Creating an organisational theatre of creative learning

The Organisational Theatre of Creative Learning is underpinned by the five disciplines of the Learning Organisation and is based on the application of the Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre technique to personal and organisational learning. This opportunity is currently available to students studying on a module entitled 'Developing Individuals and Teams'. This module facilitates students to work and respond more creatively to their organisational problems. The problems are encapsulated in a written script which allows the students to explore the characters, personalities and issues which underline their organisation's problems. These are then 'acted' out by the group to an audience (other managers) who attempt to make interventions to alter the course of the dramatic action by proposing solutions using the Forum Theatre technique. Predictions are made in the written script as to when and what these interventions could be. These are then matched to the interventions that were actually made (recorded on video), and through reflection managers have the opportunity in a safe, creative environment to analyse their predicted choice of actions/reactions as opposed to those that actually took place in the 'renactment'. This provides managers with the opportunity to learn about their managerial style in action, as well as those of others, when dealing with real organisational issues. Managers who made interventions are also asked to record what they remember and have learnt from their interventions in the 'renactment', whilst proposing possible solutions which maybe different to those predicted by the group in the script. The written script, the predicted interventions, the actual interventions, and a reflection on the 'renactment', and the interventions actually made by the managers, all form the totality of the student learning experience and contribute to the assessment in The Organisational Theatre of Creative Learning which draws its inspiration from the application of the Forum Theatre technique