DEFINITIONS
FORUM THEATRE: This workshop involves acting, image making, photography, video, etc. The main body of work of Third-Way Theatre is inter/active (Forum) Theatre projects. Third-Way Theatre’s work, like that of Forum Theatre / Powerplays, utilises theatrical games and workshops to encourage an investigation of the social context in which the struggle around given issues takes place. Having investigated the subject matter, short plays are then developed which are performed to an (inter/active) audience: an audience that is invited to call stop, get up on stage and replace characters whose struggles they understand within the context of the symbolic struggle on stage. This audience interaction facilitates real engagement not only with the issues but with the reality of the struggle and it's complexity. Allowing the wider community (audiences) to use theatrical interventions to engage with social concerns in a safe way (i.e. using 'theatre as a living laboratory') supports people in the investigation of how to approach complex social situations while simultaneously offering opportunities to try out ideas/solutions to create safety, respect, dignity, understanding, and DIALOGUE, before taking action in the “real world”.
IMAGE THEATRE (EITHER PERFORMATIVE OR NON-PERFORMATIVE OUTCOME): These workshops begin with theatre games and exercises to build group trust in order to create and animate images that reflect and represent the struggle under investigation. These images and their characters are animated within a range of techniques aimed at exploring not only the struggle, but the dynamics that maintain the struggle and exploring what actions are possible towards change.
RAINBOW OF DESIRE (EITHER PERFORMATIVE OR NON-PERFORMATIVE OUTCOME): This exercise allow us to see how we contain many different desires and fears at any one time. To begin, stories from the group about particular scenarios and relationships related to the topic under investigation (ex. poverty, domestic violence) are shared. The group explores the range of fears and desires of each character within a scene. By learning to identify these fears and desires, we begin the process of understanding each other and ourselves.
COPS IN THE HEAD (and their antibodies) (EITHER PERFORMATIVE OR NON-PERFORMATIVE OUTCOME): “We know the structure of realisations in the world partake of, become the scaffolding, for our internal conversations as well as our roles in relation to each other.” Cops in the Head addresses those internal voices that have embedded themselves in our heads. It is not always external forces that oppress us; sometimes internalised oppressors are equally powerful. Cops in the Head are the people in our heads who put up stop signs and say, "you can't do that," "you're stupid," "you're no good," etc. Cops are the people who have put us down and, over time, have taken up residence inside us, affecting the way each of us listens, sees and acts. We explore the Cops in the protagonist's (storyteller's) head. The protagonist chooses people from the group to be the Cops, shaping them into a frozen image and giving them a phrase to say. We play the scene, giving the rest of the group an experience of the struggle in the moment. The group is then invited to be "antibodies," which is to participate in the scene in some way that challenges the Cops. This workshop helps participants identify the Cops in the head and, with the help of the group, liberate themselves in a creative and entertaining way.
WILDEST DREAM: (Community visioning tool, NON-PERFORMATIVE OUTCOME): This workshop is based on a technique developed by David Diamond of Headlines Theatre. Wildest Dream offers the opportunity for communities and agencies (groups of people who work together / live together) to engage in an investigation of the struggles they encounter. Wildest Dream uses image theatre and photography as a visioning tool. The group works together to identify steps they need to take to move from their struggle to their WILDEST dream.
