We are now going to revisit ​​your knowledge of trafficking and start to pull out stories which could become our narratives for plays.

• Work in small groups (4 or 5).
• Tell each other stories that you know to be true – remember we are not imagining stories; we are creating them from real facts. 
• But we are not going to tell an actual story with identifiable people, we want a story which everyone feels is true, is possible, and this will come from blending and fusing elements of real stories.
• Have a large sheet of paper (flipchart paper) and markers. As you listen to each other, write down key moments, key situations, key moments which may be “crossroads moments” when the downward path of the story is accelerated but it could have been different if another path had been taken.
• Ask yourselves who is the Central Character in each story?

You may create a new story with elements of two or three different stories but make sure that:

• It could be a real story i.e. it is recognisable to an audience in your community 
• The Central Character is someone people will empathise with (she’s like my mother, sister, neighbour) 
• There are people with more power than the Central Character who cause him/her to take the routes he/she takes, but also that there are others who could do something but don’t (friends, neighbours, bystanders, siblings etc)
• It ends badly (with no redemption at the end)
• There are several moments where, if a character had acted differently against the oppressor (more powerful), the tragic ending could be avoided. Ideally there should be such crossroads moments in each scene 
• Change is possible

When each group has found such a melded storyline, tell it to others in the group and stimulate honest feedback.

(If this is not clear, here is an example taken from a Forum Play about abuse of girl children:

• Participant 1 told a true story of a baby girl, just born. Her grandmother had wanted a boy baby not a girl. When she is left alone with the baby she heats oil until it is very hot and pours it into the baby’s mouth. It does not kill her but she is dumb for the rest of her life.
• Participant 2 told a story of when she was a very small child her mother was a labourer in a factory. Her mother earned all the family’s money and had to take the child to the factory where she sat in the corner all day. When she was a little older (9/10) she was still going with her mother and the factory owner noticed her, gave her treats and took her to his office. Day after day he sexually abused her. The mother knew but could not afford to lose her job.

The Forum Play fused these two stories. The girl in story 2 became the girl from story 1. She was dumb (story 1) and was abused in the factory (story 2) and therefore could not tell anyone about what was being done to her. This mix actually made the overall story even more powerful. 

This is how each scene is decided, described, and to be used 

• Where does it take place?
• Who is there?
• What do they want?
• What is the power relationship? 
• What happens?
• What is the result?

You can use stick figures, speech bubbles, whatever it takes to get your story into a scene structure.

For your first attempts at creating a Forum Theatre play, keep it simple. Probably 5 scenes are enough.

To progress the scripts and check your own story lines, try to:

1. Bring your storyboard to life by making one physical image for each scene This helps you define the most important moment of the scene
2. Then you can progress from Image 1 (first scene) to Image 5 or 6 (whichever is your last scene) which gives you a picture progression of the whole play 
3. Then choose someone to narrate the play as you change from image to image. This allows you to tell the story of each scene and show it. It is like a cartoon strip and is the basis of Image Theatre, which is a quick way of telling a story.
4. You can even progress to allowing each character in your frozen image to speak what their strongest thoughts are at that moment. You are beginning to construct a script!

Check back that all the key elements of the Forum Structure are there.

At the end of the day you have a simple but effective way of performing a version of your story as a play in image and narration form.

• Practise it and share it with others.
• Listen to feedback.
• Question your colleagues about their plays.
• Make any changes necessary.

Remember this is a discussion to get the most effective result for your community.