Legislative Theatre - Working with the Enemy?
Here at Active Inquiry in Edinburgh, Scotland (www.activeinquiry.co.uk) we have been making Forum Theatre with communities for 10 years. We have always ensured that we thought hard about where we position ourselves politically, always ensuring that our work was with various 'oppressed' groups. Forum Theatre performances were a place to build solidarity and understanding amongst these groups and to find connections and ways to take positive action to change things from the ground up.
We would often invite politicians and policy makers to performances and they would often come, join in and enjoy themselves. But they were always coming to our space and joining in on our terms. This was, of course, the point. We didn't want our performances to feel that they were political consultations in which those in power ask for responses but nothing changes. We wanted politicians to be a part of our dialogue but mostly to listen to what was being said in the hope that this would change things.
Legislative Theatre moves beyond just hoping and sets out to directly influence and change policy and laws. The attraction of this is that there is a concrete outcome - a proof that Forum Theatre achieves change. But of course there are many dangers. No longer can we play the game by our rules - we need to step into an arena with its own set of rules that have been developed over hundreds of years. We need to start to play the game of Politics with a capital 'P'. No law is going to change with a series of Legislative Theatre performances, no matter how good they are. So what else needs to happen to transform the energy of theatre performances into new legislation? Probably negotiations, deals, manipulation of language, building alliances and all the other shady practices that politicians need to be involved with on a daily basis.
Of course we can play these games if we think that the end result is worth it. But this raises many questions that we have to interrogate:
Who do we choose to collaborate with and what does this collaboration look like?
What political agendas are we consciously and unconsciously a part of?
How do we keep our radical identity and avoid being absorbed into the 'system'?
In what way do we extend the dialogue to those who we have traditionally viewed as oppressors? Should we do this?
And finally:
Is all this effort and time worth it for what may be a weak end result? Should we be using our energy better elsewhere if we want to achieve change?
As we move into exploring Legislative Theatre in Scotland, these questions are at the front of our minds. The prize of a new law is something that is very attractive but what do we lose in the process of attaining it?
Gavin Crichton
Artistic Director
Active Inquiry
gavin@activeinquiry.co.uk
07714321629
www.activeinquiry.co.uk
Blog: http://activeinquiry.co.uk/blog/
Podcast: https://activeinquiry.wordpress.com/
Active Inquiry enables grassroots communities to make and use excellent theatre as a catalyst to uncover and challenge injustice. We believe in a Scotland in which grassroots communities engage with the arts and the democratic process, contribute to change which is both necessary and possible, and build a more just society.