Introduction

Do you want to know more about Augusto Boal and one of his theatre methods called Image Theatre? On this website, you will find a video presentation with practical work and examples of Image Theatre.

Do you want to know more about Augusto Boal and ways to use Forum Theatre with minorities to address the following questions?

• How can Augusto Boal`s theatre methods be used to encourage dialogue between muslim women and Norwegian schools and pre-schools?
• How can Augusto Boal`s theatre methods be used by and with young immigrants in Norway to prevent forced marriage?

On this website, you will also find two video presentations of Forum Theatre events connected to these two questions, and a dialogue between drama students at the University of Stavanger (UiS), Muslim women, and an international youth group.

In Norway, the Minerva Project was implemented in the drama studies programme at the Faculty of Arts and Education of UiS. The drama studies programme includes a module on Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed, especially Image Theatre and Forum Theatre. The Minerva Project was led by Associate Professor Anna S. Songe-Møller and Assistant Professor Karin B. Bjerkestrand.

In two projects, we wanted to examine how Augusto Boal’s theatre methods could be used to promote a democratic process in the society. The projects were carried out in Stavanger, a city challenged by the need to integrate various minority groups into the Norwegian society. Here we refer to minority groups as immigrants from developing nations. The immigrants bring from their native countries ethical codes of behaviour and human relations that may differ from the rules and standards of Norway. A society is lead by both written and unwritten laws. Conflicts connected to existing legislation are relatively easy to discover and resolve. However, when groups from different cultures and societies meet one another, there may occur conflicts and oppression connected to unwritten laws. This might be due to lack of knowledge or attitudes towards oneself, the group and the society. If we do not stop the oppression against ourselves, a group or the society, we may end up as the oppressors ourselves. This is what we wanted to focus on in our project. Minority groups may experience oppression when they encounter the Norwegian society, but oppression may also arise from the relationship between their own culture and the Norwegian society. Augusto Boal has said that one can not change the oppressor. What we can change are our strategies of surviving situations of oppression. This is what we wanted to do with Forum Theatre, which provides the opportunity to rehearse for difficult real-life situations and conflicts.