At the beginning of 2015, Louvain Coopération embarked on an awareness-raising initiative through theatrical practices. Inspired by the success of our play at the Universatil festival in February, the term continued with the creation of an academic course on ‘Forum Theatre’.
Created in Latin America in the 1970s, the theatre of the oppressed aimed to awaken the capacity for expression and protest among oppressed and marginalised populations. Its initiator, Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theatre director and producer, wanted to give the oppressed a tool so that they could ‘try out on stage what they had to defend in life’. Forum theatre is one of the practical applications of theatre of the oppressed in which the audience intervenes directly in the dramatic action.
Forum theatre is therefore a participatory theatre tool that aims to raise awareness and consciousness among spectators. It is used in both the North and the South to encourage oppressed people to express themselves, but also to encourage reflection on societal issues and, in the context of Louvain Coopération, on issues concerning North-South relations. The artistic approach, based on interactivity between the stage and the audience, ultimately leads to real social change. Each participant is considered a responsible citizen, equipped with resources and creativity, thanks to which they can progress independently in learning how to resolve conflicts. Placed at the centre of the discussion, the actors construct and reconstruct a given reality together by comparing their points of view.