For ICAF, theatre director, playwright, educator and founder of Cardboard Citizens (UK) Adrian Jackson will conduct a workshop in which he shares his expertise. The workshop will be a mix of practice and theory, looking at how to create Forum Theatre that goes beyond the simplistic and seeks to embrace the complexities of the real world, recognising the intersectional nature of people’s modern lives whilst being playfully serious, and seriously playful. Through doing so, participants will explore how they might develop their own pieces.
There will be time for games, exercises and questions and answers about the methodology that Adrian has developed over the years. Adrian’s story, his view on art/theatre in society, and his energy are exciting and inspiring for practitioners interested in Theatre of the Oppressed methodology, but certainly also for every other rebellious and creative spirit that wants to make a positive change in the world by creating art with and for people living in the margins of society.
About
Adrian Jackson, MBE, is an English theatre director, playwright, teacher and trainer. He was the founding director and executive director of the theatrical company Cardboard Citizens, founded in 1991, in which the majority of the members were homeless, refugees or asylum seekers. In addition to being the artistic director of Cardboard Citizens and the designer of a large number of plays with the company, Adrian Jackson is a teacher and translator. He has worked as a translator of Augusto Boal, including his most recent work: “The aesthetics of the oppressed”, and collaborated with him on many occasions. He has taught the methodology of the Theatre of the Oppressed in many contexts, throughout Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Adrian Jackson places a high premium on the quality of the theatre he makes, whether forum or epic theatre like the RSC productions. In 2022 he directed a major new musical, the Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency for The Belgrade Theatre Coventry as part of Coventry City of Culture. Recently he has started STOP (School of Theatre of the Oppressed) in London while also preparing a version of King Lear with Hobson Street Theatre in Auckland for 2024.