Now, with the preparation of the last session let’s return to the play formats we created in Lecture 3 and 4.
This will be like devising any play except we have to be sure that certain Forum Theatre elements are in place.
So work in your group which devised the storyboard that you've created in the last session
Look again at the storyboard and decide:
Who will play which role?
In our warm-up today we worked on becoming other characters. Use that knowledge to decide who will be the main characters – the Central Character, the main Oppressor or Oppressors etc and who will play sisters, friends, family, neighbours. Some people may play a number of different characters. We can show this by a change in body language and the addition of a hat, a shawl or other prop. So think what do they look like, how do they walk, what rhythm do they have?
Also remember when casting that the Central Character will probably be replaced a lot in the audience interventions, so will not be involved in those!
With your casting decided, we are going to develop the scenes in your plays. So we shall revisit the images you made of each scene.
And then
Set up a basic setting for each scene
Please note: Remember you are only creating a short play. 15 – 20 minutes is enough. Even a 10-minute play is good for this training and then expand it to 20 minutes when you go out into the community
To help you:
We are making community theatre and need to be able to play in small and simple venues, inside or outside for small to medium sized audiences (100-300). So we don’t need big expensive theatre scenery and we don’t need very complex lighting.
So that we can be flexible and creative, we can make our scenes with very simple items. If we have 4 cubes of about 70 cm in each dimension and 2 wooden planks 130cm we can create all sort of spaces; chairs, tables, desks, beds, offices, shops etc and we can change scenery very fast (10 - 15 seconds in full view of the audience)
This is particularly useful if you are not accustomed to writing plays – it gives you a simple, possible structure as a basis of your play. You can always add scenes to it if necessary but remember it should not become too complex.
Check:
This means:
All the above will help the audience understand the situation clearly.