2 SMALL WORLD THEATRE PROJECTS IN UGANDA

1. THESE RIGHTS ARE MINE 2. PUPPETRY TRAINING FOR AIDS ORPHANS

in partnership with

2003

The rights of the child explored through participatory theatre

About 180 participants from six secondary schools in Kampala, some of whom were members of "Straight Talk" groups, worked with SWT using participatory drama to research and devise a performance about the Rights of the Child for their school, feeder primary schools, the local community and policy makers. These six shows are now a peer group education resource for each school.

In the fifth week of the project 40 young people were chosen from the six schools. This group had three days with Small World Theatre and Philip Luswata from the National Theatre Uganda to combine their six plays into one production to be performed three times at the National Theatre, Kampala to the general public, invited guests and policy makers

At the start of the five week process each school group discussed 42 rights of the child.

They composed many pictures showing the emotional link they had as a group to these articles.

From a frozen picture like this one above the participants explored rights and produced the drama.

Each of the six schools chose five of the rights that they thought were important. They linked the resultant pictures with action and improvised dialogue to form a play for their school. The drama ended in each case with the main protagonist in a predicament. The audiences were asked by the groups facilitator to find a point in the play where different choices could be taken to improve the outcome or the life of the child. These were invariably linked to scenes in the play where the rights of the child had been denied or abused.

The audience member was asked to show everyone how the story could be changed. If they took the part of a crucial character could they work against the typical behavior of the other characters on stage to persuade them to make a positive change? They succeeded or failed depending upon the appropriateness or quality of their intervention. If they failed to positively effect the course of the play another audience member would try to make that change work or choose another point in the story to intervene.

The role of the facilitator is key to this forum theatre aspect of the process. They must engage the audience, seek their comments and most importantly encourage active participation. The facilitators role requires a balance of skills, abilities, and experience. Given the relatively short training period that was available it was wonderful how the six facilitators rose to the occasion. However it could only be through practice that these skills were honed. The National Theatre event gave them the opportunity to share these skills with their contemporaries and develop confidence and a deeper understanding of this paradoxically powerful but neutral role.

An audience member at the National Theatre event takes the stage to act out a solution to the protagonists problem. The facilitator must stay alert to the action on stage as well as to the audiences reaction.

Other points in the play where interventions could be made.

The young participants showed great skill, enthusiasm and sophistication in the way they were able to improvise and work together. The group comprised of young people whose ages ranged from 13 to 20

"If only these tomatoes were rights"

Detail from Opowo Samuel Patrick's pencil drawing of the National Theatre Performance. Opowo Samuel Patrick was chosen as one of the performers in the "These Rights Are Mine" project

2. TRAINING PROJECT

SWT returned to Uganda to run a workshop to upgrade the skills of another group of young people, mostly AIDS orphans, who have made a puppet show about HIV AIDS.

Moses took part in making these foam puppet heads. "We want puppets with moving mouths"

"We would like to make a giant to attract the crowds"

"Can you help us work on a story that gets the audience joining in?"

So SWT worked for 5 days with the group of 23 AIDS orphans making giants , talking puppets, story writing, and refurbishing their existing puppets. The best way to improve the participatory development techniques in such a short time was to field test the performance and development methods with a live audience.

Important News ! SWT are seeking funds to set up a training centre in Uganda.

Ann Shrosbree traveled to Uganda with a grant from Wales Arts International to hold meetings with stakeholders in Uganda. SWT are currently seeking funds to implement a pilot project training AIDS orphans in Arts and Culture for Development (ACD)

Bill Says " After 25 years working in Arts and Culture for Development it is about time we passed on our skills to a successor generation . ' and " I can't think of a more deserving or indeed motivated group than these young people to carry on with work in development"

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