - examines them to find out more about the motivations, attitudes and emotions that are responsible for their behaviour. Hot seating can be a very effective technique for exploring conflict and oppression, and students will often ask perceptive and profound questions of the characters in the hot seat. Participants performing these roles are equally capable of thoughtful and sophisticated responses, including elaborate justifications of their behaviour, and sometimes the Joker, who controls the Forum, will have to demand that the absolute truth is spoken. One of the features of this form of Hot Seat is that it generates intense debate amongst the audience, often involving the actor as well, about the issue being explored.

The role of the Joker is a tricky one. It is easy to leave the group with false optimism about what can work, or to run out of time before everyone is satisfied with what has been attempted. The Joker must make many small decisions in every moment, such as whether or not to allow the introduction of additional characters, whether or not to add interventions upon other interventions, how many interventions to allow, when to stop an intervention when it’s not going anywhere, and so on.

Forum Theatre - Oppression in the Educational System.mp4

Enhanced Forum Theatre example.

This is the initial performance

Note: Forum Theatre is often street theatre, so it would be done outside on makeshift stages (if on a stage at all!!) The performances are generally naturalistic, but also using exaggeration and stereotypes to make a point.

Intervention 1

A member of the audience decides to replace the teacher for one of the scenes.

Note the role the joker plays (here, Julian Boal, Augusto Boal's son) in running the scene - it doesn't matter that he is not speaking English, it is easy enough to understand what is going on!

Forum Theatre - Education Intervention 1.mp4

Forum Theatre - Education Intervention 2.mp4

Intervention 2

A member of the audience decides to replace a student in the same scene

Note the joker not only continues discussions before hand, he starts directing during this performance, making sure the principal stops blocking the student.

Intervention 3

This time it is simply discussion amongst the actors and audience discussing the topic and possible solutions.

Forum Theatre - Education Intervention 3.mp4

Forum theatre performance Shannon Ivey and STATE of Reality TEDxColumbiaSC.mp4

Another example

A ted talk on Forum Theatre... VERY American... but clear! (although the second audience member does change the character somewhat!)

FORUM theatre Checklist

1. An issue based on some kind of oppression or discrimination is chosen and discussed. A newspaper headline created.

2. Create a tableau that represents the situation. Speak the headline aloud

3. Improvise a play with action and dialogue which shows how this issue or problem arose or developed. Make sure you have more than one scene in your play, and that you clearly show the development of the situation.

4. Choose one member of your group to be the “joker”, and rehearse your play until you are confident with your characters and situations.

5. Perform the play as a piece of forum theatre to an audience.

6. The “joker” explains that it will be run again, and this time they can call “stop” at any time and replace an actor. HOWEVER, they must not introduce impossible elements into the play, or totally change their character.

7. As you perform again, you must try and stick to the original action and nature of characters as much as possible, no matter what changes the “spec-actors” make. If a “spec-actor” makes a real difference, respond in character.

8. After the forum performance, discuss what happened with the audience, identify why particular efforts succeeded or failed.