Video Interview with Debo Adebayo (Producer & Sound Designer) 

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal during the 1950s and 1960s.  His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into a dialogue. “While some people make theatre,” says Boal, “we all are theatre.”

From his work, Boal evolved various forms of theatre workshops and performances which aimed to meet the needs of all people for interaction, dialogue, critical thinking, action, and fun. While the performance modes of Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, Cop-In-The-Head, and the vast array of the Rainbow of Desire are designed to bring the audience into an active relationship with the performed event, the workshops are virtually a training ground for action not only in these performance forms but for action in life.

• Image Theatre uses the human body as a tool for representing feelings, ideas, and relationships. Through sculpting others or using our bodies to demonstrate a body position, participants create anything from one-person to large-group image sculptures that reflect the sculptor’s impression of a situation or oppression.

• Forum Theatre works from rehearsal improvisation to create a scene of specific oppression. Using the Greek terms “protagonist” and “antagonist,” Forum Theatre seeks to show a person (the protagonist) who is trying to deal with oppression and failing because of the resistance of one or more obstacles (the antagonists).

Forum scenes can be virtual one-act plays or more often short scenes. In either case, a full presentation is offered to the audience. The joker (difficultator) then says to the audience we will do this again, and if you would do something different than what the protagonist (not the antagonists) is doing, stand up and yell stop. The protagonist will then sit down and the audience member is invited forward to show their solution for the moment. Once the intervention is performed, the audience invariably applauds, and the joker invites the audience to discuss the proposed solution and offer even more solutions.

Normally these issues deal with specific local problems (sexual harassment, domestic violence or police brutality, legislative concerns). It is inspired by local issues and proposes an approach where the people who face these local issues are the ones who try to find ways to resolve them. There are other forms of TO: Image Theatre (theatre with minimal dependence on spoken language) and Legislative Theatre (theatre focused on political activity). In the words of Augusto Boal: "I believe that all the truly revolutionary theatrical groups should transfer to the people the means of production in the theatre so that the people themselves may utilise them. The theatre is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it.”(Boal, 1993)

THE GRIOTS

Until Muslim traders brought Arabic writing to the area, West Africa had no written language. Instead of writing histories, people in West Africa memorized and retold them from generation to generation. The job of memorizing and recounting such histories was a daunting task and was entrusted to a specialist whose life’s occupation was to memorize and recount events and lineages of the past. Such oral historians still exist in many African cultures and can recite the entire history of a family to ancient times. Older “bards” or “griots,” as they are often called, are very important because they pass on this history to their children, who grow up to become their patron family's next oral historian. As one Malian writer, Amadou Hampaté Ba, stated, "When an old person dies, a library burns."

Much of what we know of Africa’s past comes from oral histories passed down from one generation to the next. Professional griots in African cultures have acted not only as historians but as genealogists, epic poets, musicians, and political motivators, charged with keeping historical traditions of society alive through stories of leaders and heroes. Known as “keepers of memories,” every village, clan, and royal family had a griot to chronicle lineage and histories. A griot combines history with music, poetry, dance, and drama to entertain at the same time teaches his audience. Symbolism and metaphor enliven these oral histories rather than specific dates, names, and details making them difficult to interpret as time goes on.

Interview with Griot (West African storyteller) Alhaji Papa Susso | Audible 

ALTERNATIVE DRAFTS

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