Forum theatre
We showed and told stories about systemic barriers refugee and migrants face to start work.
In this workshop we focused on the barriers people experience when coming to this country as refugees or (undocumented) migrants who want to find work or start a business. We explored issues of oppression, discrimination, and social injustice, using theatre as a tool for change. Participants were refugees, migrants, social activists or people with a story to share.
During five days we shared our stories, and created theatre pieces based on our lives and people's experiences of inequality and discrimination. Together we developed a short piece of theatre that explored the issues people face when coming to this country and starting over again, based on the real-life experiences of people in the room.
​
What is Forum Theatre?
Forum Theatre methods are part of Theatre of the Oppressed, developed by Brazilian theatre-maker Augusto Boal. Forum Theatre offers a space to explore social issues, challenge the status quo, and empower ourselves and others through the power of theatre.
​
Sharing our work with key people
On day five we invited people from support organisations, the municipality and funding organisations to show our work. In an interactive performance, engaging the audience in the play, we discussed patterns of oppression, under the guidance of an amazing facilitator. The goal was to provide a key audience with a new understanding of the systemic barriers that refugees and migrants face.
Meet the trainer
Philipa Bragman is trained in Theatre of the Oppressed, Forum Theatre and Deep Democracy process-oriented facilitation. She is also a qualified embodied relationship therapist. She worked for many years in the UK as the chief exec of a national human rights charity that employs disabled people to co-lead projects around rights, inclusion and creating systemic change. For the last few years she has been working as a free-lance consultant and group facilitator. She works across the UK and globally with many amazing people and partners, supporting and developing new ideas, and sustainable practices that address systemic oppression.
