Between the Stage and the Audience

A guide to theatre of the oppressed from the perspective of drama leader and audience collaborator—the joker.

What is theatre of the oppressed—the theatrical forms arising in the 1970s that blur the line between performer and spectator? What is its method? How is the performance created and who are its non-actors and non-audiences? These and other questions are answered in Between the Stage and the Audience from the perspective of a "joker," a guide of theatre groups and a presenter of theatre performances. This role works both with the group that prepares the theatre performance and with the audience itself.

This book is structured according to the joker's dual roles. Descriptions of the various stages of the creation of a performance are interspersed with interviews with theatre practitioners as well as specific examples from realised performances. In the second part of the book, six jokers who actively use the method of theatre of the oppressed share their experiences and unique adaptations of these theatrical innovations in the Czech context.