Theatre for changing laws and lives

16 February 2006

She is pushing me as hard as she can, forcing me to exert an equal but opposite pressure. And until either of us gives up, there seems no way out of this position, which to the group of around 20 people watching us can only look like a peculiar women’s wrestling match.

Finally, the joker lets me go, informing our spectators that our show of strength illustrated real deadlock, and asking them what they would have done differently to end the struggle.

Because to the joker, her spectators are actually spect-actors, she says. They too are involved in any performance they see and are required to think of ways to move the action on.

Iman Aoun, actress and artistic director of the Ashtar Theatre company, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Ramallah and Jerusalem which works in partnership with CARE International, uses a technique known as ‘Forum Theatre’ to get audiences to talk about the issues they face in society.

“I am the facilitator, or ‘the joker’, as I call myself,” she says. “And I invite audience members to come up on the stage and physically re-direct the action, trying to modify the original situation so that the oppressed person on stage has a way out of it.

“In this way, theatre helps to show individuals what they can do to change things.”

Based on a version of Brazilian theatre director and cultural activist Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed – which used theatre as a tool to question the political status quo – Ashtar has made it its mission to make theatre a central part of Palestinian society, as a means to stimulating cultural awareness and using the art as a means of political engagement.

“We use theatre as a forum to open a democratic dialogue between actors and the audience,” says Iman, “on issues such as violence against women, disability and mental health, unemployment, incest, early marriage, and other taboos. We create plays with helpers and actors, and want to get to the stage that if you were to come in through a performance, you would not be able to differentiate between who was who – actor or audience.”

And as a group of us stand uncertainly in a circle, asking ourselves what she is going to ‘make us do’ next, Iman dashes around, full of energy, refusing to take our feeble protests not to join in as an answer.

Pushing chairs into the centre of the room, she tells one of us to move one chair so that it is in the most obvious position of power. He moves it so it is in front of all of the others. But someone disagrees – ‘it’s vulnerable there, looks like a bus driver…’ – but before she can continue, the joker makes her stand up, and express her opinion with actions, not words. ‘Don’t complain, get up and change it’, her motto rings out through the workshop.

Ashtar has been working with CARE in the West Bank and Gaza since 1999, working with many of the disadvantaged groups of people CARE focuses on. Together, they are looking at measuring its impact on behaviour change in Palestinian society. Since 1997, more than 65,000 people have been reached by its experimental shows, which are worked through within a community from workshop to performance over a three to six month period.

Iman explains: “We go into a community, where we work with the people for a number of months on an issue, such as early marriage. We talk about how people feel, what their problems are. We do activities, to get the ‘audience’ involved in the action, and together we put together a play, based on the community’s feelings on important issues.

“And through using theatre, you also give yourself a voice, and you challenge yourself to think of ways to react to certain situations. But it’s not just cognitive; your body has its own memory, and when you are in a situation later that you have dealt with on stage, your body remembers how to respond.”

In a high-conflict areas such as the Palestinian territories, it is not hard to see how Ashtar can impact on people’s lives. But there is another side to it – something called legislative theatre, which takes forum theatre a step further. Legislative theatre does not just open up a discussion about problems in society, but also looks at – and challenges – the laws behind the problems. Through the process of putting together a piece of theatre and gathering information on people’s views and thoughts, the audience writes alternative laws in order to submit them to the government.

“In 2005, we did 70 performances and gathered data on the subject of honour killing – and how small the punishments are for such acts. For instance, if the person killed was under-age, the punishment is only up to three months. If the victim is killed by a relative, they would only get up to three years. People get quite forceful on these subjects, and the end result is like handing in a petition, but it is stronger, because it incorporates people’s views,” Iman explains.

by Sophie Kummer