This paper reports on a study that explores how artists might best support very young children's engagement in integrated arts performances. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which artists work with very young children in performing arts spaces. The study was designed to intimately examine a work with and for a very…

Forum Theatre is an interactive theatrical form of the 'Theatre of the Oppressed' (TO). I refer to Forum Theatre in this contribution as a dramatic and participatory research approach which -- despite its specific nature -- shares many similarities with approaches taken in action research and participatory research. Procedures and methodological…

Using affect theory, I explore how a performer's guiding skills for interactive performing arts improve when the performer takes into account both their own discomfort and that of the audience. I propose an analysis of the work of Myriam Lefkowitz (FR) and Sarah John (AU/DK) using the concept of 'responsible combodying'. This non-dyad approach,…

I draw on theories of embodied and critical reflection to propose how Boal's The Rainbow of Desire (TRoD) develops teachers' critical consciousness by supporting them to interrogate practice through the lens of power. In particular, the embodied, emotional, problem-posing, and collaborative characteristics of TRoD offer an embodied approach to…

This article focuses on three applied theatre projects, framed within the Theatre of the Oppressed: "Neighbourhood Herstories" (2018), "West Majorca Story" (2019), and "My Life in the Borough" (2019). We explore how theatre students from the University of the Balearic Islands and neighbours in the marginal district of…

This article presents a 2-year participatory intervention developed in a secondary school. Based on the European project Catch-EyoU, fostering a critical and active European citizenship, Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was used with students to develop individual and collective reflection on the possibilities of political change over dating…

A group of Roma and non-Roma participants worked on the topic of ethnicity and its influence on individuals' lives, using the Theatre of the Oppressed method. The group process was analyzed by means of ethnographic research and was perceived by the researchers as a process of formulating the research question. Interaction between the audience and…

This qualitative study presents an analysis of how the use of social media can provide opportunities for students to critically analyze complex texts and collaborate with peers. The students participated as active audience members at a theatrical performance of Gertrude Stein's "Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights" at a large urban…

This article examined the process of reaction, sense-making, and action through Forum Theatre of a group of 20 Latinx bilingual preservice teachers exploring issues of racism, linguicism, and discrimination. Forum Theatre provided a space where the messiness of emotions became a springboard for creativity, strategy-planning, and advocacy. Findings…

Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed has been the basis for radical performance techniques practiced around the world. Widely a staple for theatre performance syllabi, it also has an innovative application for the social work classroom. This article designates Boal's four stages of his poetics of the oppressed and concomitant theatrical…

This article outlines the activities of the research network "Festival Performance as a State of Encounter", which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of the Beyond Text strategic programme. The network was formulated in 2008, and a range of different events were organized over the course of two years to…

Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is used in a variety of setting and communities to explore ways of recognizing and overcoming oppressions. The main purposes of TO is to become more critically aware of oppressions and power relationships, to rehearse alternative solutions for real life, and to ultimately to be able to make change for social justice.…

This article describes a collaborative project among the author of a book about mothers and special education (based on a collection of oral narratives of mothers who represent diverse generations, races, and social classes), a playwright, and an artist. Together, they created a theatrical and visual staging of the author's narrative research. The…

Forum Theatre (FT) was created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal (1985) as an approach for promoting dialogue between the audience and those performing on stage for his "Theater for the Oppressed." FT offers an accessible, interactive approach to exploring challenging topics and situations. In FT, a short scene is performed. It…

This article examines how Boalian Theatre of the Oppressed exercises helped instructors and pre-service teachers navigate the consequences of ventriloquized, racialized discourses in a pre-service world language teacher education classroom. Applying a critical and performative approach, we analyse the mostly White student-actors' varying…