Image Theatre and Forum Theatre (Boal)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Augusto Boal's Image Theatre and Forum Theatre as he set them out in Games for Actors and Non-Actors (Routledge; 1992 edition cited by the training sources, 2nd edition with "new reflections on Forum Theatre") and The Rainbow of Desire: the Boal method of theatre and therapy (Routledge, 1995, trans. Adrian Jackson). The Boal books are drawn on only as catalogue and contents pages, so step-level detail comes from two training manuals that work in Boal's tradition: Rifkin & Kaptani's Open University PASAR toolkits (in-person and online) and A.R.T. Fusion's Act For What You Believe (2013). Where these differ, the difference is named. [source: TUM catalogue record; Wabash Center book page; Rifkin & Kaptani; Tudorache 2013]

What it is. Image Theatre and Forum Theatre are core methods of Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), developed in Brazil from the 1960s and influenced by Paulo Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed. They are participatory theatre methods for groups and communities, not a psychotherapy. Boal's own therapeutic extension is the Rainbow of Desire, whose image techniques grow out of Image Theatre. [source: Tudorache 2013; Ceasefire/McLaverty-Robinson 2017; TUM record]

Image Theatre: participants use their bodies to make still images of a theme, an experience of oppression, or an ideal. The images are then "dynamised" (brought to life through movement, sound or spoken thoughts), and the group searches for the transitions that lead from the real image to the ideal one. It makes thought visible rather than verbal. [source: Ceasefire; dramaresource; Burgoyne 2003–04]
Forum Theatre: a short scene shows a protagonist failing against a concrete oppression. It is played once. When it is replayed, audience members become "spect-actors": they stop the action, replace the protagonist, and try out alternatives. A facilitator, the Joker, runs the process. [source: Tudorache 2013; Rifkin & Kaptani; Burgoyne]

Core idea of change. Problems are rehearsed in bodies before they are faced in life. Making a power relationship visible, and testing alternatives against realistic resistance, builds analysis, choice and a sense of agency that people can carry out of the room. Boal's term for the Joker is "difficultator": the Joker makes things more complex, not easier, so that easy answers are tested rather than rewarded. [source: Ceasefire; Burgoyne, on students testing whether solutions actually work]

Professional frame.

Theatre of the Oppressed has no regulated profession or protected credential. Practitioners train with experienced Jokers and TO centres. [synthesis; no credentialing body found]
Using these methods as therapy, with clinical populations or with personal trauma material, belongs inside a regulated arts-therapy or group-psychotherapy role. Examples: in the UK, a drama therapist registered with the HCPC (professional body BADth); in the US, a Registered Drama Therapist (NADTA) or a psychodramatist certified through ASGPP/ABE. [synthesis] [uncertain: registration details]
One manual advises facilitators without Forum Theatre experience to consult an experienced practitioner. It also says the Rainbow of Desire should be used "with extreme care" and only by professionals. [source: Tudorache 2013]
A Brazilian psychology review warns that Rainbow techniques can "mobilize a strong emotional content" and that Joker preparation and authority need careful attention. [source: SciELO abstract, Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão — authors and year not shown on the page, uncertain]
Do not run the Rainbow of Desire introspective techniques, or protagonist work on a client's own trauma, without drama-therapy or psychodrama training and supervision. [synthesis]

2. Framework

The sources give two sequences. A.R.T. Fusion describes six project phases for a community Forum production. The PASAR training gives twelve exercises in four blocks. For clinical use, the sequence below combines them and adds a screening phase and a closure phase. The screening and closure phases are clinical synthesis. Neither manual provides them in that form. [source: Tudorache 2013; Rifkin & Kaptani; synthesis]

Phase 0 – Screening, contracting and ground rules [synthesis, except ground rules]

Goal: a group in which everyone can safely work on shared social themes.
Screening: a brief individual interview. Cover current crises and recent trauma, dissociation, psychosis, active suicidality or self-harm, mobility and touch limits, any current legal case or abuser in the same community, and the person's expectations.
Defer or exclude when someone is in acute crisis, is likely to be retraumatised by enacting oppression close to their own (for example, ongoing domestic violence), or cannot step out of a role. Offer individual work instead.
Contract: participation is voluntary. People may watch instead of acting, may refuse touch, and may leave and return. Agree confidentiality and its limits (safeguarding). Agree whether photos or film will be taken. A.R.T. Fusion requires the audience to be told before photos or video are taken. [source: Tudorache 2013, photos]
Ground rules: agreed collectively. PASAR examples: listening, openness about difficulties, confidentiality, respecting personal space, punctuality, staying for the whole session, and limiting phone use. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Move on when: each member has been seen, consents in writing, and knows how to signal "pause".

Phase 1 – Group development through games (PASAR exercises 1–5; A.R.T. Fusion "group development")

Goal: trust, attention, physical ease, playfulness, and rehearsal of leading and following.
Content: typically the first session or two.
Move on when: people move and make contact freely, follow "freeze" reliably, and have stopped treating the exercises as performance. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani; Ceasefire, on groups succeeding once members stop seeing it as performance; synthesis for the criterion]

Phase 2 – Image work (PASAR 6–9)

Goal: express themes without words, find shared images, and start analysing power.
Content: Complete the Image, Image of the Hour, Image of the Word, Sculpture of the Other. Then real, ideal and transitional images.
Move on when: recurring themes have emerged and the group can name them. PASAR feeds the themes from Image of the Word into the Forum. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani; TEDB lesson plan citing Boal]

Phase 3 – Story gathering and play development (PASAR 10; A.R.T. Fusion "preparation" and "play development")

Goal: a scene of a concrete oppression that the whole group recognises.
Move on when: all of the following hold.
- The story has become "our story", not one person's.
- It has a clear conflict or rejection, not an internal dilemma. Internal dilemmas suit other TO techniques.
- The person who shared it is comfortable with it being developed.
- The scene ends unresolved.
- A story may need several sessions and reworkings before it is clear. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
A.R.T. Fusion format: 3–4 scenes, about 12–15 minutes in total. One oppressed character, one oppressor, plus allies and neutral characters. The play ends badly. [source: Tudorache 2013]

Phase 4 – Forum (PASAR 11; A.R.T. Fusion "implementation")

Format: audience warm-up, the play shown once, then replayed with interventions, Joker questioning, and discussion.
Audience: free access for the public, with a recommended maximum of 50–60 participants. [source: Tudorache 2013]
Ending: A.R.T. Fusion says the process should not close without an acceptable ending. [source: Tudorache 2013]

Phase 5 – Observation, evaluation, closure and follow-up (PASAR 12; A.R.T. Fusion "evaluation/follow-up")

Feedback: held after groups of exercises, not after every exercise. The Joker notes it briefly and sums it up at the end together with the spect-actors. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, in-person]
Session end: the online toolkit gives about 10 minutes at the end of each session to how people felt, what they discovered, and the exercises. It closes each session with an exercise called "Soup", whose steps are [uncertain]. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, online]
Clinical additions: de-roling, a check that everyone is grounded before leaving, and follow-up support. Yarbrough's project offered participants free counselling afterwards. [source: Yarbrough 2024; synthesis]

Session count. The sources fix no standard number. [uncertain] The PASAR online course runs to at least nine sessions. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, online] A clinical closed group of roughly 8–12 weekly sessions of 90–120 minutes fits this sequence. This figure is synthesis, not a source recommendation.

3. Guiding principles

Spect-actor, not spectator. In practice: the audience act. Your job is to get people onto the stage, not to explain to them. [source: Tudorache 2013; Burgoyne]
Oppression is concrete power abuse between people. In practice: choose scenes with a clear oppressor and a relationship, not vague misfortune or purely internal conflict. [source: Tudorache 2013; Rifkin & Kaptani]
Shareable, not too personal. In practice: steer toward social issues others recognise, and away from stories that could be traumatic or too exposing for the teller. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Consent of the story owner. In practice: check with the person before you develop their story, and stop tactfully if material becomes problematic. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Ethics of care before product. In practice: participants' safety outranks finishing the scene or the performance. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
The Joker as "difficultator". In practice: complicate easy answers ("Would that work every time?") instead of praising them. [source: Ceasefire]
The Joker does not decide. In practice: the Joker sets out the rules, and the group may change them. Hand the skills of the Joker role to the group over time. [source: Ceasefire; Rifkin & Kaptani]
Neutrality, with a caveat. A.R.T. Fusion calls the Joker neutral. Dwyer argues the director is never neutral and should reflect on the hypotheses behind each choice. In practice: aim for even-handedness and monitor your own alignment in supervision. [source: Tudorache 2013; Dwyer 2007; uncertain where they conflict]
No magic, no violence. In practice: refuse unrealistic fixes. Violence can be suggested but not shown on stage. [source: Tudorache 2013]
Do not blame the victim. In practice: frame every intervention as testing a strategy, never as "what the protagonist did wrong". Look at the wider system, not just one side of the relationship. Dwyer's image: two people on a see-saw who have changed nothing while they keep the same seats. [source: Dwyer 2007, p.7]
Bodies first, words after. In practice: during image-making, keep sculptors silent and discuss only once the image exists. [source: dramaresource; TEDB; Rifkin & Kaptani]
Voluntariness and autonomy. In practice: watching from the edge is legitimate participation. Use open, non-judgemental questions and give people time to process. [source: Yarbrough 2024]
Techniques serve people. In practice: adapt exercises to the group rather than running them "by rote". [source: Dwyer 2007, p.8]
Leave with an acceptable ending. In practice: never close a session on the unresolved oppressive image. [source: Tudorache 2013; synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The steps below are paraphrased from the manuals cited for each entry. Example language is illustrative unless it is quoted and cited. Physical safety applies to every entry [synthesis]:

a clear, non-slip floor with no sharp furniture;
"freeze" taught as a stop signal before any fast or eyes-closed game;
seated or hand-only versions for people with limited mobility;
touch only after asking, with "no" accepted at once and with no need to explain;
never contact with the face, groin, chest or buttocks when sculpting.

A. Warm-up and group-building games

Occupy the Space

Purpose: arrive in the body, attend to the group, and practise "freeze". Use it to open the first sessions.
Steps:
1. The group walks silently, filling gaps so the space is evenly covered.
2. Vary pace and direction.
3. On "freeze", everyone stops.
4. Try different gaits and imagined contexts.
5. Finish by meeting in threes to exchange names and something each person enjoys. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.1]
Example language (illustrative): "Walk wherever there's an empty space… and freeze. Notice where you are. Now walk as if you're late."
Watch for: collisions; people clinging to the walls, which may be a sign of anxiety; whether people actually freeze. It is working when the space is evenly covered and people start to make eye contact.

Clap in a Circle

Purpose: silent attention and connection.
Steps:
1. Stand in a circle.
2. Pass a clap to another person by making eye contact. Do it silently.
3. Gradually speed up. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.2]
Example language (illustrative): "Catch someone's eye, then clap together. They pass it on."
Watch for: people who are always left out. Pass the clap to them yourself.

Zip Zap Boing

Purpose: energy, quick response, and laughter at mistakes.
Steps:
1. "Zip" passes to the neighbour.
2. "Zap" crosses the circle.
3. "Boing" sends it back.
4. Add sounds, and let participants lead new rules. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.3]
Watch for: shame at making mistakes. Celebrate errors.

1-2-3 ("123 from Bradford")

Purpose: pair focus and playful failure.
Steps:
1. Pairs count 1, 2, 3 alternately, holding eye contact.
2. Replace "1" with a movement or sound, then "2", then "3".
3. The online version then runs the exercise across the whole group. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.4 and online Session 3]
Watch for: pairs that become self-critical. Model laughing at mistakes.

Colombian Hypnosis and Mirroring

Purpose: leading and following, trust, and the felt experience of power and being controlled. This prepares for work on oppression.
Steps:
1. Hypnosis: one partner leads with their palm and the other keeps their face a fixed distance from it, following. Then change the mood.
2. Mirroring: one person leads slow movements and the other copies. Swap leaders on "freeze".
3. Finish moving together with no leader. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.5; online Session 2]
Example language (illustrative): "Afterwards, tell each other which you preferred, leading or following, and why." (Burgoyne reports similar debrief questions after a game.)
Watch for: leaders who push their partner into unsafe positions or speeds. Set a "slow and safe" rule. Being controlled can feel threatening to survivors of coercion, so offer the mirror version instead. [synthesis]

Other games described in the sources

The sources describe these only briefly. Use them only once you know the steps from Boal's book or from training. [source as listed; uncertain on steps]

Yes Let's (online): move away from the screen, then call names and pass gestures. [Rifkin & Kaptani, online Session 2]
Machine of Rhythms (online): a gesture, movement and sound of anger is passed by name until everyone is involved, then repeated with love. [Rifkin & Kaptani, online Session 8]
- Safety: the anger round can arouse traumatised members. Keep it brief, and always end on the second, warmer round. [synthesis]
Transform the Object (online): follow your raised finger around your space, pick up an object, and transform it through different uses, sounds and positions. [Rifkin & Kaptani, online Session 9]
Bodywork: walking as one person, as a four-legged monster, rolling as a wheel; the group machine; sense-deprivation (eyes closed) games; trust exercises. [Ceasefire]
- Safety: in eyes-closed games, use spotters and walk only.
Named in the A.R.T. Fusion curriculum without steps: Samurai, Magnet, Trust Dancing, Bears and Princes, "Hey You! Who me?", Exaggeration circle, Statues and emotions, Museum of emotions, Push Not to Win, "Come with me! No". [Tudorache 2013]
Boal's own catalogue (the "Arsenal") is organised by the senses: feeling what we touch, listening to what we hear, dynamising several senses, seeing what we look at, and the memory of the senses. [source: Wabash Center contents of Games for Actors and Non-Actors, 2nd ed.]

B. Image Theatre techniques

Complete the Image

Purpose: to show that images are open to many readings, and to start making images without words.
Steps:
1. Two people shake hands and freeze.
2. One steps out. Someone else steps in silently and changes the meaning of the image.
3. Continue, each person reacting to the last image. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.6; the handshake start is synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "What story do you see now? Don't tell me — step in and change it."
Watch for: sexualised or violent images. Redirect them calmly, using the no-violence rule.

Image of the Hour

Purpose: to make routine visible, linked to Boal's idea that we mechanise our lives (Boal 1995, p.101, quoted in the toolkit).
Steps:
1. The Joker calls out times and days, for example "Monday, 7 a.m."
2. Everyone mimes what they would be doing then.
3. People work inwardly, without interacting with each other. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.7]
Watch for: times that may evoke distress, such as night-time for people who have been abused at home. Choose neutral times early on. [synthesis]

Image of the Word

Purpose: to surface the group's shared themes.
Steps:
1. The Joker names a theme, such as "home", "work" or "family".
2. On a count, each person instantly makes the first image that comes to them.
3. People find others with similar images and group together.
4. The groups name their themes, which then feed the Forum. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.8]
School-group variant: the whole group silently places itself into one image of a theme. Then people step out one at a time to view it. Discuss whose story it is, who the protagonist and antagonist are, and what the story is. [source: TEDB lesson plan, citing Boal p.181]
Example language (illustrative): "On three, your first image of 'family'. Don't plan. One, two, three."
Watch for: theme words that are too loaded too early, such as "abuse" or "war". Start broad. [synthesis]

Sculpture of the Other (modelling)

Purpose: to analyse a theme through sculpting another person.
Steps:
1. Partner 1 shapes partner 2 into a statue on the theme.
2. The sculptures then join together into group images.
3. The group responds in single words. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.9]
Two ways to sculpt:
- by touch, with consent; or
- by mirroring, where the sculptor shows the shape and the model copies it. This is an alternative when touch is not wanted. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Before you touch, ask. If you'd rather not be touched, your partner can show you the shape instead."
Watch for: a model held in an uncomfortable or humiliating pose. Set a time limit, and let the model adjust the pose for comfort.

Group image building and dynamisation

Purpose: to build a collective image of a theme and bring it to life.
Steps:
1. Sit in a circle and announce a theme.
2. A few people step into the centre and make an image without planning.
3. Others add themselves until there is a group image.
4. Dynamise it: on cue, each figure speaks a thought (thought tracking), makes a sound, or makes a small repeated movement. [source: dramaresource]
Pair variant: people sculpt each other into shapes, then find a way to connect the shapes. It works best without talking. [source: dramaresource]
Example language (illustrative): "When I touch your shoulder, say one sentence your figure is thinking."
- Ask permission to touch shoulders, or point instead.
Watch for: someone who stays in a victim figure for long. Rotate roles. Check the person's breathing and eye contact when they step out.

Image of Transition (sculpting an oppression)

Purpose: to make one person's experience of oppression visible to the group.
Steps:
1. Discuss which oppressions in the group's context resonate with people.
2. A volunteer sculpts, without words, everyone including themselves into an image of a time they felt oppressed. They do not describe it aloud.
3. People step out one at a time to view the image. Anyone may adjust it.
4. Discuss whose story it is, what the story is, and where the oppression lies. [source: TEDB lesson plan, citing Boal p.185]
Clinical safeguard [synthesis]:
- The volunteer chooses a moderate, past and resolved experience, not their worst one.
- The volunteer places a stand-in in their own position, so they can watch from outside. This keeps distance.
- The volunteer may stop at any point.
Example language (illustrative): "Choose something that still matters but that you can look at today without being swamped. You can put someone in your place and watch."
Watch for: the sculptor freezing, going pale or dissociating. Pause, ground them (see Section 5), and dissolve the image.

Real, ideal and transitional images (multiple image of oppression)

Purpose: to move from analysis to change and to rehearse the steps between.
Steps:
1. Build or agree the real image of the oppression. The group adjusts it until they agree it captures the core.
2. The sculptor, or the group, builds the ideal image.
3. Return to the real image.
4. On a count of ten, everyone moves in slow motion to arrive at the ideal by "ten". Discuss how it felt.
5. Re-run it with each character moving only as their motivation would allow. They may not reach the ideal.
6. Discuss which version is more realistic, and sculpt the transitional steps. [source: TEDB citing Boal p.186; Burgoyne; Ceasefire]
Example language (illustrative): "This time, the boss only moves if the boss would really move. What has to happen first?"
Watch for: a jump straight to a "magic" ideal. The realistic re-run tests that. It is working when the group names concrete intermediate steps.

Analytical pair images, speech bubbles and hot-seating

Purpose: to deepen characters before a Forum.
Steps:
- Analytical pair images: pairs show the power dynamic between two characters.
- Speech bubbles: each frozen character speaks a statement beginning "I…".
- Hot-seating: the group questions a character, who answers in the first person.
- Also explore the pressures on the antagonist, for example whether they are being bullied too. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Example language (illustrative): "Antagonist, who's pressuring you in this situation?"
Watch for: a participant playing an antagonist close to their own abuser. Do not cast that. After hot-seating, de-role explicitly (see Section D below).

Rainbow of Desire techniques (named for orientation only)

Boal's Rainbow of Desire lists "prospective" techniques, from "The image of the images" to "Rashomon", and "introspective" techniques, which begin with "The image of the antagonist" and "The analytical image". They have their own guide (item 118, Theatre of the Oppressed and Rainbow of Desire); use that guide for them. [source: TUM catalogue contents]

Their steps are [uncertain], so they are not reproduced here.
They work on internalised oppression (the "cop in the head") and are more emotionally activating than Image or Forum work. Dwyer notes that the book gives little attention to transference and to the asymmetry between director and protagonist. [source: Dwyer 2007; Tudorache 2013; SciELO abstract]
Use them only with specific training.

C. Forum Theatre techniques

Story gathering and Handshake Forum

Purpose: to find a group-owned story of oppression.
Steps:
1. Handshake Forum: people queue to shake one person's hand, and that person refuses one of them. Stop and discuss what happened and what the refused person could do. This is a mini-forum that teaches the format. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, ex.10]
2. Small groups: each person shares a short problem story, such as being dismissed or misunderstood.
3. The group chooses one story where others recognise themselves.
4. The Joker asks who, what, when, where and why.
5. Confirm that the teller is comfortable with the story being developed. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Example language (illustrative): "Whose story here is also partly everyone's? Are you happy for us to work with it — and to change details so it's no longer only yours?"
Watch for:
- disclosures of abuse or crime: pause the exercise and follow your safeguarding procedure;
- a teller who agrees under group pressure: check again privately.
- Fictionalising details (names, places) adds protective distance. [synthesis]

Building the Forum play (the "anti-model")

Purpose: to create a scene worth intervening in.
Steps:
1. Improvise the story so that the protagonist wants something clear and fails.
2. Make sure the play has:
  - a clear oppressor who is committed to keeping their power (Dwyer notes Forum assumes this);
  - one oppressed character;
  - allies and neutral characters who could be activated;
  - 3–4 scenes, about 12–15 minutes in total;
  - a negative ending;
  - violence only suggested, never shown;
  - no music or special lights (A.R.T. Fusion rule).
3. Run it once and fix it as the script. [source: Tudorache 2013; TEDB citing Boal pp.241–252; Dwyer 2007]
Terms: "anti-model" is the common TO term for this failing scene. The sources did not use it [uncertain].
Casting [synthesis]:
- The story's owner should not play the protagonist at first. Let them watch.
- Do not cast anyone as their own abuser or as an oppressor resembling them.

Running the Forum

Purpose: collective rehearsal of alternatives.
Steps:
1. Warm up the audience with energisers. [source: Tudorache 2013]
2. Explain the rules. [source: Tudorache 2013; Rifkin & Kaptani]
3. Show the play through once.
4. Replay it. A spect-actor stops the action (by calling "Stop" or clapping), says where they want to start, replaces the protagonist, and tries a different strategy.
5. Actors respond realistically and in role. They interact with the audience only through the play.
6. In A.R.T. Fusion's version, the audience votes on whether each change is kept.
Version difference: the sources disagree on whether the oppressor can be replaced. A.R.T. Fusion forbids changing the oppressor and accepts no "magic solutions". PASAR allows the antagonist to be replaced too. Name the version you are running. Boal-orthodox Forum keeps the oppressor in role. [uncertain which is Boal's final rule, as his text is not drawn on]
PASAR pacing:
- Keep interventions brief.
- The Joker runs a series of interventions without discussion, then holds discussion afterwards.
- The Joker asks "what has changed?" and the group explores how many possible interventions there are. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, online]
Questions after each intervention:
- What did they do differently?
- Did they get what they wanted?
- Was it realistic? Would it work for everyone?
- What else could they try? [source: TEDB]
If the group runs dry: the Joker may suggest solutions or change the circumstances, relationships or scene. [source: TEDB]
Example language (illustrative): "Stop! Where do you want to come in? … Thank you. Audience — did that work? Is it realistic? Who has a different idea?"
Watch for:
- magic solutions, such as "the boss suddenly apologises". Ask the oppressor actor whether their character really would do that.
- interveners who lecture rather than act. Invite them on stage.
- one voice dominating. Invite someone else.
It is working when several different, realistic strategies are tried and the audience argues about which ones would work.

Joker questioning of the protagonist

Purpose: to widen the frame without blaming the protagonist.
Steps:
- Ask what the protagonist wants and what prevents it. [source: TEDB]
- Ask what has changed. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
- Dwyer proposes questions that separate the problem from the person's self-image, such as "Who stands to gain/lose the most if your problem remains as it is?" (Dwyer 2007, p.6).
- Also ask how the antagonist sees the protagonist's strengths, and look at the same setting with different people. [source: Dwyer 2007, p.6]
- In street or installation versions, ask an open invitation: "¿Cómo cambiarías esta escena?" ("How would you change this scene?"). Then ask why the person made each change, and "Does this happen in your life anywhere else?" [source: Yarbrough 2024]
Example language (illustrative): "What would she need — from inside her or from people around her — to act differently here?"
Watch for: colluding with "I'm stuck" (Dwyer); questions that imply fault.

D. Closure, de-roling and debrief

The manuals give only brief feedback guidance. The de-roling and grounding steps are standard drama-therapy and psychodrama practice, offered here as synthesis. [synthesis]

Observations and reflections (feedback)

Purpose: to consolidate learning and voice feelings.
Steps:
- Hold feedback after groups of exercises, not after every exercise.
- Begin with feelings before analysis. A.R.T. Fusion asks debriefs to give people a safe space to voice feelings first.
- Then ask what people discovered.
- The Joker notes the points and sums them up with the group.
- The online version gives about 10 minutes at the end of every session. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani; Tudorache 2013]
Example language (illustrative): "First, one word for how you are right now. Then: what did you notice that surprised you?"

De-roling [synthesis]

Purpose: to leave characters, especially oppressors and victims, on stage.
Steps:
1. After each scene, and always before people leave, actors step physically out of the playing area.
2. Each actor says aloud the character's name, "I am not [character]", their own name, and one fact about themselves that is unlike the character.
3. Shake out the body, or brush the role off the arms and legs.
4. Return any props or costume.
5. The group addresses actors by their real names.
6. Actors who played oppressors are asked how it felt for them. Group members thank them, or explicitly separate them from the character.
Example language (illustrative): "Step out here. Tell us: 'I'm not the manager, I'm Sam, and I make terrible pancakes.'"
Watch for:
- hostility directed at the antagonist actor after the play;
- anyone still speaking in role's voice;
- the story owner watching their story replayed. Ask them how it was to see it.

Grounding and session closure [synthesis, except where cited]

Purpose: to make sure no one leaves activated.
Steps:
1. Never end on the oppression image. End on an ideal or transitional image, or on a group game. [source: Tudorache 2013, on an acceptable ending; synthesis]
2. PASAR closes with a group exercise ("Soup"). Its steps are [uncertain].
3. Run a final round: one word or gesture each.
4. Do a brief grounding: feet on the floor, name five things you can see.
5. Remind people of support between sessions.
6. Check individually with anyone who was quiet, tearful or protagonist that day.
7. Offer follow-up support. Yarbrough's project gave participants access to free counselling afterwards. [source: Yarbrough 2024]
Watch for: people leaving abruptly. Follow up within 24–48 hours, by agreement.

5. Handling problems

The TO manuals say little about clinical risk. Most of this section is clinical synthesis, marked [synthesis]. Points that come from the sources are cited.

Screening and pacing

The pacing rule: move from the general to the personal, from distance to closeness, and from stillness to movement. [synthesis]

Session order: games, then group images of broad themes, then sculpting moderate personal experiences with a stand-in, then fictionalised Forum scenes.
Hold back: do not sculpt anyone's own oppression before Phase 2 is secure.
Do not use the Rainbow introspective techniques in time-limited or mixed-acuity groups.
Re-screen anyone whose life circumstances change during the group, for example a new court case, a relapse, or a bereavement.

Overwhelm or retraumatisation during an image or scene

Signs: freezing, shaking, hyperventilating, a vacant stare, sudden anger, leaving the room. [synthesis]

Responses [synthesis]:

Call "freeze" and then "relax" for everyone.
Dissolve the image physically. Ask actors to shake out and step away.
Move the distressed person out of the playing area to a chair facing away from the image, with a co-facilitator.
Ground them in the present: where they are, the date, their feet on the floor, slow breathing.
Give a choice: continue as an observer, take a break, or stop for today.
Bring the group back with a short, neutral game. Do not process the person's story in public without their consent.
Afterwards, check for risk (including suicidality), agree a plan for between sessions, and follow up.
Reconsider whether this group suits them, or whether they need individual work first.

Prevention [synthesis, except where cited]:

Run with two facilitators wherever possible.
Agree a stop signal in advance.
Tell people beforehand that a theme is coming.
Use stand-ins and fictionalisation.
Avoid potentially traumatic or overly personal stories. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
If material becomes problematic, stop it tactfully. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]

Abuse disclosure, or a child or adult at risk

[synthesis]

Follow your safeguarding and mandatory-reporting duties.
Pause the work, speak to the person privately, and record the disclosure.
Do not dramatise the disclosed event.
With children and young people:
- Obtain parental consent and the young person's own assent.
- Keep themes age-appropriate. School versions use topics such as student/adult relationships (TEDB).
- Never re-enact abuse.
- Make sure the school's safeguarding lead knows the content.

Touch, and bodies that don't want to be sculpted

Some participants are uncomfortable with bodily contact. The group may succeed only once members stop seeing the exercise as performance. [source: Ceasefire]

Responses [synthesis]:

Ask before every touch.
Offer mirror-sculpting, where the sculptor shows the shape and the model copies it.
Offer verbal-instruction sculpting.
Allow people to sit out with a role, such as observer or photographer, if the group consents to photos.
Consider cultural and gender norms on cross-gender contact.
Never permit sexualised poses, or contact with intimate areas.

Victim-blaming interventions

Spect-actors may say, in effect, "she should just have stood up for herself". Dwyer warns that Forum framing can make the protagonist look like a hapless victim and can easily lead to blaming the victim. [source: Dwyer 2007, p.7]

Responses [synthesis]:

Thank the intervener, then ask the actor in role how the oppressor would realistically respond.
Ask the audience what support the protagonist would need.
Bring in the allies and neutral characters.
Remind the group that the scene tests strategies; it does not grade people.

Magic solutions and violence

No magic solutions, and no violence on stage. [source: Tudorache 2013]

Response:

Ask the audience whether the solution is realistic. [source: TEDB]
Ask the oppressor actor to stay true to their motive. [synthesis]
Stop any physical aggression at once and re-set the scene. [synthesis]

The Joker over-identifying or steering

Dwyer argues the director always works from hypotheses about the protagonist. Over-alignment with one side can rigidify the protagonist's pattern, and transference is under-discussed. [source: Dwyer 2007, pp.7–9]

Response: take sessions to supervision, rotate the Joker role among co-facilitators, and ask open questions only. [synthesis]

A stuck group: no ideas, silence, or "nothing would work"

From the sources:

The Joker may suggest solutions, or change the circumstances, relationships or scene. [source: TEDB]
Persevere with unclear stories over several sessions. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]
Explore the pressures on the antagonist. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani]

Synthesis:

Return to images, and sculpt the transition rather than talking about it.
Lower the stakes with a game.
Ask, "What is the smallest change anyone could make here?"

A distressed antagonist actor, or hostility after the play

[synthesis]

Use explicit de-roling (Section 4D).
Have the group address the actor by their real name.
Debrief the actor separately if needed.
Do not let anyone take the same oppressor role week after week.

The story owner regrets sharing

[synthesis, building on Rifkin & Kaptani's consent check]

Offer to fictionalise or retire the story.
Reaffirm confidentiality.
Check how they are at the end of the session and at the next one.

Group conflict or ruptures

Facilitators should watch group dynamics and address problems in real time. [source: Tudorache 2013]

Synthesis:

Return to the ground rules.
Name the conflict, and consider whether it is itself a power issue that could be worked with as an image, with everyone's consent.
Repair with the individuals outside the session if needed.

Non-attendance and drop-out

[synthesis]

Contact the person after a missed session.
Ask about distress caused by the previous session.
Adjust pacing for the group.
PASAR's ground rules expect people to stay for the whole session. Agree in advance how someone can leave safely, for example by telling a co-facilitator.

Online delivery

From the source:

Use the chat or a polite signal to speak.
Keep phones off or limited to the meeting software.
Adapt the games, for example passing gestures by name across screens. [source: Rifkin & Kaptani, online]

Synthesis:

Confirm each person's location and a local emergency contact.
Agree what happens if someone turns off their camera while distressed.
Check that people have privacy at home before working on oppression themes.

Public performance and invisible formats

Inform the audience before any photography or filming. [source: Tudorache 2013]
Invisible Theatre carries the highest risk for the team. [source: Tudorache 2013]
Invisible Theatre, where scenes are played in public without being announced as theatre, involves bystanders who have not consented. It is not suitable for therapy groups. [source: Ceasefire, on the method; synthesis, on suitability]

Sources

Sources

Further reading (not drawn on in full)

Boal, A. (1979). Theatre of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press. Cited as given in Rifkin & Kaptani.
Boal, A. (1992). Games for Actors and Non-Actors. London: Routledge. Cited as given in Rifkin & Kaptani and in Burgoyne. The 2nd edition's year and translator were not verified. [uncertain]
Boal, A. (1995). The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy. Translated by A. Jackson. London and New York: Routledge. Details from the TUM record.
Rifkin, F. (2011). The Ethics of Participatory Theatre in Higher Education. Advance HE. Cited as given in Rifkin & Kaptani; not drawn on.

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