WHAT IF every citizen could have a say in how the issues that affect their lives and communities were dealt with? Or could input into policy and even law-making? Legislative theatre is a form of community-based theatre that gives participants an opportunity to actively explore, analyse and transform their lives through drama and roleplay.

Legislative theatre brings together citizens and policy-makers in a creative constructive dialogue about issues and policies that affect local communities. The idea is to engage citizens in identifying solutions to social and political problems, and then help translate them into new laws.

It was developed as an artform by Brazilian playwright and cultural activist Augusto Boal to create a variant of his own Theatre of the Oppressed, which was underpinned by his mantra: “All must act, all must be protagonists in the necessary transformations of society.”

In the 1960s, as Brazil faced a repressive authoritarian regime, Boal started experimenting with theatre to give voice to oppressed people, and provide a method of resistance. Today it’s used all over the world for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, therapy and consulting on government legislation.

In 1971, as a result of his activism, Boal was forced to leave Brazil by the military regime, but continued his work in exile in Latin America and Europe. He developed legislative theatre in 1992, after returning to Brazil, when he was elected city councillor for Rio de Janeiro.

Boal invited members of the public and fellow councillors to test out local legislation and policies by performing and improvising “in character.” This allowed citizens and law-makers to get together and develop policies through dialogue, by generating, testing and honing responses to shared issues in “live” scenarios.

The first major success was the approval of the law of geriatric care, requiring municipal hospitals to provide specialist treatment for elderly patients. This law originated from a performance by the Terceira Idade (Third Age) group, highlighting the lack of geriatric specialists and the risks of inappropriate care. During Boal’s term as council member, legislative theatre led to the development and approval of 13 laws in Rio de Janeiro between 1992 and 1996.

How does legislative theatre work?

Legislative theatre involves local partners and community members collaborating to create and present original theatre plays based on their own experiences. The process of developing the play can take days, weeks — even months. When ready, it is typically performed to an invited audience of interested parties and decision-makers.

After watching the play, members of the audience join the performers on stage and collectively improvise alternative responses to the situations and issues presented. Afterwards advocates develop workable policy proposals, which then form the basis of further discussion and amendment. They then progress toward adoption via some form of democratic process, such as a community vote or city council ratification.

Despite their best intentions, policy-makers are often criticised for being disconnected from the very people their policies are supposed to help. Although legislative theatre comes with its challenges, the approach can promote a deeper, more thoughtful — and sometimes emotional — understanding of the problems people face.

Using theatre and other artforms such as storytelling, participants can lay a foundation for sharing, listening and mutual understanding of complex social issues. Unlike other more traditional participatory approaches such as public hearings or citizens’ juries, legislative theatre offers an opportunity to test policy proposals in advance.

This means normal everyday people — often those furthest from the levers of power — have a chance to make a difference to their own lives. By staging a presentation showing how social issues affect them, participants can invert the usual power dynamic, frequently placing policy-makers in uncomfortable or unfamiliar positions.

The immersive, often emotionally charged nature of this kind of theatre can feel quite alien to the more rational culture of policy-making. Sometimes this results in defensiveness and scepticism, which has perhaps dissuaded wider use by governments and other institutions.

Legislative theatre has been widely used across Britain to create social change, demonstrating how the process can be used to generate effective solutions to complex challenges.

The People Act, a recently launched project co-ordinated by Katy Rubin, showcases good examples of legislative theatre around the world, and invites people to connect and find out more about this creative tool.

Rubin works with governments across Britain and internationally to implement and advance legislative theatre and has achieved some notable successes across the country, including:

1. Tackling street harassment in Greater Manchester

In 2023, Manchester’s Right to the Streets project identified public harassment of women and girls as a critical issue. A community play depicting the lack of support from authorities led to concrete changes, including active bystander training for public transport staff and a public awareness campaign on buses and trams.

2. Youth-led climate crisis action in Glasgow

A project in Glasgow empowered young people to address climate issues by creating performances that highlighted challenges such as transport accessibility and liveable neighbourhoods. The aim was to influence Glasgow City Council’s policy discussions. Their efforts culminated in a performance during Cop26, held in 2021 in Glasgow, showcasing the power of youth engagement in shaping climate policies.

3. Homelessness and rough sleeping in Britain

A 2020-21 collaboration in Greater Manchester involved people who had experienced life on the streets, resulting in a homelessness prevention strategy. Similarly, a 2022 initiative in Coventry helped create the city’s rough sleeping strategy, praised for its inclusivity in a University of Warwick report.

Legislative theatre’s ability to engage individuals, communities and policy-makers is a powerful model for initiating change. It can bridge the all-too-often neglected gap between policy and personal experience, and provide people with a real sense of agency and optimism.

Ana Isabel Nunes is senior lecturer in social and political sciences, Nottingham Trent University.

This article is republished from TheConversation.com under a Creative Commons licence.