Reboot the Roots has organised and delivered workshops in theatre of the oppressed across the UK, Europe and beyond since 2010, touring the UK nationally with weekend workshops from Totnes to Edinburgh, running week-long residential training courses in Cataluyna and Granada, participating in festivals in Romania, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, and facilitating trainings for NGOs in Cambodia. Watch this space for more flashbacks and information on what we got up to!

Theatre of the Oppressed is a range of techniques, games and exercises, using embodied narrative to activate the empowerment and liberation of individuals and their communities.

Our next course takes place in Cataluyna in May 2022 and is a combined week-long experience with our Creative Tools for Social Change pathway.

Theatre of the Oppressed creates space for a rehearsal for life. It is a way of analysing the power dynamics of our society and our personal relationships, purporting that personal problems are social problems. We will explore a range activities to develop focus, generate solutions to real problems, create dialogue where before there was only monologue, and ultimately “humanise humanity” by enabling people to develop the skills and faculties to liberate themselves and others. We will develop somatic and energetic awareness in the personal, interpersonal, and political dimensions

Theatre of the Oppressed is a potent tool in the facilitation of group work, community empowerment, and the holding of liberatory conversations. This training lays the foundation praxis for you to explore the forms and tools of the key tools of Image and Forum Theatre, as well as a host of games, techniques and exercises underpinned with the theory and philosophy of Boal’s work.

Throughout the training we shall also be bringing in aspects of Mindfulness – or Attentiveness as we prefer to call it – as an active tool to support the mind’s capacity to observe itself, disrupt old patterns, reflect, and transform. What we give our attention to creates our reality and to ensure that we do not perpetuate the injustices and oppressions we seek to change we must develop compassion and care for ourselves. By cultivating a radical act of noticing this taps into our intrinsic potential to grow more resilient which in turn offers power and sustainability to our social change work, and opens up more possibilities in our relationship with others.

Together, we can learn from our past, to act now in our present, to create the future we desire.