"Looking for Amina": An Experience of Forum Theatre

This article from the Glocal Times, May 2010, explores how participatory approaches derived from Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed techniques can spark debates and action around migrant human rights and development in the European context. Through a case study, the author aims to shed light on the ways in which participatory communication in entertainment-education (E-E) initiatives "could contribute to the theory and practice of communication for development, especially in European countries... where dilemmas [resulting from] the... presence of immigrants demand a structural redefinition of models of development."

The article examines the play "Amina is Looking for a Job", performed in Catalonia, Spain. The play uses Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to support audiences' examinations examinations of discrimination at work and its relation to identity in a context of economic crisis and struggle for maintenance of cultural identities in a globalised world. The study seeks to explain the relevance of the experience using data gathered from the production of the play; its content; and its reception.

The play was created by the Moroccan family of Amina El Hilali and her two sons, Ayoub and Hamza, whose lives as Moroccan immigrants in Spain are the subject of the story. Amina El Hilali's sons were learning theatre at Forn de Teatre Pa'Tothom when she convinced them to create a play where they could expose the abuses she was suffering as a Muslim immigrant. She became the lead performer. In the tradition of Forum Theatre, after the performance, the audience debated alternative outcomes; and the scenes where people think that the story could have changed were performed again, with the direct intervention of the spectators on stage.

In introducing his analysis of the Forum process, the author states: "New trends in development and communication are revisiting Paulo Freire's figure, whether to highlight ideas of empowerment and dialogue in E-E interventions or to stress his legacy on the practice of participatory development, as in the case of participatory theatre." In the context of Freire's thinking and within the broader concept 'theatre for development', the author differentiates between theatre as "a product and as a process-oriented tool":

• the product-oriented theatre is focused on delivering a message aimed at behaviour change (possibly including 2-way communication enabled through discussion); and
  
• the process-oriented theatre is a "dialogical process aimed at enhancing awareness of political and social issues, building up social cohesion and stimulating the participation, awareness and organizational strength of groups and communities."

In the article, the author considers the complexity of assessing of Theatre of the Oppressed productions, recognising the uncertainty of whether the empowerment experienced by the audience in on-stage problem solving remains in the theatre context or is applied in a societal context as well. He speculates that data would show impact – necessary to link empowerment to social change - on the audience in the theatre context, but that further impact would be difficult to measure without a previous design of an evaluation plan. However, the author's interviews with the play's director indicate that, through presenting the play, the "real life" Amina found herself empowered by becoming a spokeswoman for immigrants. Also, her working conditions improved when a lawyer from among the audience accompanied her to visit her "real" employers.

In contrast, the research found that the nature of the social problem discussed did not allow staff and audience to  conceive the play as a tool to identify long term solutions. "[A]ccording to its director, people left with a feeling of desolation and impotence as they saw the problem that they were facing as structural and complex." It did, however, spark positive debates among first and second generation immigrants in Catalonia on human rights and identity. The author concludes that the play inspired the perception that oppression is not simply a social problem for technicians and experts: "The same people who suffered the oppression, personally or indirectly, analyzed and identified the key problems, formulated alternatives and made decisions. "