Safe Cities for Women – You reACT

Devised and directed in the style of Forum Theatre

To practically experience Forum Theatre was vital in order to understand this unique method.

Each member of the audience in forum is called spect-actor, because it is free to be spectator and to become actor.

One member of the audience at the time can take part in the scene by replacing the “oppressed” which in this case was a woman that was being cat called, or otherwise harassed in the street.

Anyone in the audience can exchange themselves for anyone in the scene and act in a different way in order to end the oppression.

This needs to be done in order to find other ways of resolving the issue that is talked about in the scenario.

The Forum theatre is based on the assumption that everyone in the audience is a potential actor that can take control of the portrayed situation and find one new way to deal with it. It allows therefore to potentially as many outcomes as there are members of the audience.

It can be empowering and healing for audience members that are living similar situations in real life and can learn in a safe environment about alternative ways of reacting to hard circumstances.

One interesting aspect was how having seen the initial actor being oppressed the response of the spect-actor was tending to a oppressor position making the initial oppressor the new oppressed. The aim is to avoid that and to rather look for balance and fairness.

The Audience takes centre stage in an interactive play running this week, produced in conjunction with ActionAid: “Safe Cities for Women – You reACT” will run in Players Theatre, Trinity College at 7.30 pm on Monday 7th and Friday 11th March and the Stagg's Head, 1 Dame Court, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 9th March – Find out more here.