A Brief Thought on Participatory Methods in Forum Theatre
There is no much infomation about FORUM THEATER in the slides. I didn't know what it is when I spotted it. I researched it online, and I found something that interests me.
There is a slogan on the web page: People working together around the world to generate ideas and action for social change.
It intepretates the essential ideas and beliefs of Participatory Methods. Forum theater is one of them.
The whole name of Augusto Boal's theater is Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) . There were three theatres alternate used: Image Theatre, Forum Theatre and Legislative Theatre. They were all using "as a tool to look critically at reality, and then to challenge and transform oppression together with communities."
"Forum theatre mobilises the ‘spect-actors’ of a performance to move onto the stage and perform proposed solutions to an oppression portrayed in the play. This process is curated by a ‘Joker’, who is a conduit between the audience and those onstage, who must facilitate, provoke and manage the proceedings. Forum Theatre is a place not ‘to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined’ (Boal, 1979: 141)." .
According to the depiction, I can imagine how inspiring the Forum Theatre was. And as an art enthusiast, I can understand how powerful the encouragement and the profundity delivered to the spectators or spect-actors from the PERFORMANCE. It's another practic of "Learning by doing". You participate and immerse in the procedure, which leads you to abstract and restructure, to discuss and to think, to proposal and to practice. You may not find a perfect solution or nothing changed in society, but you did something to develop yourself and make the society better a little bit and a little bit.
So, I have a bold idea that if I work in social services or social pedagogy related job, I can use forum theatre in my future career.
Particularly, I can use the method in youth, middle-aged and elderly communities, because they encountered more complicated challenges and equally have more stories to associate with the theatre.
The themes of DRAMA or PERFORMANCE are also from daily life and reflect the real dilemma, and through the methods, a group of people can release their emotions, emancipate their ideas, can resonate with each other, and find a trail to overcome challenges and make something changed of society.
Of course, it's a good idea to think about my future work, but the reality is another matter I have to focus on that I need further reserch and study about drama theories as the base of the approach, additionally and sociology, political science, even psychology.
It's a great inspiration to tell me again that social work is not a value-free profession. I can do a lot through different roles, like a drama director or a basic social services provider, with various methods, like social pedagogy, suicide prevention, or theatre work. Of course, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In other words, if I am not a social worker, I can still do something meaningful in other ways.
Participation and social inclusion are intertwined ideas, they are important when thinking of building a society of equal right for all and free of injustice and all forms of discriminations.
ReplyDeleteWhen individuals are able to fully participate in their community activities, they automatically feel loved, respected, connected, empowered and valued.
Personally, I have seen and experienced the benefits and social effects of participation. I have been lucky enough to participate in different activities, such as community events, mandatory youth services for graduates in my country, and some voluntary work. These experiences have given me the opportunity to meet and connect with people. Most recently the Nature and Environment based Method course I recently did this semester gave me an opportunity to connect with some Finnish students who are also studying Social Services at Turku Amk in Finnish, we did a lot of outdoor activities together, and these activity made us realize that we have a lot in common and we instantly connected with each other and became good friends even after the course, some are even my close-door neighbours I never had the opportunity to talk to, and now we are like best friends outside school. This is the power of participation, no human is an island, we all need each other in one way or the other, the little communication we sometimes take for granted or the simple walk around the park and down the streets together can be all that a person need to heal emotionally, or all that they need to get rid of depression in their lives.
Participation can be particularly difficult for people with disability, low-income earners, people with mental health issues and those who struggle with substance abuse, and some who experience violence at home. Creating inclusive environment using people's hobbies and areas of interest like art just like Yiran wrote above can be a good way to bring people together regardless of their mental state, disability level, social class etc. I have personally experienced where playing and watching of football always brings people together, in the moment of playing or watching of the football matches, people immediately forget their social class and begins to connect with people they ordinarily may never connect with due to social classification, age group and sometimes academic level, so I have personally experienced the barriers that hobbies can break when we bring people who enjoy the same hobbies together to participate in the hobbies they love.
Participation is not just a concept; it is our right as humans to take part, connect, interact and communicate with one another, not just for fun; our lives depend on it, our mental health depends on it and the world needs it for its continued existence.