Dr Satendra Singh reports on the first ‘Theater of the Oppressed’ (TO) workshop ever for medical students in India, held on 23-24 Aug, 2011 at New Delhi and conducted by Medical Humanities Group UCMS, Delhi:
Created by the Brazilian theater legend and visionary Augusto Boal, TO is a form of theater that is used worldwide for community education. Using a wide arsenal of theater games and exercises, it helps build community, communication skills, and deepens our understanding of ourselves and others.
The workshop used games and exercises, and also introduced participants to some of the longer structures in TO such as Image theater, Columbian Hypnosis, Image Fishbowl, Glass cobra, Zip Zap Zop and Forum theater. The workshop was not only fun, but also challenging. It encouraged participants to put their bodies to work, and through their bodies learn about themselves and the world around them. The goal was to create a sharper, greater sensitivity to our inner impulses and motivations, to provide opportunities for self exploration and growth, and through these, to generate possibilities for changing our world.
The participants in Image Theater made still images of their lives, feelings, experiences, oppressions. Groups suggested titles or themes, and then individuals sculpted three-dimensional images under these titles, using their own and others bodies as clay. The image work never remained static as they were later dynamised. The participants explored themes like ‘cadaver’, ‘selection in MBBS’, ‘classroom’ and ‘lack of passion’. The frozen images were simply the starting point for or prelude to the action which was revealed in the subsequent dynamisation process.
On day 2, the Forum theater on ‘Abandonment’ challenged the spectators with a problem, shown in an unsolved form, of the protagonist with debilitating Parkinson’s disease who was abandoned by family, doctor, and faith. The audience was introduced to their roles as “spect-actors”, wherein they were invited to suggest and enact solutions. It demonstrated to all how the community could provide solutions to its own problems. Throughout the workshop the development of verbal and non-verbal communication skills was emphasized.
The facilitator, called the ‘Joker’ in this form of the workshop, lived up to the challenge as she molded the principles of TO suit to the medical background and inexhaustible energies of the participants. The unique opportunity provided everyone with new perspectives to balance medical opinions with community expectations.
Organizers and Facilitators: Patron: Prof OP Kalra, Principal, UCMS Chief Guest: Prof NG Desai, Director IHBAS (Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences) Facilitators: Dr Radha Ramaswamy and Dr Ram (TO-trained from Mandala Center for Change, Seattle, USA & Founder Centre for Community Dialogue and Change (CCDC), Bengaluru. Organizer:Dr Satendra Singh, Dr. Navjeevan Singh, and Dr. Upreet Dhaliwal, Medical Humanities Group of the Medical Education Unit, UCMS and Infinite Ability. Participants: 28 (20 students and 2 Faculty from UCMS, 5 students from Army College of Medical Sciences and 1 from Amar Jyoti Institute of Physiotherapy).
For more information, contact: Dr Satendra Singh, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Member Medical Humanities Group, Medical Education Unit, Coordinator, Enabling Unit, Equal Opportunity Cell; Founder, Infinite Ability. University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi. Click here to see more pictures, and here to read more about medical humanities at UCMS.