News and Events
Book Launch: Performance in Place of War
You are invited to celebrate the launch of the new book. Performance in Place of War, with an opportunity to talk to the authors over a drinks reception on Thursday 17th December, 5:00 – 7:30pm in The Martin Harris Centre at The University of Manchester.
From the Greeks and Shakespeare to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, war has often been a major theme of dramatic performances. However, many of the most extraordinary theater projects in recent years not only have been about war but also have originated in actual conflict zones themselves.
Performance in Place of War is concerned with these initiatives, including theater in refugee camps, war-ravaged villages, towns under curfew, and cities under occupation. It looks at theater and performances that often occur quite literally as bombs are falling, as well as during times of ceasefire and in the aftermath of hostilities.
Performance in Place of War draws on extensive original material and includes interviews with artists, short play extracts, and photographs from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Israel, Lebanon, the Sudan, and others. The authors combine critical commentary, overviews of the conflicts, and firsthand accounts in order to consider such questions as: Why in times of disruption have people turned to performance?
And what aesthetic, ethical, and political choices are made in these different contexts? Performance in Place of War is a fascinating perspective on the role of theater in unpredictable, war-torn times.
Please confirm your attendance here: http://ipow-book-launch.eventbrite.com/
To purchase a copy of the book – please visit Amazon here.
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Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation - Working with Victims of Violence Through Drama
Introduction:
Shakespeare’s character Hamlet was murdered by his uncle. As Hamlet seeks justice he swings between a desire for revenge and a mental illness. The disorder established by a violent act brings about an even more violent end to the story. In tragedy as in life the victims of violence oscillate between the desire of revenge, feelings of guilt, mental suffering, struggling for justice and very often end up contributing to the cycle of violence.
This workshop uses drama and creativity in order to address the consequences of violence on the victims of a traumatic event. During the workshop participants will be trained in drama techniques such as Image Theatre, Forum Theatre and Restorative Theatre as way to find alternatives to violence and mental suffering.
The participants will learn how to implement a workshop using visual arts, Image theatre, Forum Theatre and Restorative Theatre as an aesthetic process. It is through this aesthetic process the participants will create artistic products which represents challenging and conflict experienced by victims of violence. The artistic products are plays and images in which the participants will rehearse possibilities to deal with trauma and violence promoting a change in the victims perspectives from the object of others actions to the subject of their own action.
Aim:
To create an aesthetic process which enables the participants to reflect on the effects of violence in people’s life and through dramatic dialogue search for alternatives to overcome such effects.
Objectives:
- Creating a space where the different narratives can be heard;
- Promoting a dialogue about the effects of violence on different individuals;
- Training the participants in a dramatic process using different drama techniques and tragedy
Content:
- Image Theatre
- Forum Theatre
- Restorative Theatre
- Psychodrama
- Tragedy as Dramatic Structure
- Theatre games and exercises
The course is suitable for artistis, actors, community workers, youth workers, teachers, nurses, peace workers, psychologists, psychoanalists and medical doctors who are interested in work with people affected by violence in a community, institutional or professional level.
Raul Araujo will be the facilitator for the course. He has trained and worked extensively with Theatre of the Oppressed projects in Brazil and co-ordinated a programme in Art and Conflict at Dundalk Institute of Technology. He has also worked with the process in Northern Ireland in relation to victims issues and restorative justice.
Cost: €150 course fee including lunch on both days. Overnight accommodation available @ €30 per person
Schedule: 10am – 5.30pm Saturday 7th November
10am – 4pm Sunday 8th November
