An Introduction to Theatre of the Oppressed

‘Theatre as a weapon, theatre as humans observing themselves, theatre as a rehearsal for the revolution’

A 12 hour introductory workshop over 2 days to explore the fundamentals of Theatre of the Oppressed.

Theatre of the Oppressed is a range of techniques, games and exercises, developed to support the empowerment and liberation of individuals and their communities. It is a way of analysing the power dynamics of our society and our personal relationships, based on the belief that personal problems are social problems.

Over the course, participants will gain:
• A good understanding of the principles and values
• Fundamentals of a variety of Image Theatre techniques
• The knowledge and experience to devise, perform and analyse a piece of Forum Theatre
• Key skills needed to use a range of Theatre of the Oppressed tools in a variety of situations such as community empowerment, campaign development, group work facilitation, or conflict resolution.

The workshop will introduce 3 key areas of Theatre of the Oppressed:

• Games & Exercises – used to open up bodily, emotional and mental faculties, create group culture, and model the overarching principles of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

• Forum Theatre – A problem-solving technique in which an unresolved scene of oppression is presented. It is then replayed with the audience invited to stop the action, replace the character they feel is oppressed, struggling, or lacking power, and improvise alternative solutions. This structure can be used to explore past and current situations, or as a “rehearsal for the future”.

• Image Theatre – A series of physical exercises and games designed to uncover essential truths, opinions, and observations about society, culture, self, etc. Using their own and others’ bodies as “clay”, participants create “human sculptures” — frozen images representing their experiences, feelings, ideas, oppressions, and/or dreams for the future.

ABOUT THE TRAINERS
Reboot the Roots is a charity that promotes social inclusion through the arts. It uses theatre, music and workshops to support people who are denied their rights to full, happy and active participation in society. This includes those recovering from addiction, mental health issues, differently abled, with experience of homelessness, LGBT+, domestic violence survivors, people living with HIV/AIDS and individuals who have been in conflict with the law.

ACCESSIBILITY
The training includes an hour break and a Pay As You Feel lunch. The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please email maia.kelly@leedstidal.org if you have any requests for other things we could do to support your learning and make the training more accessible and comfortable!

HOW TO BOOK
There are only 20 places on the course. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

There is sliding scale payment for the training, where participants pay what they can based on their income. We encourage wealth-sharing to allow the workshop to be accessible to everyone and to help us to cover the costs of facilitators time, venue and refreshments.

Low/Unwaged: £10 – £40
Comfortable/Medium: £40 – £70
High waged: £70 – £10

No-one will be turned away for lack of funds. There are a couple free places for those unable to donate financially. Please email maia.kelly@leedstidal.org