charlotte-applied-drama-usw

[charlotte-applied-drama-usw]

Task 3

When we began researching theatre practitioners we found that we were all heavily influenced by Boal. Augusto Boal was a Brazilian theatre practitioner influenced by Paulo Freire. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, this involved using theatre to promote social and political change. Originally this technique aligned with the radical left policies then eventually moved to the centre left ideology. Boal thought that because society is literate then they can be aware when they are being oppressed. In theatre of the oppressed the audience can influence the outcome, they should be passive and active. It often involves forum theatre. This is where the audience replaces the actors. Boal’s techniques are often routed in physical interaction and involve knowing the body, making the body expressive and communicating through the body. Other aspects of Boal’s work include invisible theatre. This is a theatrical performance that takes place in an area where people would not normally expect it to, examples of this are in the street or in a shopping centre. Another aspect of Boals work is image theatre, this is when the actors use their bodies to create a sculpture or live image using little to no sound or movement. During the process in which we created our workshop we showed many strengths and weaknesses. When we found out that we would be one of the first groups to do our workshop we initially felt slightly overwhelmed because we had so little time to plan but this actually worked in our favour because it pushed us to work harder. During the planning process we found that we all had lots of good ideas for games to play to get the group engaged and focused however we did struggle with the teaching element. We wanted the workshop to be relevant to the group and for the group to go away having learned something but we where struggling to pick a subject to base our workshop on. After researching the area we found that it did not have much relevance to young people so we decided to ask Jon and Luisa who ran the regular workshops for advice. They told us that they focused on young people taking control of their workshops and this helped us to create a structured plan with a purpose that related to the young people participating in the workshop. As a group I think that the planning process worked well, we all made sure to listen to one another and take everyone’s ideas into account and we where not afraid to ask questions or ask for help and this worked in our favour as it gave us confidence in our workshop. On the day of the workshop we where all very nervous as this was a new experience for all of us but we worked as a team and helped each other to keep the workshop moving. We where careful not to interrupt each other when interjecting and made sure that we all had equal opportunities to facilitate. Despite our workshop running smoothly we did feel that we where slightly unprepared and if we where to do the workshop again we would make more use of the opportunities given to us in class to practice our methods on our classmates to make us feel more comfortable with facilitating to a large group. Another step I would take to improve the workshop is arrange more exercises for the group that have different objectives so that we could give the group the option on what type of exercise they would like to do depending on how they are feeling in the moment, for example I would ask them if they wanted to start with an energetic exercise or a more relaxed one and then go with whatever the group wanted.

[charlotte-applied-drama-usw]

Task 2

Video link- https://youtu.be/LKHWzk8upR8

[charlotte-applied-drama-usw]

Task 1

Jude theatre company is an applied theatre company that works in the north west and the midlands. They work to develop drama groups for all ages, backgrounds and abilities. They work in schools, colleges, community venues, theatres, events, festival and prisons. Their mission statement is as follows: ‘Including the Excluded – Our mission is to provide access to theatrical tools for individuals or groups who are marginalised by current provisions to support their right to experience physical and mental wellbeing, achieve and make a contribution.’ This shows me that they are passionate about giving people a feeling of self worth through the use of drama. They aim to help members of their community feel included and able to reach their personal goals. They also aim to help individuals develop their social skills and relationships.

Reading this statement shows me that the main value of the company is inclusion. They want to create an environment where those who would normally feel ostracised by their community can feel included and learn more about themselves. The use role play to encourage participants to feel good about themselves so that they can achieve their goals. They primarily work with participants with low self-esteem, mental health problems, learning disabilities and marginalised minority groups. I feel that they believe that these minority groups have more to offer than society would expect and believe that applied drama practice can help these individuals to feel more comfortable and confident within themselves. In reference to Taylor’s the ethics of applied theatre I think it is clear that Jude theatre company are effective in using applied drama to benefit their community. I feel one of the strengths of the company is their inclusion of prisoners. Individuals who spend time in prison are often shunned by their community and are made to feel more ostracised than ever and this can have devastating effects in the individuals and also makes it harder for them to integrate back into society after they are released so Jude theatres inclusion of these individuals really highlights their values of inclusion for everyone. Ethically they are a non-profit organisation with their main aim being to give back to their community.