The two-day workshop served as an introduction to the techniques and performance skills needed to create and perform Forum Theatre pieces as a means of engaging the audience into dialogue about social issues through the medium of drama and theatre.
The Objectives of the Workshop:
- To introduce a range of performance skills specifically used in interactive forum theatre.
- To devise, rehearse and develop performance pieces as a means of practicing and performing to an audience.
- To determine how the format can be used and disseminated throughout Lithuania and make social issues more understandable to the public.
- To stage a performance on drugs abuse and demonstrate the performance to school children and to NGOs, interested in social projects.
- To build the platform for discussion with NGOs and other public institutions about involvement of artists into social projects.
Forum theatre method is recognised by the United Nations as a ‘tool for social change’. Forum Theatre takes the specific problems of a community and creates a universal story, where the members of the community have a stake in the drama that is presented. It is a practical and powerful method of engagement, which is designed to teach people how to take an active role in the life of their community, and is a tool for positive change. Forum Theatre is unique in being truly audience led. The form of Forum Theatre used by Arc Theatre for Change invites the audience to discuss issues and responses in small groups, thus creating a friendly environment.
The training was led by Clifford Oliver, Creative Director at Arc Theatre.
Clifford Oliver (Olly) began his career in the theatre as an actor with the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. After touring the USA in 1984, he discovered his passion for storytelling.
Olly's curiosity about stories led to the co-founding of Arc Theatre, a vehicle through which he could experiment with developing and creating his story-based work. Learning his craft by storytelling in schools and on radio (with a notable appearance as Dusty the Dog in Radio 4's Listening Corner), Olly has gone on to write over thirty original plays for Arc. These plays, including the highly successful trilogy The Football Plays (which Olly created in partnership with the visionary HSBC team) have received critical acclaim and a wide range of awards, including FT, Raspberry Ripple and Rima.
Olly is a specialist in the creating and facilitation of Forum Theatre, having trained in the early 1980’s at the Theatre Royal Stratford with one of the first companies to use and develop the form. He has written and led hundreds of Forum Theatre performances and continues to develop the form as he works with a wide range of audiences. Most recently he has been interested in developing the relationship between drama and science and has written a number of new forum theatre pieces for the DANA Centre at the London Science Museum. He has gone on to present this work internationally in partnership with the British Council in Israel, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania and at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. He is currently in discussion with a number of other British Council offices with a view to extending the project further afield.
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