Forum Theatre Should Get People Out of Their Chairs
An Interview with Luc Opdebeeck

Rotterdam, January 2001: Formaat's artistic director just completed the audition procedure for a new cast of actresses. More than 50 reacted to an ad in the paper and because of the high level output, 24 people were invited to the auditions.

UNDER PRESSURE: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME?
Luc: Certainly, the people that will join us know their way about the business. they can act, they can move, they have musical talent. But most of all, the majority is sympathetic to our TO method, which I actually find the most important criterium. Forum Theatre is a very special kind of theatre.

UP: HOW DID YOU AND TO MEET?
Luc: I had worked in outreach projects in Flanders when I came to Rotterdam in 1988 to join a project for young immigrants. Pretty soon I discovered that Dutch projects just as much ignored the desires of their clients as did those in Belgium. So I went looking for an alternative and met people who were involved in a troupe called 't Wicht and were doing Forum Theatre. It was a matter of time before I started to make Forums as well.

UP: WHAT FASCINATED YOU ABOUT TO?
Luc: The fact that it supports people in their desire to change something in their lives, and the fact that it offers them a chance to take their destiny into their own hands. In 1990 I went to Bern, to do a workshop with Augusto Boal and I was seized by his energy and skill. Back in the Netherlands, I started working with that energy. With 't Wicht we did hundreds of performances, about sexual harassment, bullying, racism and a lot of other topics.

UP: YOU STARTED WORKING WITH FORMAAT IN 1998, WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN OBJECTIVES FOR THE MOMENT?
Luc: I want to make Forum Theatre of high quality, i.e. that it not only serves social and educational purposes, but is also worth the title "theatre". That's why I've decided to work with professionals, who know their craft.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "BEING WORTH THE TITLE 'THEATRE'"?
Luc: In the past years I have watched troupes here and abroad, which are involved in Forum Theatre and "intervention theatre", as most people call it in Holland. I was disappointed to observe that there's quite a lot of bogus theatre around, performances that have no relation to the art of theatre, or plays that are jokered in a dubious, maybe even dangerous way. You see, Forum Theatre should raise the audience from their chairs, with all the techniques which theatre has available. We call the model the pie. It must look tasty and taste well. You have to touch people and at the same time invite them to come on stage. The actors must deliver realistic counterplay and the joker must keep the dialogue within certain limits. You can't allow for the oppressor to be replaced. What you get is a course in bullying, intimitation and discrimination.

I saw a performance just the other day where a girl was asked to play someone who had stabbed another person. It was hard to find someone to play her boyfriend, so she picked someone from the audience and said: "If you don't come on stage, I'll stab you" - and laughed. The joker didn't react. On the other hand you shoudn't continue on solutions that are completely beyond reality, because you are selling your spectators an illusion. Last year I saw a play in which a joker more or less insisted that the interventions should pursue magique solutions. Of course the spect-actors loved it, but it turned more and more into a completely artificial situation. It seemed like an exercise in illusions. I couldn't see the point.

It sometimes makes me angry to watch things like that, especially when I hear what amounts of government money were invested.

UP: HOW COULD THESE DEVELOPMENTS BE COUNTERED?
Luc: First you would have to start evaluating performances, scientifically if possible. We try to include this in every project of ours. Secondly the government should start assessing how the money is spent. I think you can demand that actors, jokers and directors are well trained and keep learning. I try to train my actors permantently in the use of TO methods. Through national and international contacts we try to keep up with the latest developments.

UP: ANY WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR?
Luc: Recognition. I've been running from project to project for almost 12 years. We're applying for permanent government support just this month. I think the time is ripe for a Dutch CTO.

UP: GOOD LUCK, WE'LL REPORT ABOUT THE RESULTS IN THE COMING ISSUES OF UNDER PRESSURE

Under Pressure 5, January 2001