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Background reading · The Arts

Theatre that speaks up: from Brecht to forum theatre to Aotearoa

How playwrights and theatre companies around the world and in Aotearoa have used drama to raise issues and invite audiences to act.

Some plays are made mainly to entertain. Others are made to change how people think. Theatre that deals with issues in society is often called political theatre. It doesn't have to be about politicians: it can be about fairness, the land, or who gets listened to.

Making the audience think

Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright in the 1900s. He wanted audiences to think about what they saw, not just get swept away by the story. His actors sometimes stepped out of the scene and spoke straight to the audience. This is called direct address, and it is still used in political theatre today.

Letting the audience act

Augusto Boal was a Brazilian theatre-maker who created Theatre of the Oppressed. In his forum theatre, a short play shows a problem where a character is treated unfairly. Then it is played again, and anyone in the audience can call 'stop!', take the character's place and try a different choice. Boal called these audience members spect-actors: spectators who act. A host called the joker helps everyone talk about what worked.

Theatre that speaks up in Aotearoa

  • Te Ika a Maui Players, formed in 1976, was the first theatre company set up and run by Māori. It toured Rowley Habib's play The Death of the Land around the country. - Maranga Mai was a Northland company that dramatised events from the Māori protest movement. In 1979 it toured schools and marae and performed at Parliament Buildings, and some young audience members went on to work in theatre themselves. - Marae theatre developed in the 1990s: audiences are welcomed with waiata and encouraged to respond out loud, as they would on a marae. - Pacific theatre companies such as Pacific Underground brought Pacific stories and humour to New Zealand stages.

    • Speaking up with care

    Theatre about real issues works best when it is honest and fair. Research the facts, listen to people it affects, and give every character a real reason for what they do. The goal is not to make someone look bad. It is to help the audience see the problem and imagine a way through it.

    Sources and further reading

    Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

    Used in: Stage It: Drama and Devised Theatre