Towards a sustainable Mauritian theatre in development

Towards a sustainableMauritian theatrein development

Research reportFebruary 2015

Ministry of Arts and Culture

Research coordinator: Per Skjöldebrand

ContentAbstract

Introduction

1 The role of theatre insociety

2. Basic conditions for heatre2.1 Three Levels2.2 The creative chain2.3 The Iceberg

3 Mauritian theatre, myassumptions andhypothesis

3.1 The three levels andMauritius

3.2 The creative chain andMauritius

3.3 The Iceberg and Mauritius3.4 The future workshop 20133.5 UNESCO report 19803.6 Development Sectors

4 Definitions and method4.1 Definition of Terms4.2 Method4.2.1 Finding the target group

October 15th to December12th

4.2.2 Invitation periodDecember 12th to January10th

4.2.3 Workshops and seminars10th to 24th of January

4.2.3.1 Future Workshop4.2.3.2 The method and phases used

in these particular workshops4.2.4 Communicating the results

from each workshop toparticipants

4.2.5 Working committee

4.3 Characterization of theatregroups

4.4 Educational situation forthe theatre

5 Presentation of result5.1 The objectives and the

road to reach them5.2 Means to achieve the goals5.3 Characterization of theatre

groups5.4 Educational situation for

the theatre

6 Back to the theory of basicconditions and myhypothesis

7 Towards a sustainableMauritian theatre indevelopment

8 A holistic approach toMauritian theatre and howto continue

References

AppendixNotes from workshop1, 2 and 3.

Towards a sustainableMauritian theatrein development

RESEARCH REPORT No.1

Per Skjöldebrand 2015

Abstract

Theatre is a way of expressing and tellingstories, interact and share: A process for individualgrowth, communication, democratic training and totake part in society.

Mauritius has a good potential to grow as a theatrenation and we need to find out what must be addedto create sustainability and further development.

The aim of this study is to let key persons inMauritian theatre answer the question how tocreate a sustainable Mauritian theatre indevelopment.The method in use is both a part of the researchand a democratic process to build a network builton consensus and unity: The future workshop.

The result shows a clear picture of four focus areasthat key persons in Mauritian theatre want todevelop and promote action in order to achieve asustainable theatre in development:

Structural supportEducationTheatre in Mauritian cultureInternal communication

The research also shows that actions should betaken to investigate, improve or start six morefields:

The sustainability of the theatre groupsThe key persons in theatreUndeveloped sectorsNational association for theatreNational theatre festivalNational theatre

The report ends with several suggestions how toreach the four, primary, objectives and the 6 focusareas. Leading to the question: who will take theresponsibility to a change? One answer is thefoundation of a National Theatre Associationacknowledged by the Republic of Mauritius.

Introduction

In July 2014 I took the initiative topresent a pilot study called ”For asustainable Mauritian theatre indevelopment”.The presentation to the Ministry of artsand culture led to the initiative toproceed with a full study, approved bythe Ministry in October 2014.

The aim of this study is to let key per-sons in Mauritian theatre answer thequestion how to create a sustainableMauritian theatre in development.The method in use is both a part of theresearch and a democratic process tobuild a network characterized by con-sensus and unity: The future work-shop.

The approved research study containsfour steps:1. A survey of all active groups and keyindividuals in Mauritius.2. A survey of all institutions operatingwith education in theatre.3. A complete mapping, a Future work-shop, of the driving forces, needs andbarriers to the development of thetheatre.4. The formation of a unifying nationalorganization that promotes and worksin accordance with the knowledgeobtained through steps 1 to 3.

Objective: To initiate the creation of asustainable theatre in Mauritius that isconstantly evolving, given the diversity,innovation and quality.

The result will be clear and declarewhat the key persons in Mauritiantheatre want to develop.

The tools presented will make sure thatthe viewpoint always will be holistic,far from narrow-minded, projectfocused or short term thinking.

Personal background of researchcoordinator: I have a universitydegree in Social science (Örebro 1980-1983 Bachelor) and Master, with theprofile Organization and Leadership(Stockholm 2001-2006).I have applied my skills in Sweden,both in the social sector and within thetheatre development at local, regional,national and international levels.I have been directing, coordinatingprojects and festivals, lecturing, acting,evaluating, analyzing conditions andwriting in the name of development forthe theatre.Back in 2007, when I came toMauritius for the first time, I started toget a picture of the Republics theatre.Since then I have sought knowledgethrough research and conversation withgroups, officers and directors, aboutthe theatre tradition, the conditions atall levels and seen the potential thatexists.Since 2010, I live in Mauritius andhave had the opportunity to work withand for: Ministry of arts and culture,ICJM, RTI and MIE as lecturer or work-shop leader.

The present report is the result of theapproved research study and I wouldlike to thank the Ministry of Arts andculture and all people who contributedwith their time and knowledge duringthe process.

Mauritius, 1 February 2015

Per SkjöldebrandResearch coordinator

1 Per Skjöldebrand 2015

1. The role of theatre insociety

Since the dawn of mankind, weexpress ourselves.If we make a journey 10,000 yearsback in time, before we learnedfarming and many of us became per-manent residents, we are hunters andgatherers.

Deep within the cliffside caves of eastern Borneo,10,000-year-old paintings featuring the hands of theartists themselves.

On several occasions I have letstudents do this imaginary journey andasked the question:What could be most important in lifefor them?The responses can be divided in twocategories:1. Phenomena that are beyond

human capacity to influence2. Phenomena that is humanly

possible to influenceThe first category includes everythingthat can be linked to naturalphenomena such as wind, weather andwildlife. People can protect themselvesbut not actively influence.I am absolutely convinced that theythrough rituals tried to appease,placate, command that force. Fromthese rites, directed to the gods, arosethe first ritual theatre.The latter category includes all aspectsof human life, e.g. organization, know-

ledge, moral, dilemma, leadership,history, interaction, socialization.Narrative art is born as a necessity forhuman survival – a way to pass on howto act even if you meet hinders andobstacles.These two sides are still the main-stream of the modern theatre.

On the journey in time we passAristotle’s Poetica and Natya Shastra,attributed to the Sage Bharata. Wepass theorists and practitioners such asShakespeare, Emile Zola, KonstantinStanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, AntoninArtaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Augusto Boaland Peter Brook, to arrive at the pre-sent.

During the 1900s, there were twoimportant changes in the theatre: ashift in focus from the audiencecoming to the theatre to theatrecoming to the audience: CourtTheatre was getting closer to the FolkTheatre.At about the same time was a newaudience discovered: children andyouth. Society noticed the importanceof culture for and with children.

What is the role of the theatre in so-ciety today?I think the theatre is still very im-portant for humans. We need strongexperiences beyond what is happeningin our daily lives. A performance canbroaden our horizons, let us come incontact with strong and overwhelmingemotions and provide insights thatincrease our awareness: To make theinvisible visible!There are a few basic questionsregarding the theatres role, fundamen-tal in performance analysis:What does the play convey - what isbeing told?How is it transmitted / embodied?Why tell precisely that - how is it re-lated to trends in culture and society?

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To this, I will add the theatres role as atool, often interactive and sometimescalled applied theatre, in education,social and psychological development,scenario-building, conflict managementand in the construction and testing ofvalues and values clarification.

To avoid any misunderstanding in thefurther reading, I want to sort out threedifferent branches on the same theatretree:Drama: from Greek meaning ”action”,”to do” or ”to act”.The focus on this branch is very oftendevelopment and growth in a groupprocess, not necessarily to meet anaudience. We have psycho-drama,socio-drama and drama-pedagogy.

Theatre: from Greek meaning ”to se”and the focus is on the audience. Wetell a story in front of an audience. Inthis group we find many different kindsof professions.

Theatre studies (sometimes referredto as theatrology or dramatics) are thestudy of theatrical performance in rela-tion to its literary, physical, psycho-biological, sociological, and historicalcontexts. It is an interdisciplinary fieldwhich also encompasses the study oftheatrical aesthetics and semiotics.

All three of them have their ownpractitioners, professionals, and highereducation.

2. Basic conditions fortheatre

To give a clear picture of how theart of theatre is created and develops,we need to make a theoretical review.The purpose is to provide tools for allforms of factual analysis of the poten-tial to create a sustainable theatre inconstant development.

2.1 The three levels

In the social sciences a structuredmodel is often used for the analysis ofphenomena in society.One speaks of society’s three basiclevels:

Individual levelGroup levelThe structural level

For the theatre, one must first establishand state that all production of theatre,the performance, takes place from theheart of the group level.From the individual level the ideasgenerates as well as knowledge andenergy is added.

Through my work in Sweden and inter-nationally, I know that a country needsto focus on the individual level and onkey persons who usually are thedirectors, producers and dramatists.

The structural or organizational levelincludes all the organizations, institu-tions, ministries that somehow prov-ides the conditions or createslimitations for the theatre and itsdevelopment.

It is extremely important to be awareof the relationships between the threelevels and that different tasks are doneon different levels. Confusion createsdisorder and does not provide con-

The main trunk of this theatre tree isextremely practical. To make themistake of introducing theatre forpeople, as a theoretical, academic,school subject: is like handing outand study sheet music of Mozart’sRequiem before being allowed tolisten to or play music.

I will do my best to use the accurateterms in this report.


ditions for sustainable theatre indevelopment.

Figure 1

Structural level Gives conditions or limitations

Group level The production unit. Wishes and demands

Individual level Gives energy and knowledge

2.2 The creative chain

Over many years working with theatre,I constantly ask myself and others:What are the preconditions to producetheatre?The responses have consistently beenthe same and can actually formtogether a pattern of progressionfollowing an imaginary timeline.When I do the analysis of groups,regions, nation’s preconditions to thea-tre work, I use this model forpossibility analysis. Missing com-ponents must be added to the chain sothat it does not break.

Figure 2

IdeaThere must be a vision, a thought, anidea of what to accomplish.The mother of the idea is an individual.It can be a director or producer but itcould also be anyone within the field ofcreativity.The idea has often detailed design, notjust: ”I want to put up Romeo andJuliet”. The idea may also bethematically, connected to a particularplace or person.An experienced theatre worker carrieshundreds of ideas and when the timeand conditions are right, it is time totake the idea further. Ideas are bornthrough exposure in a creative climate.

Driving forceA driven person is the one who cantake responsibility for the imple-mentation of the idea, organizationaland time, often a director or producer.The mother of the idea can be identicalto the driving person but it is notnecessary.

A room in time and spaceA place adapted for the theatreactivities is a necessity. Here we findthe material resources for what a thea-tre requires. The place is also theboundary within which the projecttakes shape and develops.The time is also a limitation that mustbe adjusted to the particular project.Theatre needs both a frame in theroom and as time-frame.

ParticipantsFor the idea to be realized it needspeople who are interested in carrying itforward. They must have the practicaland mental precondition to meet up inthe room and time to share thecreative process.

Let me point out: it’s never a problemfinding people wanting to be on stage.The problem is to find actors with thespecial endowment to stand on the

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Participants

Idea

Playable material to investigate

Knowledge Sharing

Room in space & time

Driving Force

Exchange and

Evaluation

stage. Even more difficult is to findpersons who want to work with theimportant tasks, which at first glancedo not show: costume, design, marke-ting, management and so on.

KnowledgeAs everyone knows, theatre usesknowledge: Knowledge of the functionswithin the theatre, the stage craft,artistry but also new knowledge aboutthe current project.There are few areas of art that is asknowledge intensive as the theatre.

Material to investigateThe playable material is what willappear on the stage. The material mustbe in harmony with the idea and alsobe possible for the group to work with.A difficult material requires moreknowledge. The level of the quality isdetermined by this.

SharingThis is the meeting with the audience.The point everything aims at. Theatreis communication and here we sharethe material investigated with theaudience.

Exchange and evaluationA time for evaluative discussions andtheatre festivals where people withsimilar interests share their ideas andknowledge.The sharing is what gives oxygen tothe next idea and project and theevaluation tells what to develop, whatto keep or what to improve.

And so the next spiral movement be-gins in the creative chain.

2.3 The Iceberg principle

An unaware observer of the theatre willsee only the tip of the ”iceberg”. Aseveryone knows, 10% of an icebergshows above water. The main part is

hidden below the water surface and istherefore not evident. It is the samewithin the performing arts: What yousee on stage at a performance is just a”tip”. I’ll show you three examples.

Figure 3

TimeWhat you see on stage can last fromless than 20 minutes to over 6 hours.The time spent in the process leadingup to the opening night, can, inprofessional contexts, be about 400hours.

PersonsThe people you see on stage, actor andmusician, are in most cases only asmall part of the production team. Youhave stage manager, director, producer,costume designer, set designer, propmaster, composer, technician, lightingdesigner, marketer etc. And for eachfunction often a team is connected.

KnowledgeMany believe that the most importanttask in the theatre process is that theactors learn the text. That is not thecase.


In a theatre process you need to haveknowledge in physiological, psycho-logical, sociological, historical,scientific, handcraft, economic, busi-ness, mathematical, linguistic, literary,analyzing the market and legal know-ledge.As stated earlier, the total knowledgegenerated in a theatre process isoverwhelmingly intense.

3. Mauritian theatre, myassumptions andhypothesis

The first two chapters have dealtwith basic needs and provided sometools for analysing.Chapter 3 will be devoted to the thea-tre situation in Mauritius, as I saw it,before this project was initiated inOctober 2014.

I’ve met authors, directors and specificgroups in rehearsal or performances.I’ve been attending the National DramaFestival on many occasions, both thepreliminaries and finals.I have rehearsed three, small,theatrical productions to performancewith Mauritian groups.I have taught and shared knowledgewith students at RTI, MIE and otherinstitutions.I have met teachers who are workingor want to work with theatre pedagogyin their daily teaching.I’ve been, through several workshopsled by me, having meeting with theDrama section at the Ministry of artsand culture.Through this active participation, Ihave experienced Mauritian theatreand its conditions.

I am aware that Mauritius became freefrom colonial rule in 1968, and that thetheatre before was mostly colonial andconducted from English and Frenchviewpoints.

I will now comment, through theanalytical models, on my experiencesof theatre in Mauritius.These assumptions or hypotheses arethe reason I wanted to initiate thisstudy and they will serve as a mirror tothe result of this report.

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For scientific purposes it is useful torecognize where my starting point wastaken and the possible expectations ofthe outcome of the research, I hadbefore doing the real study.

In the end of this chapter I will sharesome thoughts from UNESCO in theyear 1980 and present some develop-ment sectors for theatre in Mauritius.

3.1 The three levels and Mauritius

Individual levelIf we accept my basic assumption thatdevelopment requires key people andthese are producers, directors anddrama writers: it is clear that there is ashortage of producers but also directorswho know their task.My impression is that it is written verymuch directly for the theatre, not leastto the national drama festival, but thatthe level of quality is relatively low.

I think there are several reasons; lackof knowledge, lack of curiosity aboutother theatre groups and positiveinfluences from knowledgeable rolemodels, even from outside Mauritius.The majority of group leaders(directors) seem to come from theschool system: they are teachers andas part of their teaching they take thechance to stage with the help of somepupils.

Group levelIf we accept that it is at this level thea-tre is created, the number of groupsseems surprisingly high: Each year,over 100 teams, only in the nationaldrama festival and several other inde-pendent, autonomous, groups.Moreover, there are a few private thea-tre associations that audience- andsponsor-finance their productions.In between, there is a middle layerwith more or less stable groupings.

Stability is a key factor in sustainabledevelopment. The majority of the 100playing groups, attached to theirschools, provides a loss of participantsfor every year that passes; if not thereis a natural progression for individualpupils outside the school framework.

Knowledge of how to build stable orga-nisations (NGOs) seems to be missingor not being recognized.A knowledgeable producer knows howto build such a structure.

Structural levelThe structure that stands out mostclearly is what The Drama Section,Ministry of arts and culture, stands for.Here we have The National DramaFestival and various workshops,training and ”Centre de formationartistiques”.

Organized education, which is part ofthe conditions that the structurenormally provides, does not exist.Some attempt is made by Mauritiusinstitute of Education and RabindranathTagore Institute to establish theatreeducation at higher level.

If we now look at the relationshipbetween the different levels, we seethat the structural level givesconditions through education but not tothe coordinated rate that would beneeded.

Ministry of arts and culture dominatesinitiatives that might normally comefrom the group level or a national asso-ciation of theatre groups. The Nationaldrama festival sets the agenda for whatthe groups are to work with and when.The groups that do not participate findthemselves living ”outside the system”.Since there is no explicit goal with thefestival going on for decades, itbecomes difficult to evaluate or qualityassure.


A statement that I share with the vastworld of theatre is that theatre is nothelped by a contest - but by sharing, toimprove others and to learn fromothers. Theatre has always and willalways be a collective, corporate, artform.Letting groups of low-level compete,does not favour a high degree ofquality. A knowledgeable jury sharingknowledge to the groups and possiblychooses which ones to meet, and Imean meet, in a joint, audience-oriented festival is more natural and isin line with what the world theatreorganizations is working for.

I see nothing that could preventperformances from different languagegroups taking part in the same festival.Theatre language is universal andthere is knowledge to extract from allcultures, language groups, religionsand ethnicities.

Good theatre is good theatre; it is assimple as that - really.

3.2 The creative chain andMauritius

IdeaI do not think Mauritius lacks theatricalideas. But I think many are starting tothink at the wrong point. ”We will

participate at the festival - what shouldwe play?”

A few ideas are unique and include aset of themes, venue, form, stage de-sign, roles, audience, etc. Theatre is allabout communication and meeting withthe audience, the particular targetgroup is superior.Mauritius needs a more creativeclimate from which ideas are born. Itneeds forum to meet and develop ideasand concepts.

Driven personMore than a hundred performancesalso means more than a hundredpeople leading the work forward. Theymay have their different skills andmotivations. Most leaders I’ve metcome from the world of school andwork within it.

There are also people running theatreprojects outside of work hours and theyusually have a different energy thanthe teachers. They also have otherconditions.What commitments have been madefor all these leaders, do they have aforum to engage in, get and shareideas or are they isolated islands?

Room in time and spaceBy this I mean both the rehearsalrooms and performance space. Toachieve quality, they also need to beadapted to the theatre and not be dis-turbed by other activities.In Mauritius there are many placesavailable. But I’ve never been to arehearsal without distractionconcerning the place or time.The premises are rarely adapted to amodern way of working with theatre,where black-box theatre is prevalentand huge modern theatre salons tooptimize the meeting.

Good prospects exist but somethingstands in the way: The lack of

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regularity, focus, patience, knowledgeand discipline!Also, I think many in Mauritius are notready to commit 200-400 hours for atheatre production: the time requiredto create theatre quality. The way tolook at the work and the form of howto work must change.

ParticipantsActors are usually readily available butother functions, equally important, aredifficult to fill.

But the main problem in Mauritius isinfrastructure and logistics. How do youget to the rehearsal at the right time?How is information spread? Who doeswhat and in what time frame?

Perhaps a beginning must be to limitthe number of participants, the mate-rial they are working with and the time(rehearsal length & performancelength).

KnowledgeWithout knowledge; no result of qualitythat could /should meet an audience.

The knowledge gathering people aro-und a project is present in Mauritius.But the artistic ability to design a showinto something unique is lacking. Thisindicates a lack of knowledge about allelements involved in a theatrical work.The director and the producer’s taskare not made clear.There is also a lack of knowledge abouthow to adapt a text’s difficulty level tothe ensemble’s ability.

Playable material to investigateA playable material may be written byan author, a product of the work of thegroup or improvised. The material canalso be more or less interactive, i.e. theaudience is invited to participate orinfluence.In Mauritius there are a lot self-produced materials, local writers provi-

ding the groups with plays. Somegroups write and improvise their ownmaterial and many use pieces from theFrench, English and Indian tradition.I see clear influences from so-calledsoap operas in the style. Often is aparticular theme problematized andalmost always with a happy, facile,ending.

A dramas nature is not simple. But Ithink the serious study of skilled wri-ters can raise the quality of writing andgive ideas on how a drama is built.The will and conflict is central to adramatic text. The word Drama, fromGreek, means ”to act”. I see very littleaction on the Mauritian stage but Ihear very many words. It talks morethan it acts!

As previously mentioned, the materialmust be in harmony with the skills ofthe playing group. To make this assess-ment, in advance, requires knowledge.

Sharing, exchange of experiencesand evaluationLittle of what I see of Mauritius theatreis characterized by sharing, listening toothers’ knowledge and experience, orto evaluate and ensure the quality.

3.3 The Iceberg and Mauritius

Generally speaking, the time, thepeople and the knowledge I see onstage is not something that goes deep.The Iceberg has, so to say, no hiddendeep base.In other words, what we see seemsvery superficial and shallow.We, who works with theatre, valuesand need time to the process, extrac-ting knowledge and competent peoplefor all the parts involved in a theatreproduction.

A few people who work with thedevelopment of the theatre in Mauritius


realize that the process requires time,knowledge and human resources!

3.4 The Future workshop 2013

During 2013, I held a number of Futureworkshops with theatre competentpeople in Mauritius.I have used the method for more than20 years, to develop theatreorganizations in Northern Europe.Simply put, it is based on to firstidentify barriers to a given objective,then turn the barriers to objectives andexamine the way.

On these occasions, I formulated theinitial question:

What are the most important obstaclesfor development of Theatre inMauritius?

In order to prevent the reader fromgetting tired, I will present theresponses reversed to target images orobjectives directly:

There is a strong culture and traditionof theatre in Mauritius.

Mauritius has excellent professionaltraining and education in all the fieldsof theatre and on all levels.

The support from the public and privatesector are given all the resourcesneeded to produce high quality theatre.

There is a total interest and cover oftheatre in all Mauritian media.

Parents encourage there children fortraining in the performing arts.

From those workshops the ideaemerged to make a larger study thatwould involve a specific target groupand provide more specific objectives

and suggestions for a theatredevelopment for the future.

3.5 UNESCO report 1980

During my research I found one inter-national research done by UNESCO inthe year 1980 – Theatre in Mauritiusby Fabio Pacchioni. The finalsuggestions contain some remarks thatmust be mentioned in this chapterabout views on the Mauritian theatre.

The restructuring of the Festival

The transformation of the projectSchool of drama into a Theatreworkshop

The establishment of a TravellingTheatre Group – Trial theatre

The search for a social consensuswith a view to creating anddeveloping a national popular thea-tre

3.6 Development Sectors

Theatre is currently used in many diffe-rent sectors of society. To see that wemust first forget theatre in its usualform: that as stage performance.

When I undertook this study, I metmany people, not least in the educationsector, which pointed out that toeducate, there must be job oppor-tunities.

Without revealing too much about thedetails (there are actually othercountries that manage to combineeducation in theatre with jobopportunities) I intend to indicate foursectors that can be developed with thehelp of theatre knowledgeable staff.I surely do not need to mention theentertainment and film industry and

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the energy and resources that a well-developed theatre means.

Just to remind: using theatre in allthese sector requires well educatedprofessionals and we need to assurethe quality all the way.

The education sectorMany university courses for teachersaround the world, includes theatre as atool for future teachers. Applied theatrecould be a collective term. Thisincludes role playing, storytelling,forum theatre, values clarification,pedagogical drama and many exercisesthat have been developed within thetheatre.Many researchers are becoming moreand more aware of, especially in theU.S.; teaching without substantiatedfantasy develops no knowledge to thefuture creative, flexible entrepreneurs.

Social sectorApplied theatre is also used here, nowwith the aim to highlight problems,social - psychological, and findsolutions through visualization. Themethods of the theatre makes peopleevolve, becoming stronger socially andindividually.

The business communityMany larger companies use techniquesfrom theatre to study future scenarios.They try out company values and dorisk analysis. But perhaps the mostcommon is to use theatre techniques toexamine conflicts, how we meet otherpeople, customers and employees.

The tourism sectorExperience- and cultural tourism hasexisted as a concept for many years.The basic idea is that a tourist wouldwant to have an experience, preferablywith active participation. Mauritius hasa history, stories, their authors andtheir unique locations.

More and more exhibitors, museums,attractions offer interactive theatre as apart of this industry. It strives for aholistic experience in which all sensesare included and invited.

The stage is set for all this in Mauritius!Who want to enter?


4 Definitions and method

So far this report provided a histo-rical and theoretical background. It alsogave some personal aspects,assumptions and hypothesis of theconditions in Mauritian theatre.Now I will turn the focus to the futureby introducing the method and, inchapter 5, the result.

4.1 Definition of Terms

The aim of this study is to find out andask key persons in Mauritian theatrehow to create a sustainable Mauritiantheatre in development.The method in use is both a part of theresearch and a democratic process tobuild network and find consensus andunity: The future workshop.

Key personsThe most important key persons in theprocess of theatre are directors, pro-ducers and dramatists and to be able tocontribute with knowledge they need tobe very experienced.A director is someone who takes thewhole responsibility for the artisticproduct – the performance. Thedirector is the team leader of theactors.A producer is someone who takes thetotal responsibility for the timeframe,budget frame and allocation ofresponsibility. The producer is the teamleader for all main responsibilities andthe total production.A dramatist is someone who producesdramatic texts for the use in a theatreproject.In this study ”very experienced” meanscontinuous work (professional oramateur) in the field of theatre for atleast three years.

Figure 4Stratification of three experience levels

Sustainable theatreA sustainable theatre is a theatre thatdoes not need to be woken up all thetime. It continues to work by its ownenergy. It seems to sleep sometimesbut the process never sleeps. It isstrong and stable but also soft andflexible; investigating, researching,evolving and always on its way.Theatre is process but also a product; astory told by people to other peoples atthe same space and time.

DevelopmentDevelopment is the act or process ofgrowing or causing something to growor become larger or more advanced

4.2 Method

This part will describe the method usedin the different steps. Some parts willalso include and end with a discussionabout weakness in the method used.The chapter is following the timelinefrom the 15th of October to the end ofJanuary:

very experienced(Target group)

beginner

experienced

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1. Finding the target group OctoberDecember

2. Invitation period December-January

3. The three workshops andseminars January

4. Communicating the results fromeach workshop to participants

5. Working committee meeting 31stof January

4.2.1 Finding the target groupOctober 15th to December12th

As mentioned earlier, the first stepmust be to identify the key people andafter that invite them to talk about andwork with the future plan.

I have used several sources toaccomplish this list:

A. The Ministry of Arts and Culturehave a section for theatre. For a longtime they have been working with TheNational Drama Festival, which eachyear brings together around 100groups and performances. The sectionhas a register with directors, writersand to some extent producers. I askedthe officers, responsible for thedifferent language group-festivals, toselect the most experienced from theseregisters and in meeting with me,disclose general background and thespecific names with address.

Since many key persons are operatingoutside the framework of the NationalDrama Festival, I used several otherways to collect data:

B. The Ministry of Arts and Culturehas a register of artists, updatedcontinuously. It is based on thatpeople, active in culture, putthemselves in the Ministry’s database.From this register, I myself picked allthe people who entered activity withinthe theatre.

C. In meeting with the NationalLibrary, I got access to several namesof playwrights and have subsequentlysought their addresses.

D. Through the various theatres re-servation system, I collected thenames and groups that played at thesestages, the last few years.

E. During my more than five years inMauritius, I also have a network ofpeople, mostly directors, producers anddramatists. These people also gotnetworks of experienced individuals,who also belong to the target group.On several occasions I have met thesepeople for individual meetings andmapping.

The journeys of all meetings have ta-ken me from then north, Grand Bay, tothe southwest, Tamarind.

Results of the inventoryIn my calculation, I expected to findabout 100 people in the target group.When the listing was completed, 12th

December 2014, I had 162 names. Ibelieve in the idea to be moreaffirmative than limiting and the invita-tion went out to all of them, that daythrough letters, in English and in somecases via email.

The target group was invited to thethree workshops and seminars inJanuary 2015.The three events were placed on threeSaturdays from 9.00-13.00 and atthree locations to cover severalregions. The key persons had in thatway, multiple choices or opportunitiesto participate.

WeaknessAlthough the definition of the targetgroup is clear, there may beweaknesses to discuss about the ap-proach.

13Per Skjöldebrand 2015

The invitation was in English, thosewho do not read English could notunderstand the letter. Since the letterwas sent out from The Ministry of Artsand Culture, and at least one phonenumber was mentioned in the letter, itwas possible to ascertain the letter’scontent via phone call.

Several of the databases used arebased on people registered themselves.It may be that they overestimatethemselves or not at all belong to thetarget group or have left it.

There may also be a weakness inallowing officers to choose the mostexperienced from their festival records,although the definition of target groupis clear. Some of them may applyhigher demands than others in thesample and vice versa.Also for these reasons I have decidedto be generous with the number ofpeople invited because there are notany other relevant options.

There is always a difficulty in findingthe right time and place for workshopsand seminars. The options that wereoffered aimed at, as far as possible, tomake it likely that the target groupwould be able to find a suitable time toparticipate.

4.2.2 Invitation periodDecember 12th to January10th

During this period I received severalphone calls from people askingquestions and to tell witch of the datesthey wanted to attend the workshop.I did not call or encourage certainindividuals to come. I did not tell theofficers at the Drama section to makeany major effort to persuade anyone tocome.The simple reason behind this was toavoid tampering with the scientific

selection. If you call one - you mustcall everybody.My basic thought is that a democraticprocess will work only if the person,who really wants to take part in it, isthe one who contribute and attend.Even if this could mean that only a fewfrom the target group will be present.

When it comes to the next step, theworkshop and seminar, I avoidedcontrolling if all participants had aninvitation sent to them personally. Inthis step I needed to be welcoming andcreate a positive atmosphere.

4.2.3 Workshops and seminars10th to 24th of January

This part will give you a background tothe specific method, the phases andhow it was carried out in Mauritius.

4.2.3.1 Future Workshop

The future workshop is a futurestechnique developed by Robert Jungk,Ruediger Lutz and Norbert R. Muellertin the 1970s. It enables a group ofpeople to develop new ideas orsolutions of sociological problems.A future workshop is particularlysuitable for participants who have littleexperience with processes of creativedecision making.However it requires an intensive prepa-ration and support by trainedmoderators. It is used in spatialplanning to involve citizens in theplanning process.The method is similar to Open SpaceTechnology, Future Search, BarCamp orUnconferences.Future workshop may also be used as akind of action research method. That isthe case in this study.

14

Phases

1. Preparation Phase: the method, itsrules and the scheduled course of theworkshop is introduced.

2. Critique phase: The problem isinvestigated critically and thoroughly.First of all, a visualised brainstormingis performed and a general and criticalquestion concerning the problem isframed.

3. Fantasy or visionary phase: Allparticipants try to work out a utopia, todraw an exaggerated picture of futurepossibilities.

4. Implementation phase: The ideasfound are checked and evaluated inregard to their practicability.

The state of mind the process mustwork according to is: everything ispossible and right. No one in the roomshould use the word: NO (Like in: No,that is wrong, No, that is impossible).

The aim is to use effective time to findout accurate objectives and a plan tochange the future. At the same timethe method creates active participationand a sense of responsibility.

4.2.3.2 The method and phasesused in these particularworkshops

After a fairly thorough briefingincluding findings from other countriesregarding the needs in a theatre pro-cess (the creative chain), thesociological model for analyzingstructures (3-level model) and a visualexercise in reaching goals, the firsttask was presented to the group.The large group was already dividedinto smaller groups of 3-5 people.

Group task 1Make a list of 5 of the main obstaclesfor the objective:A sustainable Mauritian theatre indevelopment.The group work out the ideas togetherduring maximum 15 minutes.

Presentation 1Each group introduce their obstacles tothe large group, using kitchen paper,and must be prepared to makeeverything clear and understandable toeveryone.

Voting 1Now each of the persons must find outand vote for the obstacles she / hethink is the most important. Everyoneis given 3 points to share out on all ofthe kitchen papers. This is an intenseand short step in the process.

Pause and dynamizationWhile the participants have a pause,the leader calculates witch 3-4obstacles got the most points. Andthen the leader turns the writtensentences into positive goals:dynamization.

Presentation 2The objectives are presented by theleader to the whole group.

Group task 2In some way or another, theparticipants chose one of the presentedobjectives to work on.The task is to find and list the way, orrather many ways, to achieve thedesired position.This process could take 15 minutes ormore.

Presentation 3Every group present the different ac-tion needed to reach the objectives.

The whole process could now go onwith a new voting but I decided to

15Per Skjöldebrand 2015

summarize and ask if anyone like to bea part of the next step in the process;the formation of a working committeeafter completion all the three work-shops.

Dates and location for the Futureworkshops and seminars:10th of January 09.00-13.00 PaillotteCentre Formation Artistiques (13participants)17th of January 09.00-13.00 Plaine dePapayes Centre Formation Artistiques(18 participants)24th of January 09.00-13.00 PointeCanon Centre Formation Artistiques (5participants)Total individuals participating 36

WeaknessSome may say this is a superficialmethod that does not reach the profo-und analyzes and solutions. To someextent this is true but because theprocess is supposed to lead both toaction and new analyzes, thisweakness is no too serious.

Moreover, one can say that there arethree control groups. Since the samequestion is asked in three differentgroups, the result either becomes clearor ambiguous and imprecise.In the outcome and the results we cansee that the uniqueness and clearnessoutweighs.Putting the same question, using thesame method to three groupsbelonging to the same target group,and the answers should point in thesame direction!

About 40 people participated in theseminars. They constitute one forth ofthe entire target group. 100% mighthave been better but my belief is thatthose who wanted to attend andparticipate in this process of changeare those who will bear the honour ofinfluence. If we sit down and wait for

everyone to join, it will stop a demo-cratic process to positive change andnothing will be done.

Another weakness I can spot is that thetarget group may have been too wide.Some of the results indicate that someparticipants attending the workshophad only the frame of the Nationaldrama festival in mind. Therefore, Isense a slight sliding in the targetgroup, from the very top of theexperience to a slightly lower level ofexperience.

Figure 5Sliding of individuals in target group

4.2.4 Communicating the resultsfrom each workshop toparticipants

With the help of e-mail and Facebookthe notes / results from each workshopwas distributed to participants with e-mail address. Only the participantsattending the specific workshop got thenotes. The aim was to keep them up-to-date, informed and to give a chanceof feed-back on the notes.

WeaknessOne obvious problem with IT-communication is that only the

Actualsample of the

population

Target group(population)

16

participants with access could beinformed and invited to feed-back.

4.2.5 Working committee

During the last minutes of theworkshops, I asked if one or maximumthree would like to be a part of a newmeeting the 31st of January.The topic of the meeting was the report”A sustainable Mauritian Theatre indevelopment” (this report) and adiscussion how to build a strongorganizational national foundation,based on the findings in this study andthrough the summary of the FutureWorkshops.This Working Committee met atCentre de Paillotte and took thedecision to further investigate thedesign of such an organization.


One of the effects of this study (alsoone of the tasks in the research plan)is to create a clearer picture of theconditions for the theatre groups inMauritius. Most of the research in thiscase, has been done with the supportfrom the Drama section, somecontribution comes from dialog withdirectors and my own observationsduring the years.

The categories are not different thanfrom other countries. We have:

School theatre groupsTheatre clubsAmateur theatreCommunity theatreNGO´sNPO´sSemi-professional groupsTheatre enterprises / companies

Starting with the first with a lessdegree of independence and self-

financing to more autonomic andprobably more sustainable organi-zations.

4.4 Educational situation for thetheatre

A part of this research includedmeeting with institutions in Mauritiuswith an interest in working with and /or developing education in drama ortheatre.

A part of Mauritius institute ofEducations (MIE) mission containseducation in drama and theatre. Themain objective is to provide teachers intraining with a tool for further use inthe classes in school. Some productionsare made and shown to school child-ren.

Rabindranath Tagore Institute (sortingunder MGI) held during 2011-2012 aDiploma in dramatic arts. Today thereis a Certificate course mainly foryouths. There might be a plan tocontinue with a bachelor degree indramatic arts.

Helen O’Grady s drama academy is aninternational provider of developmentaldrama programs for children agedbetween 3 and 17 years in over 25countries worldwide and Mauritius isone of them.

Opera Mauritius Academy is anexample of an organisation recruitingand educating skilful members bothwith external and internal purposes.

Some stabile groups arrange internalworkshops and shorter educationalsessions and the same is done from theministry of arts and culture where thedrama section focuses on workshopswithin the framework of the Nationaldrama festival. Besides that they havestarted to increase the pedagogicalvisits to schools in Zone 1 and 2.


5 Presentation of result

The main part of this chapter isthe result from the workshops. I willalso give a characterization or image ofthe theatre groups in Mauritius andfinally describe what Mauritius have interms of educational institutions fortheatre, even if much was said inChapter 4.

5.1 The objectives

To conclude and clarify the results fromthe three workshops is a little liketrying to force toothpaste back in thetube. But one thing is clear: The resultsare pointing at exactly the samedirection! And they are highlysupported by the pilot research in 2013(Chapter 3.4).

The key persons invited to theworkshops formulate three main focusareas:

Structural supportEducationTheatre in Mauritian culture

Three objectives are formulated fromthe initial question:How can we create a sustainableMauritian theatre in development?

It must be stated and clearthat this is what key personsin the theatre of Mauritiuswant to see in the future.

Structural supportThe Mauritian theatre develops and isencouraged through a well organized,strong structural motivation to createand distribute good financial andinfrastructural conditions for theatreproductions. All the halls andrehearsing areas are well adjusted,with accurate materials, for the pur-pose of high quality theatre.

EducationAll the practical and theoreticaleducations and knowledge, in all fieldsof theatre are distributed to the activeand potential groups from several re-gional training centres, schools andinstitutions around Mauritius and thereis many ways to make a career in thefield of performing arts.

Theatre in Mauritian cultureTheatre is an important art form in theMauritian culture and tradition thatpervades the whole society regardlessof ethnicity, socio-economic status,location and language. To take partboth as audience and active is a part ofthe Mauritian life style that is shownthrough performances out in the villa-ges as well as many local theatre clubswith training activities.

Even if the workshops didn’t explicitformulate a clear objective, there is aninteresting forth focus area that I willcall ”Internal communication”. I will tryto give an idea of the objective basedon the obstacles listed.

Internal communicationAll the theatre groups in Mauritius area part of a network and communicatewell between each other. Theknowledge in all groups preventsunnecessary conflicts about tasks,discipline and understanding the pro-cess of theatre.

5.2 Means to achieve the goals

What kind of activities do we have tofocus on to reach the objectives?Once again it is the three workshops incombination giving the answers.For the focus area ”Mauritian culture”there was no time to work out thedetails but you may find that this partis dealt with through the work with theother objectives. In fact, you may findthat many things are integrated andaffects each other.

18

Structural support*intermediate targets

1. A National committee is set upwhich work in full cooperationwith groups to cater for theirneeds.

2. Collaborations (MoU - memoran-dum of understanding) are madewith international organisationsfor sponsorship.

3. All private companies, schools,gymnasiums, community centresand individuals are given theincentives to lend their space toartists.

4. Raised volunteer charity (online)5. All full security and safety

measures are taken.6. We have a quick application

process to book space forperformance (online system)

7. We have a well organized trans-port system for theatre workers

8. The finance of projects arequality assured and followsunderstandable rules.

9. Finance brings better quality inthe total performance: setting,sound, lighting, directing.

10.We have investigated and seenthe possibilities of a job marketin the art of theatre.

Education*intermediate targets

School1. The Ministry of education finds it

important to have theatre anddrama in the curriculum.

2. Drama and theatre is a practicalcompulsory subject, a module, inschool from pre-primary,primary, secondary in order tounderstand, not only the theory,the process and performances,but also to understand your self,others, group process and thepower of visualisation.

3. The study and practice of theatreis an integrated part of alllanguage studies and of course inthe subject ”literature”.

4. Many opportunities are given tochildren in schools using drama,role play, dance- and song-games etc.

5. Children are exposed to dramaand theatre in an early age byhigh quality, live drama.

6. University of Mauritius have aprogram for theatre education(producers and directors)

7. Specialized theatre education ofteachers and other activeparticipants take place at theuniversity and drama schools.

Teachers8. Through MIE, all the teachers in

Mauritius have an excellenteducation both in theatre as anart form and as a tool in theeducational situation.

9. We have specialized dramateachers at every school inMauritius. They also act as asupport for the social workersand psychologist in the school.

10.The theatre is working with so-cial issues and threats at school(bullying, ragging) and solvesthem by the use of the tool ofdrama.


Training centres and a school of drama11.We have maximum usage of all

the training centres for theatre.12.We have more professional

trainers in theatre at the disposalfor all participants.

13.We create a knowledge hub forperforming arts.

14 We propose the Ministry of artsand culture to finance a school ofDrama (same as for dance andmusic). Aiming to introduce anddevelop the young generation’stheatre skills – education afterschool hours and with competentteachers with practical ex-perience of professional theatre.

Media15.There is a total interest and

cover of theatre in all media andwe use media to educate parentsand public in the benefits oftheatre.

16.It could be useful to watch filmsand drama on TV (with guidanceand knowledge of methods forMedia Analysis) to learn moreabout storytelling and acting.

Arrangement of theatre and workshops17.We arrange drama activities

during cultural programs aroundthe island.

18.We use the method of mobiletheatre (van) to bring theatre tothe population.

19.We show how drama helps withemotional problems, conflictsand for personal growth.

20.Drama is used in social culturalgatherings

21.We have several open stagetheatres, free speech, free ofcharge, in Mauritius. Theyoperate under the name of OPENSTAGE.

22.We have regular performancethrough small, short plays.

23.We arrange workshops at Natio-nal Assembly level, villages,district council andmunicipalities.

24.We motivate parents to givemotivation to the children.

25.Theatre is in use as therapy andtravel to the audiences (patients,orphans, old age, homemakers,differently abled)

The result is very clear even if theways to reach the objectives coulddiffer.All the notes from the three seminarscould be read in the appendix forverification.


Compared to many other countries,Mauritius seems to have theatre groupsgathered around strong individuals.The opposite is strong groups or orga-nisations that gather the neededexperts.To organise the continuous work oftheatre outside or alongside an ongoingproject will contribute to stability andsustainable groups.

We have:School theatre groupsTheatre clubsAmateur theatreCommunity theatreNGO´sNPO´sSemi-professional groupsTheatre enterprises / companies

Starting with the first with a lessdegree of independence and self-financing to more autonomic andprobably more sustainable.

If we once more use the image of apyramid with the bas of depending andthe top of independent groups, I will

20

dare to say that the Mauritian pyramidis rather flat.Figure 6Present groupallocation

This may also explain why the resultsof the workshop are on different levels.The target group of highly experiencedtheatre leaders were not quiteheterogeneous.

A strong recommendation for thefuture is to strengthen thedevelopment of more autonomousworking groups. A quest to achievethis image:

Figure 7Future groupallocation

That will probably also facilitate thework of and with a national theatreorganization.

5.4 Educational situation for thetheatre

The result of the workshops pointedout education and knowledge as one ofthe most important areas to improve.The research done in this field gives a

Dependent

Dependent

Independent

Independent

rather fuzzy picture. Many good willsexist but either there is a plan for ex-pansion or has just been changed. Todescribe reality as it stands right nowgives no guidance on how it will looklike tomorrow.

Without a doubt, a stabile educationalwork, on a small scale, is going onoutside the framework of theministries. This is educationalinitiatives taken by private organisa-tions or operated by associations.

During the research period we hadgeneral election in Mauritius. Some ofthe plans for education and culturemay have changed depending onchange in government. Some of thepositions held may also have a changeof CEO.

The theatre in Mauritius needs a stabileand sustainable cultural andeducational plan, according to theresults of the workshops. Some of thesuggestions clearly focus on MIE andtheir important training of teachers.

If the structure of theatrical educationis uncertain and vague: how could thetheatre in Mauritius become sustain-able and developed?

We surely need transparency and acomprehensive view to overlook thewhole field of education in performingarts otherwise we will stay confused,even in the future.

And as stated in Chapter 1: Theatre isa very practical activity, involvingencounter with other people. Theschool must provide a desire to learnand the desire to express.


6 Back to the theory of basicconditions and myhypothesis

If we now take a look at theresults of the workshops and apply themodel with the three levels: we willfind that many of the objectives focuson the relation between the group leveland the structural level. A fewindications lead us to focus on thegroup level and the relation to theindividual level.

If we take a look at the creative chainand compare with the results of theworkshops: we can see that whatneeds to be the starting point tostrengthen is: Knowledge, Space andSharing.

Finally a look at the iceberg: In theresult of the workshop I see a problemmanaging time, knowledge and people.The Mauritian theatre must adjust theperformances to the time to rehears,the knowledge in the group and focusmore on functions in front and behindthe stage. This will lead to shorterplays but the quality will boostimmediately. The knowledge of how toprocess a play and dramaturgy will beneeded.

If we now take a short look at myassumptions and hypothesis in Chapter3 and compare with the result of theworkshops: I find a completeaccordance but two things ofimportance surprised me.

1. The importance of integratingtheatre as an expression in theMauritian culture.2. The importance of strengtheningthe groups own structure, the internaldialogue and contact with others inthe same field of activity.

7 Towards a sustainableMauritian theatre indevelopment

In this chapter I will integrate allthat can serve as objectives formulatedin the past chapters. I will start withthe four objectives that came out as adirect result of the workshops.

1. Structural supportThe Mauritian theatre develops and isencouraged through a well organized,strong structural motivation to createand distribute good financial andinfrastructural conditions for theatreproductions. All the halls andrehearsing areas are well adjusted,with accurate materials, for the pur-pose of high quality theatre.

2. EducationAll the practical and theoreticaleducations and knowledge, in all fieldsof theatre are distributed to the activeand potential groups from several re-gional training centres, schools andinstitutions around Mauritius and thereare many ways to make a career in thefield of performing arts.

3. Theatre in Mauritian cultureTheatre is an important art form in theMauritian culture and tradition thatpervades the whole society regardlessof ethnicity, socio-economic status,location and language. To take partboth as audience and active is a part ofthe Mauritian life style that is shownthrough performances out in the villa-ges as well as many local theatre clubswith training activities.

22

4. Internal communicationAll the theatre groups in Mauritius area part of a network and communicatewell between each other. Theknowledge in all groups preventsunnecessary conflicts about tasks,discipline and understanding the pro-cess of theatre.

When I now add goals that were part ofmy early pilot study, analyzing thepresent result and what I have seenwhen characterizing theatre groups,emerges six more:

5. The theatre groupsMauritian theatre is aiming to createsustainable independent andautonomous theatre groups / organisa-tions with high quality performancesand in constant development.

6. Key personsMauritius has a large amount ofcompetent producers, directors anddramatists who meet and encourageeach other to develop.

7. Undeveloped sectorsThe Mauritian theatre continues toinvestigate job opportunities in sectorsnot usually working with theatre: tour-ist, social, educational, business,democratic / public sector etc.

8. National associationA national organization for theatrebrings together the local associations.The organization looks after needs andpursues issues of common interest.The organization, acknowledged by theRepublic of Mauritius, provides awindow to the international theatreworld.

9. National theatre festivalThe national drama festival has beenevaluated, by the Ministry of Arts andCulture, and redesigned to betterpromote the playing groups in their

need of development, stability, stimu-lation and knowledge.

10. A National theatreA professional National Theatre withthe task to play for both children andadults is established. The performancesare substantially touring on placeswhere people are and brings issuesthat people are interested in: It mustbe easy to access good theatre. Thistheatre ensemble has a base to operatefrom. The national theatre also hasimportant educational tasks and servesas a model for other theatre active inthe country.


8. A holistic approach toMauritian theatre and whereto continue

I have spent time, energy andmany thoughts during this process ofcreating this study and report. I haveused my knowledge in all parts of theprocess and in writing this report forthe Ministry of Arts and Culture. Thisreport is also part of a process that willgo on. All the workshop participantsand others are the origin of most ofthis material. They will also continuethe process of finding ways for:A sustainable Mauritian theatre indevelopment.

For them this will serve as a guide toachieve a change in positive direction:A formation of a working committee toa forthcoming national organizationthat promotes and works in accordancewith the knowledge obtained throughthis report, saw the day light the 31st ofJanuary 2015. This material will nowserve as a platform for the next stepand a new project and more research.

To keep a holistic viewpoint and ap-proach is important in the process tocreate something stable.Always remember: action at one levelshould also affect the other twolevels: Individual, group andstructural level interact and affecteach other in different degrees.

24

As I now hand over this research reportto the Ministry of Arts and Culture,thanking for the confidence; I have tostate:

I am willing to take full responsibility togo on building a sustainable theatre inconstant development. I have theexperience, the knowledge requiredand the skill to open windows to theworld of theatre.

MauritiusSunday, 1 February 2015

Per Skjöldebrand29 Camelia Street, TerrassonPointe aux SablesMobile phone: 5714 47 [email protected]

References

Boal, Augusto (1979). Theatre of the Oppressed.London: Pluto Press

Brook, Peter (1968). The Empty Space. New York:Simon and Schuster.

Brown, Stuart L. 2009. Play: How it Shapes the Brain,Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.Avery.

Helander, Karin (2011). Att vara och inte vara rollen,skådespelarens paradox.The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History andAntiquities Yearbook 2011, Stockholm.

Holdsworth, Nadina (2014). Theatre and NationalIdentity - Re-Imagining Conceptions of Nation.Routledge.

Holman, Peggy, Devane, Tom and Cady, Steven (ed.2006): The Change Handbook - TheDefinitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods forEngaging Whole Systems - 2nd edition, San Fran-cisco.

Kieran Egan, Maureen Stout and Keiichi Takaya 2007.Teaching and Learning Outside the Box: InspiringImagination Across the Curriculum. Teachers CollegePress, New York

Pacchioni, Fabio, Theatre in Mauritius, UNESCO 1980

Skjöldebrand, Per (2004), Amatörteaterkonsulent iÖrebro län. Örebro, Regionutveckling

Stubbs, Naomi J. 2013. Cultivating National Identitythrough Performance, American Pleasure Gardens andEntertainment. Palgrave Macmillan.

van de Water, Manon (2012). Theatre, Youth, andCulture - A Critical and Historical Exploration.Palgrave Macmillan.

Wickham, Glynne (1992). A history of the theatre.Phaidon,

Witham, Barry B. (2013). A Sustainable Theatre,Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow. Palgrave Macmillan.

AppendixNotes from workshop 1, 2 and 3.

Workshop no. 1 - 10/1 20015A sustainable Mauritian theatre in development!

This is not only all the notes from the workshop. I have tried to condense them with the use ofheadlines. The first part is the obstacles with your points, followed by the turn into objectives.The second part shows all the activities made to achieve the objectives. And as you remember: weonly kept focusing on the main, first, objective: Education!I have not sorted that part out because I know it will be integrated with the coming workshops.Even if I find everything interesting I will sort out the three most, according to your votes, discussedareas.

Thank you for sharing your ideas in this very important process of developing the Mauritian theatre!In the final report I will put the results from all three workshops into a plan for the future, in a morestructured way.

Questions asked during the seminar:1. What could be the biggest obstacles to

A SUSTAINABLE MAURITIAN THEATRE IN DEVELOPMENT?Turn them into objectives – negative obstacles to positive goals.

2. How did we get there? Or: means to achieve the goals.

EDUCATION7 Lack of education and knowledge in the field of theatre5 The education is too academic and don’t give space for the extra expressional activities2 Youths can not make a career in the field of drama

All the practical and theoretical educations and knowledge in theatre are distributed to theactive and potential and there is many ways to make a career in the field of performing arts.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FINANCE3 No proper motivation to create good financial and infrastructural conditions for theatre2 Lack of finance for audience and producers2 Lack of space adjusted to performing arts2 Lack of proper theatre halls

There is a strong structural motivation to create good financial and infrastructural conditionsfor theatre productions in Mauritius. All the halls and rehearsing areas are well adjusted forthe purpose of theatre.

THE AUDIENCE2 Drama is not in the Mauritian culture1 Lack of interest in theatre from people depending on no culture tradition4 Lack of interest from the audience1 The problem of language

I

Drama is an important art form in the Mauritian culture and tradition that pervades thewhole society regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, location and language. To takepart both as audience and active is a part of the Mauritian life style.INTERNAL

2 Too many clashes of ideas in the theatre process1 A problem to recruit artists1 Insufficient communication between theatre groups

Obstacles without points but important and could be sseen as part of the main headlines aswell

There are no workshops or trainingLack of professional participantTheatre is too time consumingLack of training and certification for performing arts

No public transportation for the audience at nightLack of financial implications and lack of motivation to come – people want it for freeCompeting entertainment forms

Not enough governmental supportThe artistic activities are not recognised

How to reach the goals EDUCATION and theatre

School – students and teachersEducation – curriculum – compulsory subject in Pre-primary, primary, secondary schools.Training in theatre – drama schools and university to train teachers and participants.We work with social issues and threats at school (bullying, ragging) and solve them by use of thetool of drama.Opportunities given to children in schools using drama (role play etc) through organized association.Exposure of drama in an early ageWe have specialized drama teachers at every school in Mauritius. They also act as a support for thesocial workers and psychologist in the school.Children are given high quality, live, drama on stage.Through MIE, all the teachers in Mauritius have an excellent education both in drama as an art formand in theatre as a tool in the educational situation.The Ministry of education finds it important to have theatre and drama in the curriculumThe study and practice of theatre is an integrated part of all language studies and of course in thesubject ”literature”.Drama and theatre is a practical subject, a module, in school from pre-primary, primary, secondary toUniversity in order to understand, not only the theory and performances, but also to understand yourself, others, group process and the power of visualisation.Watching films and drama on TV (with guidance and knowledge of methods for Media Analysis)

Children - parentsWe give motivation of parents to give motivation to the children.

MediaWe use media to educate parents and public in the benefits of theatre.

Appendix

II

Open arrangementsWe arrange drama activities during cultural programs around the island.We use the method of mobile theatre (van) to bring theatre to the population.We show how drama helps with emotional problems, conflicts and for personal growth.Drama is used in social cultural gatheringsWe have several open stage theatres, free speech, free of charge, in Mauritius. They work under thename of OPEN STAGE.

Target workshopWe arrange workshops at National Assembly level, villages, district council and municipalities.

Workshop no. 2 - 17/1 20015A sustainable Mauritian theatre in development!

This is not only all the notes from the workshop. I have tried to condense them with the use ofheadlines. The first part is the obstacles with your points, followed by the turn into objectives. Ifocus only on the 3-4 ones with most points.The second part shows all the activities made to achieve the objectives.I have not sorted that part out because I know it will be integrated with the coming workshops.Even if everything is interesting I will sort out the three most, according to your votes, discussedareas.

I note (DF) if the area is mostly about the National Drama festival. I see the drama festival as onlyone part of the potential to develop theatre. My topic is the whole field of dramatic arts.

Thank you for sharing your ideas in this very important process of developing the Mauritian theatre!In the final report I will put the results from all three workshops into a plan for the future.

Questions asked during the seminar:1. What could be the biggest obstacles to

A SUSTAINABLE MAURITIAN THEATRE IN DEVELOPMENT?Turn them into objectives – negative obstacles to positive goals.


STRUCTURAL SUPPORT7 Lack of facilities and finance to better promote theatre2 Insufficient financial support from concerned authority.3 Financial constrains6 Lack of motivation from officers

National drama festival2 (DF) ”Professionals” and beginners are aligned in the same competition4 (DF) Lack of prizes to motivate new participants.2 (DF) Lack of incentives to good artists.

Appendix

III

All the infrastructure, facilities and finance are well distributed and according to therequirements’ from the active groups and knowledge hubs. The theatre is regarded asimportant and the active is getting all the attention, reward and space they deserve.

KNOWLEDGE5 Lack of knowledge and proper training centres.2 Lack of modern theatre

All the knowledge, in all fields of theatre, is up to date and provided and brought out fromseveral regional training centres around Mauritius.

MATERIAL5 Lack of materials in theatre

The theatre in Mauritius is well provided with all the materials needed for producing high qualityperformances and training.

RECRUITING PARTICIPANTS AND AUDIENCE1 People show less interest in theatre1 Lack of interest in drama as participants get less initiative from authorities2 Theatre is not coming to common people.1 Very few voluntary clubs to sustain drama / theatre activities

In Mauritius the interest of theatre is very high. That is shown all the way from the structurallevel to the common people and through performances out in the villages as well as many localtheatre clubs with training activities.

INTERNAL GROUP ISSUES1 Lack of discipline1 Problems with newcomers to understand the context.

The time is constraint for participants as there are mainly students for rehearsals.Lack of instructionsNot coming on timeToo much repeating takes time

How to reach the four goals

1. All the infrastructure, facilities and finance are well distributed and according to therequirements’ from the active groups and knowledge hubs. The theatre is regarded asimportant and the active is getting all the attention, reward and space they deserve.

More workers have been introduced to theatre to create employment.Pick up of students from schools / colleges to rehearsals.Finance in respect to encourage participants (reward / cash / award)Stage manager will be more confidentTransport – reach in time – calm mind – carriage of props for rehearsal and stage settings.Finance can bring: more best plays, better setting, better lighting, better sound,

2. The theatre in Mauritius is well provided with all the materials needed for producinghigh quality performances and training.

Appendix

IV

We have materialsWe can promote theatre every where in any region.We can create best plays.We can create job opportunities.We can perform in any festival, X-mas, Divali, ceremonies etc.We can advertise: TV, camerafilm, radio, sound effects: cyclone, accident and other things (?)

3. All the knowledge, in all fields of theatre, is up to date and provided and brought outfrom several regional training centres around Mauritius.

We have maximum usage of all the training centres for theatre.We have more professional trainers in theatre at the disposal for participants.We create a knowledge hub for performing arts.We have regular performance through small plays.

4. In Mauritius the interest of theatre is very high. That is shown all the way from thestructural level to the common people and through performances out in the villages as well asmany local theatre clubs with training activities.

(ND) Specific for the national drama festivalParticipants are rewarded in cashTraining to participants assured.Transport facilities provided.Released from school / work to take part in theatre activities.Materials are provided.Traveling will be refunded to every participants.

Workshop no. 3 – Saturday 24/1 2015A sustainable Mauritian theatre in development!

This is not just all the notes from the workshop. I have tried to condense them with the use ofheadlines. The first part is the obstacles with your points, followed by the turn into objectives. Ifocus only on the 2 ones with more total points.The second part shows all the activities made to achieve the objectives.I have not sorted that part out because I know it will be integrated with the two other workshops.

Thank you for sharing your ideas in this very important process of developing the Mauritian theatre!In the final report I will put the results from all three workshops into a plan for the future.

Questions asked during the seminar:1. What could be the biggest obstacles toA SUSTAINABLE MAURITIAN THEATRE IN DEVELOPMENT?Turn them into objectives – negative obstacles to positive goals.

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Obstacles with points:

Infrastructure2 The theatre groups in Mauritius lack infrastructure the is needed to encourage further work:

Proper place, resources and materials.2 There is no right place for rehearsals.

Knowledge and education2 The ministry is not organizing workshops in theatre2 There is no school of Drama in Mauritius

Other obstacles:2 Lack of required appreciation of theatre among people.1 Lack of encouragement that is required to perform many times.1 No incentives for performing actors1 Language becomes a barrier in many ways even though theatre transcends these barriers.No commitment of individuals and stakeholders.Directors and actors have conflictsLack of support from the ministry of arts and culture

Two main goals to focus on:

InfrastructureThe Mauritian theatre develops and is encouraged through a well organized infrastructure:proper location for rehearsal work, training and performances, all kinds of resources andmaterials.

How did we achieve a part of this objective?

All private companies, schools, gymnasiums, community centres and individuals where given theincentives to lend their space to artists.A full security and safety measures were taken.National committee was set up which worked in full cooperation with groups to cater for theirneeds.Quick application process to book space for performance (online sytem)Collaborations (MoU - memorandum of understanding) were made with international organisationsfor sponsorship.Theatre in use as therapy and travel to the audiences (patients, orphans, old age, homemakers,differently abled)Raised volunteer charity (online)

Knowledge and educationThe ministry of arts and culture is organizing several ongoing, structured, workshops and aschool of drama with the support of professional teachers and leaders.

How did we achieve one part of this objective?We proposed the Ministry of arts and culture to finance a school of Drama (same as for dance andmusic). Aiming to introduce and develop the young generation’s theatre skills – education afterschool hours and with competent teachers with practical experience of professional theatre.

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Towards a sustainable Mauritian theatre in development

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