Workshop Facilitated by Veronique B. Mensah at the National Theatre Namibia
In this third and last research and preparation workshop Veronique only made use of 2 Techniques because of the time given.
“We are here to engage kinesthetic responses, There is no right nor wrong, there is only Limited Time” – Veronique B Mensah
The work shop started with a slideshow is playing with images while participants are welcomed into the venue. This was. Followed by a Warm- Up session where Veronique introduces games she devised with Born a Star Academy, After playing this games every participant introduces themselves with a super hero name. Participants get a Brief Introduction and background on Veronique Mensah and an overview of how she uses Applied Theatre Techniques in her work. Pictures and Videos will be shared with Participants along side a question and answer segment.
Story Time
Participants got watch a virtual performance of the Folktale Human Bones by Veronique B Mensah at the National Arts Festival in South Africa then from there the collective Zeroed into Image Theatre were Veronique expanded on the from the following definition:
IMAGE-THEATRE – Words are emptinesses that fill the emptiness (vacuum) that exists between one human being and another. Words are lines that we carve in the sand, sounds that we sculpt in the air. We know the meaning of the word we pronounce, because we fill it with our desires, ideas and feelings, but we don’t know how that word is going to be heard by each listener. IMAGE THEATRE is a series of Techniques that allow people to communicate through Images and Spaces, and not through words alone.
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
Upon the relevant technique characterisation by Veronique the workshop participant devised and performed the Image Theatre pieces. The workshop collective used the Story Human Bones as Cases study Device along with Stories created by Participants and performed them within 30 minutes. During the following briefing it was discovered that It was the first for most of participants to practise such a technique even though the collective had a majority of theatre practitioners.
After a tea break the collect went through another session where Veronique introduces Focus games she devised with Born a star Academy such as Paper clip wooshoo. From there the collect Zeroed into Newspaper theatre were Veronique expanded on the from the following explanation of the Applied theatre technique:
The NEWSPAPER THEATRE system of 12 techniques represents the first attempt that was made to create the Theatre of the Oppressed, by giving the audience the means of production rather than the finished artistic product. They are devised to help anyone to make a theatrical scene using a piece of news from a newspaper, or from any other written material, like reports of a political meeting, texts from the Bible, from the Constitution of a country, the Declaration of Human Rights, etc.
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004 (from the International Theatre of the Oppressed Organisation)
Upon the relevant technique characterization with Veronique the workshop participants devised and performed Newspaper Theatre pieces. The workshop collective used narratives in recent print and digital newspaper articles as Case studies to work along with the stories created by Participants and performed them within 30 minutes. During the following briefing it was discovered that most of participants were more literate of the impact burocratic trauma that are publicly induced by social ills and colonial relationships. Participant also using practise such a technique to look at these narratives even though the collective had a majority of theatre practitioners.
Street Kids at a former German concentration in Namibia CBD in Windhoek