Implementation

We have been working on Forum Theatre with two different student groups at UiS. The target groups differed from one another, but both were connected to the International House in Stavanger. The first project was carried out in May 2005 together with a group of Muslim women in Stavanger. One of the drama students was a member of this group, which ensured good cooperation with the target group. We were invited to perform Forum Theatre at their International Muslim Women’s Day event, which resulted in a Forum Theatre event of great activity and interaction.

After the event, we were contacted by members of an international youth group working to prevent forced marriages. They wanted to learn how to use Forum Theatre in their work on conflicts and oppression connected to forced marriages. From this youth group, five students from an upper secondary school were allowed to participate in the drama studies programme of UiS for the duration of the Forum Theatre project. Together with the drama students, they prepared six Forum Theatre performances on the subject of forced marriage. This resulted in two Forum Theatre events in November 2005. The first was organised at the International House in Stavanger for immigrant youth studying at upper secondary schools, as well as their teachers and guidance counsellors. In this event, we performed three Forum Theatre plays. The young people were excited to enter the stage to try out their ideas and strategies to stop oppression. The other three performances were made at a school in Stavanger where immigrants learn Norwegian (St. Johannes Læringssenter). Men and women from different parts of the world got passionately involved in the Forum Theatre performance, even though many of them had limited skills in Norwegian.

The projects were lead by Anna S. Songe-Møller (Associate Professor of Drama) and Karin B. Bjerkestrand (Assistant Professor of Drama). They also jointly lead the Forum Theatre events by performing the role of the Joker. Sharing the role of the Joker was a new experience, which gave them more confidence in running the events.

The three Forum Theatre events showed how important it was that the subjects of the performances involved the participants. The passion for the subject was greater than the fear of entering the stage and acting in front of a big audience. The participants wanted to change situations of oppression so much that they were not afraid to act. In the Forum Theatre events, the spectators, or spect-actors, got a chance to rehearse strategies and ideas that may be useful in real life.