Lesson 2

Boal took the idea of political theatre as a tool for change and moved the focus of the play into the hands of the audience, who know the reality of their predicaments, their lives, and 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 their own oppressions and seek to overcome them through a variety of means developed by Boal. This is 'Forum Theatre'.

Have a look at this preview from Cardboard Citizens who still perform Forum Theatre regularly.

What is Different?

It still seems like a normal play. It is!

The actors perform a number of scenes that dramatise a particular instance of oppression. Once the audience have viewed the scene, it is performed again and this time members of the audience are invited to intervene, but only to take on one of the roles in the scene (usually the protagonist) and 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, or completely change the character they are replacing (so a bully is not suddenly going to say 'I'm not going to do this any more!').

You will have noticed one other thing - there is an extra person talking to the audience. This is what Boal called the Joker. This is a little bit like a director who comes on stage to run the show. The Joker ensures that the play continues in the right direction (no magic!). Also, the Joker encourages the audience to discuss the situation, during and between different attempts to change the situation. 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 on top of other interventions, how many interventions to allow, when to stop an intervention that is not going anywhere, and so on.