The Collection

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© 2014 Jennifer S Hartley. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 08/05/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8838-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8837-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8839-3 (e)

Cover photographs by Milciades Ortiz

© Milciades Ortiz

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Contents

Introduction

The Art of Silence

The Sin Eater

‘til death do us part

Sold

Introduction

The Plays

Theatre of the Oppressed and Applied Theatre plays are still theatre and as such should be engaging and entertaining for both participant and spectator. They should also be challenging, forcing us out of our comfort zone, necessitating that we think about what is occurring and how it could apply to our own lives. It is the role of the facilitator/writer to ensure that the theatricality of the plays is never lost. Only in this way will people believe in what they see and be willing to partake in the Applied Theatre journey. Our plays are written following techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed. By this I do not mean forum. The moment a piece of forum theatre is written as a complete play, it is no longer forum theatre as in forum it is the audience who experiment with the outcome. It is a live and constantly evolving event. When I talk about the plays being Theatre of the Oppressed I am referring to the fact that they were created, developed, directed and acted using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques.

The plays are always based on true stories. The design of the work and the steps taken to build these plays, ensure that the environment for participants is a safe one. It is this safe environment that allows participants to explore sensitive issues and ensure that relationships always feel real for them. Theatre allows safety and protection from the immediacy of the issue, while being real enough for the investigation into the issue to take place in a believable way. While some names and facts may be changed for the protection of those involved, the words are largely those of the participants and they all have a say in how the play is developed.

All of these plays follow certain rules and guidelines not only in how they are created but also in the format and presentation they take. There must always be a purpose behind creating the play – a reason for it existing and a reason why the audience is being exposed to these stories.

The plays tend to be minimalistic in terms of set, props, lights and cast size. From my personal experience, there are two reasons for this. Firstly, the script must be strong and powerful enough to both capture attention and to suggest all that is missing. Suggestion and the imagination are far more powerful than anything we can ever physically show on stage and it allows the audience their own personal journey. Each audience member will have a unique experience. Secondly the plays must be easily performed in a variety of locations, rarely theatres, where there will be no access to elements such as stage and lights. I have performed these theatre plays in locations as diverse as prison, secure mental health units, fields, malls, schools and universities, garages, shops, buses and streets. Often the space used is so small that the audience is tightly packed around making exit problematic. The sense of feeling trapped is often key to the issue being dealt with, the audience empathising with the story through their own discomfort.

The plays tend to be one act. An interval interrupts the process and can become a safety blanket for the audience, or a chance to escape from something that has taken them out of their comfort zone. The actors are often instructed to regularly address the audience directly, ensuring they make eye contact with individuals. The goal is to make the audience complicit in the events of the play both by their reactions, or lack of them. It is not intended to be a comfortable viewing experience for the spectators. At times audience members utter responses to the questions asked them by the actors, some wanting to justify their own reactions. The actors are strictly instructed to ignore this and not engage with the audience reactions during the plays.

A final point is that the plays are always accompanied by a talkback session with the audience, enabling them the opportunity to question, share, reflect, or simply to exhale. A talkback is a crucial processing and reflection phase for the audience, actors and also for the facilitators involved in the project. New questions are often raised and in answering them, we increase our own understanding of what has often been an intuitive process. The audience’s reaction and commentary often gives us a deeper insight into the issue being presented. This in turn informs our work as we proceed, enriching it in the process. While the scripts are created from the stories released through the projects, I usually take on the role of writer and director. In reality the writing is a shared process and stories, or extracts from them, are never used without the consent of those involved.

The plays afford us the opportunity to look at how we see things based on our own reactions, knowledge and emotions; how at times we see things as we desire them to be, rather than as they actually are, because it reinforces our own sense of righteousness or security. This extends to how we hear things; the way we selectively retain things heard, or change the tone with which they were originally said to alter intent and meaning; the way we hear things that were never actually said. The plays are written with the intention of presenting the facts of the story, rather than apportioning blame to any individual. In most of our work we are aiming to show both sides of an issue in an attempt to understand human behaviour and actions. The audience are often left feeling complicit, as they realise that no situation is as black and white as it may seem: the behaviour can be condemned but the reasons behind the behaviour begs to be understood if a way forward is to be found.

In 2012 I released the book Applied Theatre in Action: a journey. This provides detailed examples of the projects created in which some of these plays were used and the exercises that accompanied them. It is recommended that this collection of plays be read hand in hand with that book to get an overall picture of this kind of work and approach to theatre.

These plays are dedicated to all those brave people who have worked with me over the years sharing their stories in the hope of educating and informing others.

The Art of Silence

One day of imprisonment is worth a thousand days of liberty.

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)

Only those who dared to maintain their dignity and liberty lived in an atmosphere of terror.

Moncho Azuaga (Paraguay, 2000)

This play is dedicated to all those who have suffered under oppressive regimes, especially those who suffered under the Stroessner regime (1954-1989) in Paraguay and to all those who shared their stories with me freely and openly.

Thank you for your trust.

Introduction

In 1999 I began a series of interviews for my thesis with various theatre practitioners in Paraguay. Many were suspicious of both my work and intentions and, as a result unwilling to talk. But others did speak with me and provided an invaluable insight into their life in theatre in Paraguay. Many of these interviews stayed with me after I finished my thesis and I realised I had used only a fraction of the material gathered. Moreover, I felt that it had been a privilege to be given such information and therefore only right that I seek a way to make further use of it. I wanted to find a more direct and personal way to share the thoughts, the personalities, the lives, that I had been honoured to have glimpsed.

Time and again my thoughts came back to one man, Emilio Barreto. He had made such an impression on not only me personally, but also on my work as a theatre practitioner. Since carrying out the initial interviews, I had worked with many others who had been political prisoners in other countries and suffered severe oppression and torture Yet it was Emilio’s story that made the biggest impact - what he had gone through, his rage, his sense of injustice. It seemed obvious to me that the next piece of writing I would do would be about Emilio. And so I wrote a play based Emilio’s experiences in the calabozo1.

While Emilio gave his permission to write the play, I doubt either of us ever considered the roller coaster of emotions we would go through in realising it. Writing the play was at times complex because I wanted something that would speak to all those oppressed by a political system, yet at the same time remain true to Emilio’s memories and experiences. To then go on to direct the play with Emilio playing himself in it was one of the most incredible and difficult experiences that I’ve had as a playwright and director. It is one I feel privileged to have taken part in, and one I am sure has marked my work ever since.

The play has a number of purposes: to act as a memory of atrocities that occurred in recent memory, atrocities for which only a handful of scapegoats were punished. To serve as a mark of respect to all those who stand up against oppression in any way they can. It is also a gift to Emilio and his family to thank them for sharing with me, welcoming me, teaching me and reminding me always to believe in, and stand up for, my principles.

Old Emilio: I was not brave.

Young Emilio: I am not a coward

Old Emilio: They are not the same thing.

These lines from the play for me represent the horror that those such as Emilio lived through and their strength of character to do more than survive. Silence is indeed an art but the time to be silent has long since passed in Paraguay. May the silent screams cease and the dialogue begin.

Thank you to all those who have helped me on my personal journey, reminding me that there is always more to learn, that there is always time to grow.

Characters & Background

Older Emilio            (aged in his mid to late 20s)

Young Emilio           (aged late 60s early 70s)

While this play is based on the experiences of Emilio Barreto’s imprisonment, there has been considerable adaptation to create this performance, because the innocent continue to suffer while the guilty walk free. The truth of events for all those who suffered under the Stroessner regime – under any oppressive regime - exists in the words of the play. Emilio’s truth remains his own.

The play is set within the confines of a calabozo, a prison cell approximately four by two and a half metres, with no window, from which those like Emilio were allowed out once a week and which he shared with up to 18 others at times.

The calabozo