Introduction:
Augusto Boal and his theories encompassed in Theatre of the Oppressed were used during a six week program to understand the applicabilities of the techniques for practical performance work. The text material written by Alison Croggan titled 'Monologs for an Apocalypse' was used.
Aim:
The aim of the program was to examine which aspects of image and forum theatre could be used during rehearsal and in performance to analyse which of the two is more useful.
History:
The Theatre of the Oppressed was established in the early 1970's. It is a participatory theatre that creates democratic and cooperative forms of interaction with audience members. Theatre is emphasised not as a spectacle, but rather as a language accessible to all regardless of social class. Boals main objective of theatre was to create change in real life scenarios. He began his experimentations in this type of theatre in the 1950s and 60s while he was artistic director for the Arena Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. Boal went beyond the stage and organised performances with the Arena troupe in the streets, factories, unions, churches where they could reach the people living in the slums of Rio. It is theatre
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Other participants commented that it was not as helpful for them as they proffered more of a Method approach. When we did the exercise I noticed that it was very difficult to change the way the characters thought.They didn't want to accept the changes suggested. In a way, it brought up the notion of whether people can truly change. From these observations I noted that it was very hard to use this technique with a small group.Given that 'Monologues of an Apocalypse' is a piece which presents the oppressed, the oppressor and all those in between, I initially thought it would be easy to use some of these aspect to able to further the understanding of our characters and they way they
As an academic theater person and as a writer, Dolan demonstrates how to bring sentimentality into academic writing. She is full of passion and brings her own theatrical experience and memories to draw up her personal ‘‘archive of spectatorship’’ (10). It can be risky to weave the subjective and instinctive narrative with the typically objective and critical discourse of academic inquiry, but Dolan questions, ‘‘how can we use sentimentality as something positive instead of abandoning it?’’ (23). She challenges theater scholars to embrace passionate engagement with the faith, hope, and charity that she finds productive of social justice and human solidarity. Therefore, after explaining the main concepts, Dolan describes some specific cases that support the "utopian performatives," including the solo performances of feminist artists Holly Hughes, Deb Margolin, and Peggy Shaw; multicharacter solo performances by Lily Tomlin, Danny Hoch, and Anna Deavere Smith; the slam poetry event Def Poetry Jam; The Laramie Project; Blanket, a performance by postmodern choreographer Ann Carlson; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; and Deborah Warner 's production of Medea starring Fiona Shaw. These cases demonstrate how live performance and its utopic sentiment can inspire and motivate people to change the sociality, because performance provides a forum for being human together towards “feelings of possibility, hope, and political agency (p.59),” and commonality in particular
and as individual practitioners and students to learn to negotiate the reality of change. It is very important for students to have the mindset that can adept to change quickly and also learn to seek for the potential knowledge as Mary and Bob did in the cheese story (Jacobs 2002). This assignment gave me a better understand of the
The groups rational behind choosing the Myles Horton’s transformative approach was rooted in the shared belief that change comes as a result of a raised conscious of the individuals affected by the issue or problems being discussed. (Pyles, 2013) Horton’s approach is also tailored to the
Live theatre has been an important method of entertainment, self-expression and storytelling for centuries and still plays an important part in modern society for the same reasons however not all performances will successfully entertain, express or tell their story. The first and one of the most vital features of a successful show is the performances of the actors. To assess the performance of an actor there are many aspects that one must consider, I believe the most important to be vocalisation, physicalisation and characterisation. I will be critiquing The Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo, the story of the lives and afterlives of the people and animals caught in the middle of a war torn country, as performed by Persona Collective at the Annexe Theatre on the 10th-12th of April, on the performances of John Swindle and Amanda Phillips.
Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright, theatre critic, and director. He created and developed epic theatre with the belief that theatre is not solely for entertainment but also tools for politics and social activism. Previous theatre performances offered a form of escapism. The audience would become emotionally invested in the performance. In contrast to the suspension of disbelief, Brecht never wanted the audience to fall into the performance. He wanted the audience to make judgments on the argument dealt in the play. The aim of epic theatre is to detach the audience from any emotional connection in order for them to critically review the story. The ultimate goal of this theatre is creating awareness of social surroundings and encouraging the audience to take initiative on changing the society.
Lazarus, Joan. "On the Verge of Change: New Directions in Secondary Theatre Education." Applied Theatre Research 3.2 (July 2015): 149-161. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1386/atr.3.2.149_1.
Through providing a micro-level analysis of the “self” through theatrical dramaturgy, Goffman supplies an adequate account of how modification of the “self” happens via performance. Taking parallel theories and ideas, each author builds upon the arguments of the other and Goffman provides enough detailed examples of social development through performance to satisfy the treatises of Berger and Luckmann’s account. Therefore, the arguments of Goffman and Berger and Luckmann work best when combined, giving us the most insight into the “self.”
It is human nature to tell stories and to appreciate and participate in theatre traditions in every society. Every culture expresses theatre and may have their own traditions that have helped pave the way for how they are today. The involvement of African-Americans has increased tremendously in theatre since the nineteenth century and continues to increase as time goes on. African-Americans have overcome many obstacles with getting their rights and the participation and involvement of Theatre was something also worth fighting for. American history has played an important role with the participation of African-Americans in theatre. Slavery occurrence in America made it difficult for blacks in America to be taken seriously and to take on the characters of more serious roles. With many obstacles in the way African-Americans fought for their rights and also for the freedom that they deserved in America. As the participation of African-Americans involvement within the theatre increase so do the movements in which help make this possible. It is the determination of these leaders, groups, and Theaters that helped increase the participation and created the success that African-Americans received throughout history in American Theatre.
The name of the Bread and Puppet Theatre hails from the custom of sharing freshly baked bread with the theatre visitors to symbolise that art should be an everyday ritual for everyone just like eating bread.` We give you a piece of bread with the puppet show because our bread and theatre belong together. For a long time the theatre arts have been separated from the stomach. Theatre was entertainment.` (Peter Schumann, Bread & Puppet official website). The foremost goal of this theatre is to raise feelings of sensitivity in the viewer and to outline what the terms 'good' and 'evil' mean, especially in political spheres. This reflects the use of the audience as being used to create this form of emotion within the performanceset up, this is done through the raising the elements of sensitivity within their audience. Theatre also places a huge emphasis on the education and popularisation of art. Artists expressing their pacifistic views, strongly opposed to the war in Vietnam, and the enormous dolls created by Schumann have since become a permanent feature in many pacifistic demonstrations. Theatre critiques racial discrimination, deaf royal of natural habitats, compulsory military service and globalism. The theatre spectacles take the role of mentors who teach is lessons of morality - they are full of symbolism, archetypes and they refer to the bible, mythology and folklore.` ìWe believe in puppet theatre as a wholesome and powerful language that can touch men and women and children alike, and we hope that our plays are true and are saying what has to be said, and that they add to your enjoyment and enlightenment ` (Robert Schumann, Bread & Puppet Theatre official website). They focus on en...
Throughout my live, my behavior towards change has evolved into a more mature acceptance of the inevitable. As an adolescent, I failed to contemplate the reasoning behind changes that occurred within my life. I neglected to seek the deeper meaning of why modifications were being implemented. However, as an adult, I consider the rationale and possible outcome of the change taking place. I have grown to realize that the success of each individual situation depends on the attitude it is approached it with (Blais & Hayes, 2011).
Applied Theatre work includes Theatre-in-Education, Community and Team-building, Conflict Resolution, and Political theatre, to name just a few of its uses. However, Christopher Balme states that “Grotowski define acting as a communicative process with spectators and not just as a production problem of the actor” (Balme, 2008: 25). Applied Theatre practices may adopt the following “theatrical transactions that involve participants in different participative relationships” such as Theatre for a community, Theatre with a community and Theatre by a community Prentki & Preston (2009: 10). Whereas, applied theatre one of its most major powers is that it gives voice to the voiceless and it is a theatre for, by, and with the people. However, Applied Theatre practitioners are devising educational and entertaining performances bringing personal stories to life and build
For as long as humankind exists, theatre will always take on an important function within its cultures. Through theatre, a culture expresses itself, reflects its society, and displays its individuality. It invites people to experience other cultures.
Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.
Brecht’s theatre could be used as an effective vehicle for social change. His style of epic theatre highlights social issues and portrays them in a way so that viewers have no emotional ties and only clear, unbiased opinions, making it easy to make decisions on the social justices and injustices of the stories. Epic theatre can be used to alter opinions as it educates people and severs ties of empathy so that people can clearly use their minds to make judgements. This would be helpful for changing societal beliefs as people are inclined to depend on emotions to make evaluations which is sometimes ineffective.