Organisational theatre

Pauline Attard

Typical problem situations dramatised in organisational theatre plays are sexual harassment, gender issues, conflict management, communication barriers between middle and lower management, and discrimination.

Nowadays, organisations recognise the important role training plays in contributing to their effectiveness.

For training to be effective, it must not concentrate solely on content but must take into account the various ways different people learn, and adapt methods to facilitate their learning.

One aspect of effective adult training is active learning. Facilitators need to do away with the old image of talk, chalk, and teacher-centred methods.

Those being trained have to be active in the learning process in order to break the ‘ironclad bonds of conformity’ described in The Carl Rogers Reader (1993). Researchers in adult learning emphasise the need for participation in order for learning to take place.

Therefore, participative training methods are a very important aspect of the adult training repertoire. Various such methods can be used for effective learning. One such medium is the use of drama.

Drama-based training is both accessible and experiential. It facilitates the learning experience through which the individual acquires the necessary abilities to perform better.

This medium is becoming an important way of training employees. Theatre techniques are increasingly being used to help workers understand the various issues that arise in their organisation and to enable them to adapt to change.

The techniques and the imaginative potency of theatre have been applied over the ages for educational purposes.

Organisations in many countries have recently started to use the medium of theatre. When doing organisational theatre, the audience, such as members of a department, experiences the performance. In doing so, the people do not merely see actors and a good or bad play; they see observations others have made in their organisation, namely the author, director, stage designer and the actors.

Through these plays, members of the audience watch their daily work routines, conventions and conflicts between departments performed on stage from the point of view of the artists who draw from their (professional) observations and their construction of the observed reality.

These observations, communicated on stage, confront the members of the audience with a new reality, which differs from their usual construction of reality. It enables the audience to view different and simultaneous realities and thus it initiates a process of reflection: Why do we do what we do the way we do it?

Organisational theatre thereby initiates a closer examination of the habituat patterns of behaviour, established perceptual constructions or prejudicial views.

One medium used in organisational theatre is Forum Theatre, which was developed by Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theatre director.

In Forum Theatre, the problem or issue is encapsulated in a written script, which allows participants to explore the characters, personalities and issues which underline their organisation’s problems. These are then acted out by the group to an audience (other colleagues) who attempt to make interventions to alter the course of the dramatic action by proposing solutions using the Forum Theatre technique.

Predictions are made in the written script as to when and what these interventions could be. These are then matched to the interventions actually made, and through reflection the audience has the opportunity – in a safe, creative environment – to analyse their predicted choice of actions/reactions as opposed to those that actually took place in the ‘re-enactment’.

This provides the people involved with an opportunity to learn about their behaviour and attitudes in action, as well as those of others, when dealing with real organisational issues. Typical problem situations dramatised in organisational theatre plays are: sexual harassment, gender issues, conflict management, communication barriers between middle and lower management, and discrimination.

This method of learning is effective mainly because the presentations are realistic, and therefore participants can identify with the situations that are presented.

The discussions that follow after the presentations help the participants analyse and challenge the issues and implications raised during the presentation and in the discussions that follow.

Learning takes place because participants can follow through and maintain their engagement during the presentation.

They can reflect and analyse the issues presented because they are detached from the event and therefore, they can take an objective view of what is being presented.

The Malta Drama Centre will introduce a new unit entitled ‘Organisational Theatre’ in its curriculum as from October. The first course in this series will be on ‘Sexual harassment’.

The course will be 30 hours long and sessions will be held every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information and bookings call the centre on Tel: 2122 0665 or e-mail: alta.drama.centre@gov.mt