Combining theatre of the oppressed and dadaist performance in community arts

Throughout 2024 Huge Sillytoe worked on an Arts Council England funded project to investigate innovative combinations of Theatre of the Oppressed techniques and queer-dadaist-absurdist performance practices whilst forging new connections between socially engaged arts communities working in the UK and across Latin America. As part of this project Huge Sillytoe collaborated with Collective Encounters to translate their investigation conducted at The Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro into workshops for community theatre collectives in Liverpool. Here activist theatre practitioners were guided through an exploration of how to queer the traditionally rigid structures of the Theatre of the Oppressed and pursue social justice through floppier, sillier, more playful, and consequently more effective performance methods.

Photos: Abi Horsfield.