Bringing the magic of Forum Theatre to you!

Forum Theatre performances are a great way to start conversations within communities on any issue that is relevant, important or urgent. They are particularly effective in addressing social structures and systems that legitimise oppression within communities, institutions, and organisations as well as in interpersonal relationships. CCDC has been offering Forum shows and facilitating community dialogues in diverse spaces and communities of Bangalore, such as apartment complexes, schools, colleges, NGOs, and corporate spaces.

Forum is an interactive form of theatre. We perform a play that presents characters who are struggling with an issue. We then invite the audience to enter the play, engage with the issue by replacing one of the struggling characters, and offer their own creative solutions. The spectator thus transforms into a spect-actor, or one who takes action, and is not a passive onlooker.

Every strategy and intervention that the spect-actors bring to the stage is discussed with the audience. This is the specialised job of the facilitator- or Joker as they are referred to in Theatre of the Oppressed-, to ensure that all voices are heard, that issues are explored deeply, and easy assumptions are challenged. A Forum show is less about finding solutions to problems than about collectively developing new insights into the issue in focus.

If you are excited by the idea of Forum theatre, and would like to participate in one, CCDC has two models of work on offer.