Devising Theatrical Health Interventions in East Africa

In English-speaking East Africa, Forum Theatre and related methods are used extensively in public health interventions by international development organizations. The individuals and theatre groups who devise and perform such plays are influenced by the policies and direction of the agencies and organizations that fund and support them. Applied theatre practitioners and local theatre groups must devise Forum Theatre interventions that follow top-down guidelines from their funders, while attempting to respond to the concerns and desires of their own performers and audiences. Through past and current examples of the theatre-based work of the public health organization PATH (originally an acronym for Project for Appropriate Technology in Health), I will examine how those contradictions play out within a global public health context and some adaptations that PATH has implemented to deal with them. Through its innovative adaptation of Forum Theatre known as Magnet Theatre, PATH has found a way to reconcile some of the difficulties and contradictions faced in using Forum Theatre for public health.

One of many techniques of Brazilian director Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, Forum Theatre has been used in development-related projects in Africa since the late 1970s (Plastow 298). The method originated as an overtly political form of theatre in which spectators take an active role in changing the situation presented in the theatrical space, with the hope of empowering them to then enact change in society. This process, known as simultaneous dramaturgy, is facilitated by the "joker" figure, who serves as an intermediary between the audience and the onstage world. The use of Forum Theatre in international development is just one of many ways it has been adapted for and employed within different contexts worldwide. On the one hand Forum Theatre is valued within a developmental context, because it encourages community engagement and participation, which has become a necessary part of development intervention in recent years. However, that participation is still within the context of top-down development interventions; this contradiction is at the heart of much inquiry into theatre for development, and participatory development in general.¹ Within a public health context, differing ways of thinking about communication and education further complicate the use of Forum Theatre as an engagement tool.

PATH, a large, international nongovernmental organization (NGO) funded in large part by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been employing Magnet Theatre for public health interventions since 2000. At its height in the late 2000s, PATH incorporated Magnet Theatre in programs throughout Africa, as well as in several projects in South and Southeast Asia. More recently the method has fallen out of favor, and the only program in which PATH is currently using Magnet Theatre is the AIDS, Population, and Health Integrated Assistance (APHIA) Plus program in the Western Region of Kenya. APHIA Plus, which is a continuation of the APHIA I and APHIA II programs operating in the same region, is an ongoing countrywide public health project funded by USAID (2014). PATH is the managing organization in the Western Region, where it has been using Magnet Theatre to engage young people and encourage behavior change toward positive public health outcomes.

This essay is based primarily on my interviews with those involved in Magnet Theatre since its inception through 2016, as well as my analysis of training manuals, reports, and publications from funding and implementing organizations. My two primary informants are C. Y. Gopinath (known by all as Gopi) and Olouch Madiang. Gopi is the inventor of the Magnet Theatre form, made while he was a creative director for PATH in Kenya from 2000 to 2006. He is originally from India and currently lives in Thailand, where he works primarily as a filmmaker. Kenyan development specialist Madiang was also involved at the outset of Magnet Theatre and still uses the form in programs he oversees as senior technical advisor for youth outreach with PATH Western Kenya.

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USAID is the main agency of the US government responsible for administering foreign aid. Its mandate, according to the agency website, is to "end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic...