In the second half of June, I went to a beautiful Portuguese island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Madeira. The international training of youth workers Newspaper Theatre took place here, which is one of the methods of the Theatre of the Oppressed.
From June 18 to 20, 2021, thirty participants from ten European countries - Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey - gathered in the small seaside town of Machico. Eight days awaited them by exploring this theatrical method and approaches to it.
"The Theatre of the Oppressed was created in the 1970s by the Brazilian visionary August Boal as a form of common learning, using theatre as a tool for change. It promotes critical thinking and dialogue. It's about analysing, asking questions and acting. The Theatre of the Oppressed serves as a laboratory for exploring possible alternatives to resolving the conflict, which is also entertainment.” (Source Divadloutlacovanych.cz)
As one of the few, I had a direct flight from the Czech Republic, so I arrived in Madeira fresh and after a four-hour flight quite fresh. I survived my safe arrival at the most dangerous airport in the world - because sometimes the pilot does not slow down the landing, and even with the plane ends up in the sea, - and the trip to the hotel was only a moment. Madeira is a small island that can be reached by car in two hours.
Who we are and what the media are
The first day was in the spirit of getting to know others and introducing the topic. We introduced ourselves by name, asked deep questions and did a little sociological research about the others. We were introduced to the program and we talked in small groups about our expectations, uncertainties and ambiguities. As a teambuilding activity, we tried a blindfolded march between two points, where only one sighted person from the whole group always led us.
After lunch, we discussed / disagreed about the media in the discussion. Whether they are objective, whether social networks can be considered a manipulative tool or whether advertising has an effect on us. The discussion was challenging, with many strong views and counter-arguments. To relax, we played human bingo with the search for others according to their preferences regarding the media (who does not use social media, who reads printed newspapers at least once a week, who creates media content, etc.).
In the early evening, the reflection of the all-day program took place in small groups, which were repeated every day in the same format. First, we took an overview of the whole day, looked for good and bad places in it, realized what we had learned that day, and shared what we really feel grateful for that day.
Authoritative journalism
On Sunday, we dealt with the topic of authority and power. First, we tried to demonstrate them on the example of felt-tip pens, adhesive tape and chairs, and then on frozen images of our bodies in a position of power. We then tried this in threes - always to complete the image with our pose so that the last one always had "the most power". Before the snack, we stretched our bodies while hypnotically watching the palm of the other of the pair - it was fun. In the discussion, we further discussed who has power in society and how it manifests itself, and depicted the strongest thoughts in vivid images.
This was followed by a search for newspaper articles that met the specified criteria (written by a woman and on the front page, they contain photographs of the child, show the opinion of the minority, were published by a non-profit organization, etc.). However, there were so many that in the end we had almost all the required ones, but they knew absolutely nothing about their content, which seemed counterproductive. Subsequently, we listened to a short story of Fatima and her family, taken from a newspaper, for which randomly selected participants prepared a press conference representing the roles of the main characters of the story. The rest of us prepared the questions in the groups so that we could then create an article from them that would be either manipulative, objective, positively biased or factual.
Reflection groups were followed by dinner and an international evening, to which each nation brought something typical from its own country. So, we could taste bull's blood chocolate, cooked dessert vegetables, real gorgonzola cheese and stuffing dried caterpillars. Lots of brandy, wine, herbal liqueurs and ponchos (a typical Madeira drink made of white rum mixed with fresh fruit juice - from oranges, lemons or mangoes) came together for drinking.
Reporters in the field
On Monday morning we set off for the streets of Machico. Each group received a photo, based on which they had to find a real place in the city and write an article about it, which they then shared with the group. So, we learned about local recycling, street art, religious traditions and bank loans. Being among people and interviewing them for the purpose of pure journalism was a pleasant revival after a few days of sitting in the conference room of the hotel.
In the afternoon we had to try one article in groups and show it to others in order to stimulate discussion. The topics were determined by the organizers. We saw a performance on the subject of the Black Lives Matter campaign, the legislative debate on abortion in Argentina, the refugee crisis on the Slovenian border, the lengthy permission for women to be part of the orchestra in Vienna and the strike of 7,000 workers for climate justice in Venezuela.
Madeira crosswise
Tuesday morning started promptly, because right after breakfast we immersed ourselves in an hour-long discussion about how we felt in our group and tried to solve certain personnel problems that had arisen during the previous days when dealing with some important topics. It occurred to me personally that this unfortunately made the situation worse, because our personal and honest testimonies of a rather negative nature burdened the whole group even more and it seemed like a boulder to us for the rest of the day. In the morning, we only learned the necessary details about Kolb's cycle of experiential education, which some of us could try in practice in other groups - in reflection on some of the activities that have already taken place.
After lunch, we set out to explore the island, to enjoy a beautiful afternoon and to ventilate our heads after a hard day. First, we stopped at the very tip of the island with a view of Ponta de São Lourenço, we made a small stop in the complex with the port of Quinta do Lord and we were already heading west through the town of Caniçal. Here we were the first to visit a statue of Jesus called El Cristo, which is very reminiscent of the landmark of Rio de Janeiro, which had been decades ago, and continued to the highest cliff in Europe, Cabo Girão, with a view made of glass. We ended the day in the town of Câmara de Lobos, where we first visited the headquarters of our host organization, the Teatro Metaphora, and then had a delicious dinner.
Three, two, one… the theatre begins
The next day we started with a very chaotic game of throwing a balloon, clapping, saying the names of fruits and vegetables, sending a ballpoint pen between the knees and the bottles in my hands. We were introduced to one of the methods of the theatre oppressed by the Newspaper Theatre, which we have been dealing with all this week, and its possible variants.
The whole afternoon we had space to prepare an hour-long theatre performance for others in pre-given groups using the given methods. One problem was to come up with one's own topic so that everyone in the group would be interested in it and learn at least basic essential information about it. But dramatizing him to fit into both of the given methods, and still suit us as actors personally, was the second and much bigger problem. However, with five rehearsals, work before dinner, after dinner, and still at breakfast, we succeeded.
The next day we were able to see stories of Greta Thunberg, Roman Protasevich, domestic violence and gender stereotypes. Each lasted an hour and the discussion with all of them was always very difficult, emotional and for many also personal.
Theatre for the second time
On Friday we put together general points for improvement and comments on the first round of stage performances, and during the morning we had the task to rehearse other theatres, but this time only in three groups of our choice, but still with Newspaper Theatre approaches. The preparation in such an accelerated mode was demanding, but highly efficient and, as a result, very productive.
After a lunch break, which many of us still used to prepare for our speech, we had the opportunity to see speeches on security on social media, labelling others and domestic violence. Each was again followed by a discussion and a reflexive evaluation of the use of the given methods.
Closing
The last day was short and focused on the evaluation of the whole process. In the morning, part of the group was tested for the presence of coronavirus so that they could fly away safely, so we were given the opportunity to evaluate the process we went through at our own pace. We continued to express our motivation to use the learned method in their reality and evaluate the program as such. In the end, we had to play the course of the course in one group in four groups using the specified film genre. Toy.
Then in the afternoon it was free for us to have time to go through everything in our heads and let them settle down. Even so, we were tired and exhausted. The last supper was marked by nostalgia and relief.
Fun after work
After the project, I had two more days off before leaving for the house, which I used to explore the local rarity, levads. They are mostly brick open water inlets from the mountains to the valleys and can be found everywhere in Madeira. On Sunday, I visited one near the capital of Funchal called Levada do Bom Sucesso. On Sunday, another high in the mountains near the place Riberio Frio called Vereda dos Balcões. I am in favor of seeing something more from the island than Machico from all angles and the opportunity to taste it with all my senses.
The training was organized by the non-profit organization Teatro Metaphora with the support of the Erasmus+ grant. Thank you, trainers Andrea and Aleksa, as much as to Lidia, Ani and Raquel.
