STOP London: Press Release
Adrian Jackson (Founder of Cardboard Citizens and Augusto Boal’s Translator) launches STOP, London’s first School of Theatre of the Oppressed
STOP will be the first London organisation exclusively dedicated to the teaching of all aspects of Theatre of the Oppressed, a training ground for catalysing social, personal and political change through theatre. It will provide world-class teaching with an emphasis on the practice, and a deep grounding in the theory. It is for all who want to incorporate this revolutionary form of theatre into their work, whether your background is activism, development, theatre, community, public or social sectors.
Adrian Jackson led acclaimed training courses in the Theatre of the Oppressed both alone and alongside its inventor Augusto Boal for many years whilst Artistic Director of Cardboard Citizens, the pioneering company working with homeless people and migrants. Having stepped down in 2021, after 30 years at the helm of the company he founded, over the summer of 2022 Adrian brought together former Cardboard Citizens colleague Petia Tzanova, and activist and theatre-maker Lil Woods to found a new organisation to host that teaching - STOP.
“At a time when issues of race, gender and class are more prominent than ever, and social media pushes us towards the sharp polarisation of views, spaces for genuine public debate and dialogue are more vital than ever. The Theatre of the Oppressed provides a methodology for different views to be explored deeply and safely.”
Adrian Jackson enjoyed a close relationship with Augusto Boal during his lifetime. He translated five of Boal’s books into English and taught with him on many occasions. Sadly Boal died in 2009 but his work lives on all over the world.
Boal and Jackson, Cardboard Citizens
STOP has launched a pilot season of courses for 2022/3 including intensive training in Forum Theatre, the Rainbow of Desires and Theatre of the Oppressed Jokering (Facilitation). This first season will also host one international Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner, Chen Alon, the renowned activist and co-founder of Israeli-Palestinian organisation, Combatants for Peace, who will lead a two-day workshop in his radical repurposing of TO, which he calls the Polarised Theatre of the Oppressed.
“We are focussed on designing training that is inclusive, inspiring and practical, so that the next-generation of theatre-makers, nonprofits and activists can bring this work into their communities with skill and confidence.” Petia Tzanova
In future, STOP aims to be a meeting point for practitioners from different areas of practice, political contexts and geographical regions - a centre for Augusto Boal’s important imperative of ‘multiplication’.
Boal teaching at London Bubble, 1991. Phil Polglaze.
For updates on STOP, you can find us on:
Notes to Editors: For media enquiries please contact Petia Tzanova, Co-Founder and Producer on 07886 583925 or petia@stoplondon.co.uk
About Theatre of the Oppressed
The methodology of Theatre of the Oppressed is the invention of the pioneering Brazilian theatre-maker, theorist and activist, Augusto Boal, who died in 2009. Theatre of the Oppressed is a school of theatre-making for catalysing societal, political and personal change through theatre, with particular application to communities experiencing oppression. This work can be used in a wide variety of settings from classrooms to prisons, from community groups to councils, from homeless shelters to academic research – and with socially excluded groups of all ages, genders, ethnicities and beliefs. Theatre of the Oppressed can be a rehearsal space for people who want to learn ways of fighting against oppression in their daily lives. The umbrella of TO incorporates a number of distinct techniques including Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, Legislative Theatre, Newspaper Theatre, Invisible Theatre and the Rainbow of Desires (which focuses on internalised oppression).
Forum Theatre Workshop, UCL, 2022
