T – 1.2 Aims

The Participatory Theatre training offered a range of possible techniques through which facilitators might be able to work with communities whose skills in the local language are limited or non-existent.

The training recognised the importance of building confidence and trust across the group, and of ensuring safety for vulnerable people. Ethical considerations around consent and agency are central to all these approaches.

The techniques involved a broad range of creative exercises, using the body as a signifier in the performance space, and exploring how it can generate meaning and provoke powerful responses.

There was also use made of languages other than the main language of the audience, creating theatre that empowered the speakers of minority languages and multiple languages. These approaches explored how such languages can be expressive even when they are not literally understood, by virtue of their musicality and emotional energy.