Can Theatre Help To Make The World A Better Place?

All forms of theatre have a function. To an extent, all forms of theatre are 'applied' to something for a certain desired outcome. Schechner (2002) manages to narrow down the many functions of theatre to a conservative seven, 'to entertain, to make something beautiful, to mark or change identity, to make or foster community, to heal, to teach, persuade or convince, to deal with the sacred and/or the demonic' (Schechner, 2002; 46), and it could be argued that Schechner's distillation indeed covers most forms of theatre. However, in the generalization that occurs through the use of these seven functions, we consequently pigeonhole theatre as one isolated medium1; on the contrary, what I intend to address is how the aspects of this medium, rather than it in its entirety, can be utilized to change societies, cultures and communities step by step. Only certain forms of theatre actively seek these social outcomes; applied theatre, community theatre, theatre for development, essentially all terms for a largely indistinguishable discipline, take theatre into non-theatrical contexts to readdress given issues. Boal is one of the most famous practitioners to take his work in this direction in such an effective and well-documented way; his 1979 book Theater of the Oppressed documented the earliest, large-scale projects2 to take theatre into the community and has since acted as a benchmark and reference point for subsequent programs. His viewpoint on the role of theatre in society, and art as a whole, was the main drive for his work throughout the late seventies and early eighties ...nature has certain ends in view, states of perfection toward which it tends - but sometimes nature fails. From this follows the purpose of art and science: by re-creating the creative principle of things, they correct nature where it has failed. (Boal, 1979; 9) Boal then sees theatre and the arts as playing the same role as science, as a tool with which man can understand, appreciate and change the world. There are many examples of applied theatre at practice in communities around the world, of practitioners or groups developing on the ideas Boal outlines. I wish to focus on one particular project that took place in the south African country of Malawi in the mid-1980s; one that unified the strengths of art and science to try and combat one of the largest most worrying problems of the developing world. The experiment took place in 1985 in a number of villages around the Mwima Trading Estate, sixteen kilometres north of the town of Liwonde in south-east Malawi. The area is impoverished, with the main industry being subsistence farming and small-scale fishermen, and a few tenant farmers working on externally owned cotton and tobacco farms. The community health throughout the area is (or at least was) very poor - malaria, diarrhoea, eye infections, typhoid and cholera were but some of the communities common problems, and all were traced back to the low-lying swamp terrain in the area as well as the poor hygiene levels and lack of professional care. Kerr (1989) also notes a secondary, but no less influential reason of a political fashion An important but less visible cause is the highly authoritarian political machinery [the Malawi Congress Party - MCP], which tends to create a similarly authoritarian development ethos, with villagers considered as objects of administration...This creates a mood of passivity and community inertia towards the development projects. (Kerr, 1989; 470) What Kerr is referring to here is the effect the governments lack of attention towards the community's requirements had on previous projects that had sought to have the same outcome. Kerr tends here toward the basis of Boal's practice and theory with theatre in the community3; that art can be used as a way combatting the consequences of a community's political hardship, and what we learn of from Kerr's account of the experiment in Malawi is a distinct example of this. The regional Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU) in the Mwima district set up Village Health Communities to encourage people to protect themselves against disease by digging and covering latrines and cementing well-surroundings. However, by imposing responsibility upon the villagers with little consideration of their knowledge and understanding, the PHCU soon realized that the main problem facing them was not material but related to the levels of communication and community consciousness regarding the issue. Inappropriate forms of media were identified as a major reason [Previous] Campaigns had used pamphlets, though illiteracy in the rural areas ran higher than the national average of 87.45%...programmes on the radio were also ineffective...12% [had] access to radio receivers. Frontal talks and demonstrations were more effective, but were vitiated by...health assistants merely preach[ing] to the peasant communities without interacting freely' (1989; 471)

The PHCU turned to the University of Malawi's 'Theatre for Development' group, in a bid to pursue their aim of 'community mobilisation and self-help' (1989; 470) concerning the poor state of health the area was in. At this point, it is clear that the medium of theatre is identified as a universal form of communication; it is accessible and understandable to all and has no ability requirements. Not only that, but the nature of community theatre and its strong emphasis on involvement allows organizations to move away from the didactic style of talks and demonstrations. This highly intimate approach was identified by the theatre group as a fundamental aspect of the way they set about treating this task

...the theatre organisers had worked out certain aesthetic and organisational strategies...to ensure that the community not only had its interests genuinely reflected in the drama, but that it gained increasing control over the theatre process. (1979; 473)

It is interesting to note that what Kerr observes here is the groups keen desire to establish and maintain a high level of honesty in their work. Rather than taking on the task of helping the villagers through their theatre, they intend to delegate this task to the villagers themselves, by introducing to them the medium and allowing them to take control. On this idea of empowerment, I shall refer briefly to another similar project in which community theatre was used in Africa for a public and indeed political reason. The work of Bongani Linda's 'Victory Sonqoba Theatre Company' in South Africa4 is an exemplar of how theatre can be used in Boal's characteristically political way, and to great effect. Linda's theatre played a key part in the recruitment of 'cultural combatants' (Boon & Plastow, 2004; 97) to the anti-apartheid movement of the 'Umkhonto we Sizwe'. As Marlin-Curiel notes of Linda's determined view of theatre

Linda calls himself a 'cultural combatant' because he 'believes theatre is a weapon to change people's minds, as well as a political instrument that encourages people to oppose injustice'. (Ibid) Bongani Linda would recruit young people from 'at-risk' communities and would provide them with power by numbers, armed with the theatrical skills he would teach them. The company were highly active in the 1980s, producing political plays and staging theatrical demonstrations that underpinned the fight against racial discrimination in South Africa.

After careful planning and extensive research throughout late 1985, the University of Malawi's 'Theatre for Development' group created a short sketch about the siting of water wells in the village, which was then performed at the village's communal meeting place (the bwalo) with a cast consisting of the university performers and a PHCU nurse. The actors used direct address with the audience when issues of debate arose in the performance, and, as Kerr notes, 'the audience was not slow to respond, arguing both with the actors and each other about the factual and moral issues raised by the play' (1989; 474). Kerr goes on to make a particularly interesting point in regards to the role the piece had

The debate drifted in and out of the frame of fantasy provided by the story - out of frame in order to discuss specific, local, controversial issues, and back into the 'safety' of the frame when the debate became too embarrassing to individual members of the audience. (Ibid)

Here then is the essence of community theatre. What Kerr observes at this point is the most important aspect of the medium of theatre in regards to its ability to help people and entire communities and shape development in areas of difficulty. The performance provides the villagers with an impartial medium, a 'blank canvas', upon which they could voice their opinions but also pass focus on to at appropriate times. It is this two-way, interactive level of theatre that can be utilized so powerfully to provide a unified voice to people who are previously unheard. However, the project did not stop there; after this initial performance, the villagers took the piece to a different area of Mwima, where there was a well that was causing some debate, and performed it at a meeting called by the PHCU of the entire Mwima community. This time, the acting parts were taken by the villagers themselves and the piece was performed to a much larger audience, which included some of the traders on whom much of the plays controversy was centered. It is clear then that the piece was initially introduced to the villagers and then used by them as an engine for their desired development; the project, and the university's 'Theatre for Development' group gave them the confidence and means to understand, engage with and work on the problems concerning their community.

Further sketches were created by the villagers and the university group regarding other health issues that the community had. One was developed by the team to inform about the elections of Village Health Committees (VHCs) that took place in the ten villages of the Mwima area. The VHC members mobilized the villagers in taking preventative measures, 'chlorinating water, the manufacture of pit latrines, the provision of san-platforms, the recording of basic health data...the provision of certain basic medicines' (1989; 475). Overall, the theatre project in Mwima was highly successful in easing the difficulties in communication and thus, development in health; the villagers used the skills and techniques they had learnt from the university group to create sketches when other problematic issues arose.

In surveys made by the PHCU the VHCs [an eventual result of the theatre project] proved very successful in the diagnosis of common diseases and the administration of appropriate medication. (Ibid)

The facts and figures only serve to support these statements; in Mwima and its two surrounding areas, Mbela and Chisi Island, only 10% of households had latrines. After the theatre project in Mwima and Mbela, this figure rose to 81% and 71% respectively. In Chisi Island, where the 'Theatre for Development' work had not taken place, this remained at only 26%. Kerr does note

It is important to realise that there are other variables which could affect these statistics (such as Chisi Island's relative inaccessibility); but the statistics do seem to indicate that the Theatre for Development campaign had a demonstrably beneficial effect on communities' ability to plan and implement their own health care. (1989; 480)

Can theatre help to make the world a better place? In short, yes. However, I argue that it is the aspects of the theatrical form that can be utilized for highly beneficial work. To expect one play, one performance, whether it be in one of London's West End theatres, Broadway's venues, or a small clearing in a village in Malawi, to single-handedly change the world is optimistic to say the least. But it is the natural and accessible essence of the theatrical form that can be taken into contexts that are as non-theatrical as possible, and turned into a vehicle for highly expressive and developmental communication; a vehicle that can considerably change lives forever.

Bibliography

Boal, Augusto (1979) Theater of the Oppressed, London: Pluto Press Ltd.

Boon, Richard & Plastow, Jane (ed.) (2004) Theatre and Empowerment: Community Drama on the World Stage, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ltd.

Kerr, David (1989) 'Community Theatre and Public Health in Malawi', Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3, April 1989, pp. 469-485 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2636407 accessed 11/01/2009

Schechner, Richard (2002) Performance Studies: An Introduction, London: Routledge

Van Erven, Eugene (2001) Community Theatre: Global Perspectives, London: Routledge