The
methodology of APSART represents a system of exercises,
improvisations and games, developed as a combination of experience of
a number of theatre experts and trends. The experiences that proved
to be the most efficient ones in the work with specific social groups
have been integrated into a dynamic and open methodological system
that has been constantly supplemented, improved and adjusted. This
system has been tried out in working with children, students,
inmates, troubled adolescents, drug addicts and other social groups.

Possible
Course of Events

The
first phase of the work is focused on the group development, because
it is a prerequisite for further progress: exercises practicing
introduction, communication skills, trust, sensitivity, movement,
voice, and through learning how to listen, cooperate and provide
support to others a stimulative and safe environment is created in
which we are willing to take risks, to open up, to make mistakes and
to have another go. Then we experiment together and explore the
directions that the project is about to take, messages that shall be
conveyed, what we want to say and in what manner (simultaneous work
on form and contents). This process is not linear and it is open;
practical exercises entwine with discussions, intensive exchange of
experiences, opinions, ideas and viewpoints has been encouraged in a
supportive environment capable of making responsible analysis. The
workshop leader respects the context and decisions of the group and
does not impose his/her own solutions. The starting point is not
limited by a topic prepared in advance, but the participants are
enabled to reach their topics as a group.

Various
stimuli can be used in the research – games, personal experience,
text, film, sculpture, painting, music, masks, photography, movement,
dance, sound, improvisation. New responses to familiar situations are
being experimented with in addition to usual roles and identities.
Participants are encouraged to transpose the ability of creative
transformation they explore in workshops into their personal everyday
experience.

During
such a process, a play may or may not take place. It is a collective
product of the group in every sense whatsoever, both in creative
contribution to the very creative process and in the sense of filling
it with personal contents alike. At one point it becomes an absolute
focus of the group, the association point for creative and
motivational capacities – actually, a result of the group unity but
also a tool by which the group wishes to make a certain influence on
the audience/social community, to convey a message…

Work
Advantages

Applied
theatre and drama use learning through experience in a unique and
powerful way. Therefore, this method has a significant advantage in
comparison to other methods based only on discussion and
conversation. The contents of the conversation can be easily
forgotten unlike the experience of doing something that
is not so easily forgotten particularly if this doing is
linked to somebody’s personal life experience.

Some
additional advantages of this kind of work are:

  • More
    personal approach    .
    Applied theatre and drama allow the participants to present
    characters and events from personal life and experience. They are
    also enabled to reflect themselves into one another and examine
    themselves by observing and analysing others – which may have a
    very positive effect.

  • No literary
    template or verbal expression.     Applied
    theatre and drama do not rely on a dramatic text and do not require
    verbal skills as a must. Many exercises have a non-verbal character,
    so individuals lacking verbal skills can also express themselves.

  • Activity and
    spontaneity    .
    Applied theatre and drama are very suitable for active people.
    Participants are motivated to take active part in plays and
    exercises thus practicing basic social skills such as cooperation,
    trust, tolerance, self-control and many others.

  • Focus on
    thinking, emotions and behaviour    .
    Applied theatre and drama address a person as an entity and equally
    take into account thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Becoming aware
    of one’s emotions, talking about them, expressing and experiencing
    them in a safe and meaningful manner brings major benefit to the
    participants and increases their ability to adequately express
    themselves.

  • Practicality
    and momentariness    .
    Applied theatre and drama are practical and efficient tools in
    exploring destructive behaviour and practicing alternative models of
    behaviour. Due to the fact that drama provokes emotions and memories
    momentarily in a powerful manner, a participant finds
    himself/herself in a better position to think through and reveal
    his/her thoughts and feelings related to a certain event.

  • Allows
    practice    .
    Dramatic approach     is
    also used to help the participants in articulating their bodies,
    movement, learning and testing new skills and new roles.

Techniques

Some
of the techniques we use in our work are the following ones:

  1. General
    games and exercises
    (learning names; group formation, invitation to personal revelation,
    trust promotion, problem solving and cooperation, energy boosting;
    concentration practice; memory exercises; communications;
    reliability; imagination….

  2. Games
    and improvisations focusing on emotional literacy

  3. Active observer
    (games and improvisations in which the observers actively
    participate in the scene by giving comments and intervening)

  4. Frozen pictures
    (static images of real or fictitious events and characters. Used for
    exploring thoughts, feelings and behaviour of characters)

  5. Role play
    (playing a certain role rather than a character. The objective is
    not to create a convincing character but to present an accurate
    situation and actions. It can be performed in three ways: the role
    of ME, real character and fictitious character)

  6. Techniques
    of the Theatre of the Oppressed –     Augusto
    Boal (sculpting technique, forum scenes, forum theatre)

  7. Rainbow of
    Desire technique –
    Augusto Boal (techniques used for revealing inner oppressors,     Cop
    in the head    …)

  8. Jo Blagg
    technique by     prof. James Thompson (technique used in
    working with juvenile delinquents, inmates and generally with young
    people having issues with offensive, destructive behaviour)

…and
many more…

All
these techniques are combined, adjusted and implemented depending on
the type of the group, problem focus and the participants’
feedback, and on time available for working in one or more workshop
cycles.

Applied
theatre is applicable in any context, in any place, with any
group and for numerous purposes. From working with school children,
children and adults with special needs, disabled persons, inmates,
juvenile offenders, addicts, corporate employees…