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Changing behaviour

Toby Jones

Wednesday, 20th February 2008

Toby Jones on how theatre is being used in Malawi to help stop the spread of Aids

As would-be facilitators they undergo a carefully structured training in which they examine not just their own sexual practice but also, crucially, the gender behaviour that underlies it. At the same time they create stories to illustrate the consequences of that behaviour. These stories will form the basis of both their ‘plays’ and the open debates that result.

In Malawi these stories are not hard to find. Everyone’s life is touched by the virus. According to the Malawian Health Ministry ten people die of Aids every hour, 240 every day. It is a crisis fuelled by destructive gender behaviour. Women are routinely undermined, ignored and abused by men. The stories that TfaC tells open up the contradictions of that behaviour and invite the audience to articulate and debate the key moments of the drama.

‘How could things have been different?’ the facilitators ask, and the audience will literally get up on stage to demonstrate their answers.

As I begin to work with the trainees it is clear that they have already been on an extraordinary journey of personal development. The women in particular are confident, articulate and equal members of the group. None of these young people has acted before and yet their emotional commitment to their characters is startling. They discuss their stories and the issues that emerge with the candour and empathy which will serve them well when they begin to facilitate their own groups and audiences.

Several years ago Patrick Young took part in some open workshops with Complicite in London. When Simon McBurney, artistic director of Complicite, found himself in Uganda filming The Last King of Scotland he called Freedman to discuss the potential for education projects in Africa. Freedman remembered Patrick’s participation and began to explore the possibility of fusing the work of the two companies.

Complicite frequently devises its own stories and it is this experience that I try to share with the trainees. In the mornings we focus on improvisational games and physical technique. The afternoons are spent writing. The stories that they show me are often intense, fragile dramas that graphically depict the brutal social effects of HIV/Aids. One character is forced into prostitution as her husband rejects her, another is routinely raped by hers. We explore ways of modulating these dramas without compromising the authenticity of the experiences that inspire them. It is delicate and rewarding work.