Sunday 10 March 2013

Good things come in threes

It seems I am doing everything in threes at the moment from ideas to hobbies. After watching People I watched two more live shows in 24 hours this week. Herewith an introduction to Cardboard Citizens Forum Theatre Piece, Glasshouse.

Cardboard Citizens are a travelling theatre troupe, set up in the early 1990’s as a proactive response to homelessness in London. The troupe are primarily made up of people with experience of homelessness and that focuses the content of their work. The shows they run tours both in schools and hostels, and also in mainstream theatres. Despite serving social aims this troupe does not run on pity, but on excellence and professionalism.

Glasshouse - Copyright: Cardboard Citizens

Cardboard Citizens are pioneers of forum theatre. A style Shakespeare would have recognised. During Glasshouse the players present one story through the eyes of three different characters and it doesn’t end well. The audience’s job is first to watch and listen and then to suggest how different decisions and actions could change the outcome for the character of their choice. Your words of course are not enough; to change it for the character you literally step into their shoes, taking their place and experiencing what the scenario  feels like from their perspective. Some of the tactics work, and some of them just seem to make it worse.

This forum-style was really effective for me as an audience member. It made me reflect on the way that I respond to conflict and to difficult life circumstances more generally. It was a style I remembered from Sex-Ed and Crime-Stoppers at school; but that doesn’t stop it being an effective way to challenge people and make them think. More than that, it didn’t feel like school because these guys were professionals, they were highly polished entertainers as well as educators. And the work of Cardboard Citizens clearly goes beyond teaching drama, to getting people back on their feet in really practical, humanising ways!

Glasshouse is touring, its in Southend tomorrow and then in East London, at Richmix on Saturday, as well as numerous venues in between. See it if you get the chance!

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