Theatre for Development

I spent the last two weeks in Honiara with my co-workers, attending workshops and planning for the next few months. It was great to catch up with the other volunteers and share stories… they have some whoppers like me! I was also able to experience the famous ‘Top 10’ (a very seedy island club), and enjoy good coffee and pizza… ahh.

On the work side, we attended a camp/workshop called ‘Theatre for Development.’ It was a laugh and a half… crazy games, acting workshops, uno at night… it reminded me a little of school camp days. The workshop itself involved discussing with the group personal issues which have affected our lives… it was amazing the honesty that came out of the group. Confessions of drug and alcohol addiction, stories of incest, early and arranged marriages, child abuse and domestic violence just to name a few. We were then able to turn these issues into a drama which we presented to a local community. Although the content was fairly heavy, it was mixed with lots of good humour to get the audience laughing out loud. I was given the role of a young girl named Priscilla who was unaware that the boy she was madly in love with was her half-brother. Other characters in the drama included a young girl who fell pregnant to her uncle, a corrupt politician, a drunken father who forced his 14-year-old daughter to be married to an old man and a young man imprisoned for wrongly being accused of murder.

All of the characters were based on the real life experiences of workshop participants. At the conclusion of the week we presented our dramas to communities in the Honiara area. Discussions with the audience after the show confirmed that every one of the issues raised in the drama were present in the community. Where people were once very reluctant to discuss their issues, the drama paved an opening for constructive discussions with community members, proving that theatre is indeed a very useful tool. We returned to Gizo enthused and keen to try out our new acting skills with village children.