Creativity & Change, Deep Dive
Power Play: Creating change through Forum and Legislative Theatre
With Julian Boal and José Soeiro

April 26-28th, Cork School of Music, MTU
9.30 registration Friday
10.00 - 6.00 each day with performance 6.00 - 8.00 Sunday

This Deep Dive will engage participants in exploring and addressing social justice issues through theatre. How do we understand power and find new ways to play with these dynamics to create change?

Forum theatre is a socially engaged theatre form that creates unique spaces for collective dialogue, reflection, and “rehearsal for life”. This workshop – through games, exercises, and scene development – will focus on finding ways to portray oppressive systems that contribute to local and global justice issues. We will explore how we can avoid good-vs-evil and other forms of moral dualism in the creation of Forum theatre scenes, while striving for a more nuanced understanding of global justice issues; their causes and potential solutions.

The workshop extends beyond performance by exploring how ideas generated through Forum theatre can be translated into new law proposals using Legislative theatre. We will explore the practical application of this creative process to influence policy. The workshop will conclude with a public performance to share the outcomes of the Deep dive with a broader audience, fostering wider public engagement.

The workshop will conclude with a love performance on Sunday evening from 6.00 to 8.00 pm

Cost €150 (Heavily subsidised by Irish Aid)

For more information visit: https://sites.google.com/view/theatre-for-transformation/home

Further inquiries to: claire.coughlan@mtu.ie or chriszine.backhouse@mtu.ie

For whom:

The Deep Dive is ideal for people working on systemic change, activists, theatre performers, and Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners.

About the facilitators:

Julian Boal is a teacher, researcher, and practitioner of Theatre of the Oppressed. He has facilitated workshops in more than 25 countries. He is co-founder (with Geo Britto) and pedagogical coordinator of Escola de Teatro Popular (ETP; The School of Popular Theatre, in Rio de Janeiro), a school run by social movements for social movements.

José Soeiro is a Portuguese sociologist and politician, member of theAssembly of the Republic, first elected in 2005. He is a Legislative theatre practitioner who uses theatre to effect policy. He obtained his doctorate in Sociology from the University of Porto.[1]

Quotes from past participants:

I consider Forum theatre a valuable tool in looking at global justice. I see Forum theatre as one of the many ways we can make the invisible visible

Through collaboration with others, different perspectives, working with activists and getting feedback from Julian, I continued to learn more and realised there is so much more to learn.

I see how Forum theatre can give us agency to create change and begin to dismantle these complex issues.