TYPE OF WORK
The company uses theatre, especially forum theatre/theatre of the oppressed and legislative theatre, as a medium for debate, development, and change, on a personal institutional and/or social level.

TARGET GROUPS
Homeless and ex-homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers, and excluded young people, in all settings.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
UK, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

COMPANY POLICY
Cardboard recruits and trains homeless and ex-homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers as its performers and creators. It used participatory theatre as a means for participants and audiences to harness their own life experiences and investigate possibilities for change. This material becomes the basis of forum theatre performances which are toured and performed to audiences from the same constituency, who participate in the forum.

The company also undertakes forum theatre training for artists and other professionals and residencies and peer-training projects with untrained people enabling groups to make their own forum theatre pieces.

SCALE OF PROJECTS
Number of practitioners: 1-8
Number of participants:  10-40
Preparation time: 2 weeks - 2 months
Contact time: 1-4 weeks

PERMANENT STAFF: 15
Adrian Jackson, Artistic Director
Richard Oyarzabal, Executive Director
Polly Amos, Fundraising Manager
Anthony McBride, Associate Director
Terry O'Leary, Associate Artist

Training in Southern Africa (Namibia, 1990-2000)
Training programme with 40 literacy trainers and theatre workers, to use forum theatre in their development work. As a result, a number of local forum theatre groups were established by the literacy trainers across northern Namibia, dealing with subjects such as access to education for girls and young women, and sexual health issues.

The Engagement Programme (UK, 2000-ongoing)
Homeless people's forum theatre originally commissioned by national charity Off the Streets and into Work. The Engagement Programme worked with four homeless and ex-homeless people and a facilitator to produce three short pieces of theatre about people living on the streets and in hostels who were seeking to make changes in their lives. The resulting piece was toured in forum theatre style over 10 weeks, playing in hostels, cold-weather shelters and day centres. The aim of the project (now ongoing and produced in collaboration with other agencies such as Primary Care Trusts and addiction agencies) was to encourage homeless audiences to connect with agencies engaged in life-change activities, including education, employment and treatment.

Youth/Crime Participatory Residency in London (UK, 2002)
Project in collaboration with the local Youth Offending Team, and the borough arts officers, working with a group of 20 young people excluded from school, or at risk of exclusion/homelessness, to produce a piece of forum theatre on the subject of youth disaffection and racism. The outcomes included a reduction in offending behaviour amongst participants and an engagement of excluded youth in debate with local authority figures in community and mainstream venues, as the resulting piece of theatre toured schools and youth clubs and theatres, playing to other young people.

Youth/Crime Participatory Residency
As detailed in Case Studies, expanded to work with three constituencies-excluded youth, asylum seekers, and victims of racial harassment (London, UK autumn 2003)

Adrian Jackson
Cardboard Citizens
26 Hanbury Street
London E1 6QR

T +44 (0) 20 7247 7747
F +44 (0) 20 7650 0002

E  adrian@cardboardcitizens.org.uk
W www.cardboardcitizens.org.uk

“It was good to see the young people giving so much to children younger than themselves.”
Teacher

“I gained confidence and inspiration to apply forum theatre with my own group.”
Course participant

“As well as measurable practical achievements they contribute to emotional well-being and encourage thoughtfulness...”
Housing worker

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