Download PDF Version Revolt Magazine, Volume 1 Issue No.4

to you, telling you, ‘This is how you should read
this,’ or ‘This is what this is about.’ But through
various disguising and transformative elements,
it can impart these political messages or any sort
of message. Art should never hammer things over
people’s heads. If that’s happening, then that’s
a problem…A lot of political theatre veers in and
out of this aggressive performance art that has
on the tip of its tongue, ‘This is the dogma’ or
‘This is the dictum.’ I don’t think that really honors
the nature of what theatre is. Basically how I
feel with the arts is this: ‘Take an art. Figure out
what that art’s good at. And once you’ve figured
out what that art is good at, then you can blend
it with another element.’ That’s my feeling about
multimedia theatre as well. That’s my feeling about
circus theatre, for example. That’s my feeling about
political theatre.
How do you reconcile the personal dialogueoriented
method of social theatre with the
political initiative of your programs?
Reka: When I was trained in social theatre for my
Masters degree, there was a whole class there
on the ethical dilemmas of taking funding from
various organizations. Obviously the aim of social
theatre is not to take a political vocabulary and
set of ideas and push that forward. So it becomes
problematic when you get funded by a certain
funding body. But it’s really a case-by-case thing. In
many cases it’s about taking the money and doing
the work, but kind of negotiating some way around
their demands. I was very lucky in the sense that
the UN pretty much gave me full reign. They said
it needed to be around the theme of sexual health
because of their funding. So I tried while we were
devising themes to bring up some sexual health
questions – not even criteria, but questions – to
see how the group reacted. But they were actually
a lot more concerned with gender roles, which
could relate. And that’s what I mean by negotiating.
It can relate, but it’s not only about sexual health.
I have a fiscally sponsored organization called
Fronteirra. And the funding that we’re looking for,
what I’m looking for is really around immigration
issues. So, it’s really about informative projects
around the immigration reform that’s happening
right now, about strengthening the immigrant
community…So, there’s already that focus. But
then afterwards, what the issue is, what themes
they want to discuss are up to group
What is your take on social theatre?
Adam Willson: In general, social theatre is
basically using theatre to build community
mobilization. The idea is to get together a group
and have them focus on their story, whatever that
story is. And I like the premise of it. But I think
it’s maybe a little too utilitarian for me. It seems
the goal is to use theatre as a way to implement
education. And I think a strong element in theatre
is education, but not the only element. Also, I’m a
little skeptical of democracy. I’m skeptical because
REVOLT
I believe that once you get so many voices in a
room, first of all it’s going to be hard to come to
some sort of consensus. But also I think there’s
this idea that when you allow so many voices –
and basically in a certain sense, you’re trying to
take the average voice of the group – what ends
up happening is you lose sight of the best and
the worst…And I’m worried that democracy in the
arts or otherwise tends to facilitate mediocrity. If
you’re only focusing on community devisement, I
think you’re losing sight of the possibility of actually
creating a masterpiece. I think a masterpiece could
come out of that sort of methodology. But at the
Photo courtesy of Frontierra Theatre Group.
same time, I can see how quite often it doesn’t…I
very much appreciate that social theatre is being
done. And I appreciate that there are governing
bodies or NGOs or whatever who are funding these
projects. But at the same time, by basically taking
these sequestered groups or differentiated groups
and working with them on particular issues, with
a specific goal in mind, for a specific time, I think
it could end up cramping these groups’ abilities to
actually express themselves in a free way. Theatre
is a serious business. All art is a serious business,
and I think a lot of people who don’t do art don’t
realize how serious it is. If you want to do good
stuff artistically, it takes a lot of fucking work, and
it takes a lot of fucking focus…Without the proper
preparation and training, I’m worried that these
workshops might prevent people from really seeing
what theatre is about. But that may not be the
worst thing in the world. After all, it’s getting them
out and performing. So, I can’t knock it too much.
I’m just talking about my concerns.
How would you characterize the difference
between social theatre and conventional
theatre?
Reka: Over the weekend, I watched Farrah Crane’s
play called ‘Night.’ It takes place in Lebanon in
wartime. It’s a very strong piece and very well
written. It was performed by lovely actresses but
who, as far I know, have had no experience of
war. And they’re performing for people who, just
like them, have generally had no experience of
war. That doesn’t mean it was less interesting.
But in my head, as a social theatre practitioner,
it’s like what’s the point? I mean it’s interesting,
but it’s something that’s not legitimate – it loses
something. I feel like we’re taking advantage of
a dramatic situation, and it’s like ‘Oh, something
terrible is happening over there, and let’s make a
piece about it.’ And we feel bad about something
we have nothing to do with and have never
experienced and don’t know about…
But I don’t have some of the experiences of the
groups I’m working with, and that’s a conflict too.
The way I was introduced to theatre was also as a
bystander…But at the same time, it got me where
I am…So it’s an ethical wheel. For me and a lot of
the colleagues of mine, I came from a middle-class
background. I have had no traumatic experiences.
So, I come into this field like ‘Yes! Change! It’s
good!’ Because I have the privilege of being able to
think for myself. My hands are not tied.
I remember a specific incident where I was faced
with this veil I have over my head. I was working
with a homeless group, co-facilitating. We were
doing a forum piece in a homeless shelter. There
was this piece about a recovering alcoholic. There’s
this recovering alcoholic who’s 9 months sober
in the beginning. She’s doing great. She wants to
give back to society. She works with refugees as a
volunteer. But then there’s this one refugee whose
case gets worse and worse, and this individual
can’t help. So she starts drinking and drinking and
drinking. By the end of the piece she’s so drunk, on
the floor, and this refugee friend comes knocking
on the door and says, ‘I have nowhere to go. Can I
stay here?’ And the character says ‘Ah! Sorry, no!
Just go! I can’t help you’
Then we asked the audience, ‘Is there any point in
the play where you would’ve said or done anything
different?’ One person said, ‘Yeah. It’s the last
thing, I’d change something right there.’…So, the
spectator comes up and replaces the character of
the recovering alcoholic. The refugee friend knocks
on the door, it opens, and the guy says ‘yeah come
on in, come on in.’ They both sit down on the
bench for 30 seconds completely silent, and then
the guy who intervened, he takes this big bottle of
whiskey and asks, ‘do you want some?’ And the
actor shrugs and says, ‘Yeah.’ That’s it. And they
just drink on this bench for 30 seconds. Everyone
claps, and we ask, ‘so what was that all about? Did
that change anything?’ The guy who intervened
said, ‘Yeah, totally. I mean I’m in the shit. She’s
in the shit. Might as well be in the shit together.’
For me it was a great shock…It’s a beautiful idea
that I would not have thought of, because I’m with
this sort of background. I was brought up with the
opportunity to make a difference. My parents were
fighters. So I had a very active kind of upbringing…
where you can’t just take something for granted –
no, you have to move forward. And that’s a luxury.
It really is. But sometimes it’s about being rooted
in the present, and taking the moment for what it
is. Work on the now. I’m still learning constantly.
I have a lot to learn about conventional theatre as
well.
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