Learn a Rainbow of skills from the Theatre of the Oppressed

ALâ (Adult Participatory Theatre, Arts and Education), in conjunction with Clarecare, will present a five-day Rainbow of Desire Theatre of the Oppressed facilitation skills training course this March 6 to 10 in Ennis at the Rowan Tree Hostel, Harmony Row.
Facilitated by Gavin Crichton, this five-day national course explores Rainbow of Desire techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.
Skills include warm-up and improvising techniques that concentrate on exploring the internal oppressions that people carry in their heads.
The techniques explored will help clarify questions we may need to ask ourselves. What oppressions are submerged in a person’s internalised voices and responses? How can we expose and confront these oppressions and the conflicting desires that underlie them? How can we unpick everyday actions, rituals, words and history that enable oppression to happen?
Augusto Boal was a Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician and was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical form originally used in radical popular education and literacy movements in Latin America. Boal developed a theatrical method based on Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a book by his fellow Brazilian, educator and writer Paulo Freire, a friend and father figure for Boal.
Boal’s method, which has been implemented in communities across the world, seeks to transform audiences into active participants in the theatrical experience, and thereby rehearse active transformation of their own lives and communities.
The facilitator for the course, Gavin Crichton is a drama worker, director, lecturer and artistic director of ACTive Inquiry. He worked as a freelance artist before taking a post as research assistant at The Centre for Community Arts Research and Practice at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.
In Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) the scene, the stage, becomes the rehearsal space for real life.
The course provides professional development for therapists working in the area of mental well-being and personal development. As action methods from TO are applicable in a wide range of therapeutic settings including addiction, bereavement, and family trauma.
It would also be of interest to those working in the area of social justice, or community development workers who want to expand their personal and organisational drama, facilitation, and group skills. It would also be of interest to youth and community workers and teachers.
For further information or booking details Anne at 065 6894212 or alaworkshops@gmail.com.