Theatre of the Oppressed is a range of techniques, games and exercises, using embodied narrative to activate the empowerment and liberation of individuals and their communities.
This training will enable you to explore the forms and tools of Theatre of the Oppressed, get skilled-up and confident in applying them, and to share them with others. The approach was developed by Augusto Boal in South America, and has since been used all over the world in the building of community, to dynamize social engagement, and to support individuals to realise their creative potential for personal and social transformation. This training is a collaboration between Reboot the Roots and the Ulex Project, hosted at High Heathercombe in the UK.
Theatre of the Oppressed is a range of techniques, games and exercises, using embodied narrative to activate the empowerment and liberation of individuals and their communities. The approach was developed by Augusto Boal in South America, and has since been used all over the world in the building of community, to dynamize social engagement, and to support individuals to realise their creative potential for personal and social transformation.
Theatre of the Oppressed creates space for a rehearsal for life. It is a way of analysing the power dynamics of our society and our personal relationships, purporting that personal problems are social problems. We will explore a range activities to develop focus, generate solutions to real problems, create dialogue where before there was only monologue, and ultimately “humanise humanity” by enabling people to develop the skills and faculties to liberate themselves and others. We will develop somatic and energetic awareness in the personal, interpersonal, and political dimensions
Theatre of the Oppressed is a potent tool in the facilitation of group work, community empowerment, and the holding of liberatory conversations. This training lays the foundation praxis for you to explore the forms and tools of the key tools of Image and Forum Theatre, as well as a host of games, techniques and exercises underpinned with the theory and philosophy of Boal’s work.
Throughout the training we shall also be bringing in aspects of Mindfulness – or Attentiveness as we prefer to call it – as an active tool to support the mind’s capacity to observe itself, disrupt old patterns, reflect, and transform. What we give our attention to creates our reality and to ensure that we do not perpetuate the injustices and oppressions we seek to change we must develop compassion and care for ourselves. By cultivating a radical act of noticing this taps into our intrinsic potential to grow more resilient which in turn offers power and sustainability to our social change work, and opens up more possibilities in our relationship with others.
Together, we can learn from our past, to act now in our present, to create the future we desire.
This week long training will explore two fundamental aspects of Boal’s work:
• Forum Theatre – a rich and full narrative form which enables groups to explore issues, and to look for transformative opportunities and points of intervention within their own lives.
• Image Theatre – a set of simple forms that enable groups to hold meaningful and exploratory conversations. It is a highly participative approach that supports rich inclusivity, and is able to meet diverse needs and communication styles.
Participants can expect to gain:
• a good understanding of the principles and values that underpin Theatre of the Oppressed
• fundamentals of the application and enactment of a variety of Image Theatre techniques
• the knowledge and experience to devise, perform and analyse a piece of Forum Theatre
• key skills needed to use a range of Theatre of the Oppressed tools in a variety of situations (e.g. community empowerment, campaign development, group work facilitation, conflict transformation)
• experience of mindfulness-based and reflective approaches to support self-awareness and increase emotional resilience
• methods of opening up and holding spaces for exploring the emotional dimensions of activist experience – including strong and difficult emotion
• an understanding of the neurobiology of compassion and how to remain socially engaged to welcome the wholeness of life
• a range of compassion practices for developing emotional regulation during challenging encounters
• training in techniques for observation and understanding of the systems we live in, along with tools which integrate embodied and somatic approaches to personal and group change.
Due to the financial approach of the host organisation, this course is not part of the Ulex Solidarity Economy. For details of cost see the High Heathercombe website. We don’t want lack of finances to be a barrier, so some bursary places are available. For an application form and more information contact us at info@ulexproject.org
In the solidarity economy:
(See details of our approach to radical economics here)
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Lindsay helped launch the Ulex Project in 2016 and works as the principal storyteller and comms coordinator. She helps make visible the relationships that sit at the core of our work, stories which champion ideas, insights and strategies across struggles, and connect people together to build stronger, more resilient movements. She brings over a decade of experience in education and community organising, working with grassroots groups and NGOs in social and environmental justice. Her work for Ulex has also involved fundraising, partnership development and course facilitation.
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Sergio (all pronouns) was born in Romania and migrated to Germany in the early 2010s. In the past, he was a social worker with homeless people and a social consultant for Eastern European migrants for various organisations. Trained as a filmmaker, he spent two years making a documentary about the ‘civic reawakening’ in Romania and the waves of protest it brought with it. In connection to this, Sergio is currently co-steering the development of an online open-source participative knowledge production platform on activism in Romania. Over the past nine years, Sergiu has offered his skills to various journalists, grassroots collectives and campaigns, mostly working within the labour rights, climate justice, international solidarity and anti-authoritarian movements in Germany and Romania. Nonetheless, his biggest focus since 2020 has been his work as an organiser with the anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers Union, where he focuses mostly on organising Romanian migrant workers on construction sites, in factories and in the agricultural field.
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Jeroen (he/him pronouns) has been involved in grassroots social movements for more than two decades now, starting back when he was fifteen. Throughout the years the fights for “climate justice” and “migrant justice” have been consistently on top of the list of struggles that make his heart beat faster. A key transformative moment for Jeroen was reading Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire’s revolutionary pedagogy gave him a language to support the creation of emancipatory learning environments, rooted in a desire for collective liberation. Jeroen has also been exploring in depth Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects among other methodologies to build his trainer’s toolkit. Inspired by the liberatory possibilities of these traditions, he started an organization with a friend, LABO vzw, based in Belgium, where he has worked as a trainer and campaigner between 2013 and 2023.
Tools for effective and sustainable activism
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Navigating the complex terrain of migrant and migrant-solidarity organising
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an introduction to a holistic and transformative approach to activist training and facilitation
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Go to the people, learn from them. Live with them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have – Lao Tzu
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Building facilitation capacity through participatory practices.
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a space to think critically, to ask challenging and transformative questions, and find deeper inspiration and understanding to empower social change.
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building and strengthening regenerative praxis for BIPOC organisers.
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exploring the deeper dynamics of collaboration, for transformation.
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strengthening and connecting transformative social movements.
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tools for effective and sustainable activism.
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Ulex: del latín, (tojo en castellano, argelaga en catalán) nombre.
1. Arbusto espinoso de hoja perenne y floración, con gran capacidad de regeneración y resistencia. Sus púas se abren al entrar en contacto con el fuego y vuelve a brotar de los tocones carbonizados. Planta sucesional que crece bien en condiciones difíciles. Mejora la fertilidad del suelo mediante la fijación de nitrógeno, preparando el terreno para una renovada biodiversidad.
2. Una opción tradicional para encender fuegos. Arde con intensidad y brillo.
3. Un proyecto en red que aporta nutrición y fertilidad a los movimientos sociales europeos a través de la formación
