Theatre of the Oppressed: A Step towards a Conscious Society

Using the powerful medium of theatre, PRADAN has been able to stimulate a re-thinking on age-old limiting beliefs and traditions, and is bringing about change in the behaviour and attitudes of the villagers on issues related to their women and empowerment..

“I enjoyed playing the role of a man in the forum; it gave me a sense of power,” says Anita Devi, with a spark in her eyes. She is a troupe member of one of the three operational theatre groups in Hazaribagh. She admits that being involved in theatre has been inspirational for her because she has become more outgoing and is able to face others without any hesitation. She is not the only one. There are 30 other women, who feel the same, and see themselves as significant contributors in the process of social change.

“What contributed to this changed self-view?” Coming out of their comfort zones and experiencing the freedom to express themselves has contributed immensely to this change, which they are now trying to inculcate in others, by having ‘forums’ at various places. They believe that things will change when people stop being resigned to situations, break their ‘culture of silence’ and engage in a dialogue process for mass social change.

H ere, it is relevant to explain the concept of ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’, which is derived from the philosophy of ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’. In 1968, educator and theorist Paulo Freire, in his book Pedagogia do Oprimodo, proposed a pedagogy depicting a new relationship between the teacher, the student and society. This was translated by Myra Ramos into English as Pedagogy of the Oppressed in 1970. In the book, Freire calls traditional pedagogy the ‘banking model’ because it treats the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge; in contrast, he advocates a pedagogy that treats the learner as the co-creator of knowledge. Freire explores how oppression has been justified and how it is perpetuated mutually by the ‘oppressor’ and the ‘oppressed’ and, during the process, how the balance of power remains relatively stable.