We in Playback Theatre embrace the unfolding of life and the inherent spontaneity of persons & communities within their cultural, social and political contexts. We recognise the universal longing for affirmation and for connection with others. The spontaneous enactment of personal experience in Playback Theatre builds connection between people by honouring the dignity, drama, and universality of their stories. 

The purpose of this association is to further the development of Playback Theatre worldwide by affirming and bringing forth both our unity and our diversity. Through sharing our vision, we seek to enrich, strengthen, and inspire one another, and to maintain the aliveness of the Playback process.

The original Playback Theatre Company came together in 1975, with Jonathan Fox as its director. This was in upstate New York and was part of the experimental theatre explorations of the 1970s which were looking for ways of reaching out to its audience, bringing theatre closer to the everyday reality of the community, and breaking away from the scripted literary tradition of theatre. 

Jonathan Fox was much affected by his experiences some years earlier in Nepal where he witnessed ritual and theatre deeply embedded into the rhythms of community life. Playback Theatre also draws inspiration from the oral tradition of storytelling, where people gather together to hear and share the old stories - the world of myths and legends and folktales. 

Another important influence in the development of Playback Theatre has been the Psychodrama of J L Moreno. While there are differences in form and practice, there are many shared values in Playback Theatre and psychodrama. Moreno's articulation of spontaneity and the release of creative energy is a major inspiration. Authenticity in the spontaneous moment underlies Playback Theatre practice. 

Another shared value is in Moreno's inclusiveness - it mattered to him that every individual could feel they had a place within the collective. Playback Theatre creates a ritual space where any story - however ordinary, extraordinary, hidden or difficult - might be told. And where each person's uniqueness is honoured and affirmed while at the same time building and strengthening our connections to each other as a community of people.

Since 1975, Playback Theatre has spread across the world with companies and practitioners in over 26 countries. It thrives in a variety of settings, existing as community theatre gatherings as well as a professional service to both the business and social sector. 

This is the essential structure for a Playback Theatre performance. Each company may have some additional features, for example: a cloth 'tree' at the upstage right corner - a selection of coloured cloth draped over a rail or ladder which can be used in the action. Or upstage there may be a simple curtain on a rail to create a hidden area for the actors to use in the action. These are optional extras. 

There is no script, but there is a rhythm and sequence to a Playback Theatre performance. The conductor is the host and facilitator of the process. After a period of introductions and warming up, someone will volunteer to tell a story. It could be a short moment, or about a longer event. They may be past, present or future stories. They could be about a very special time or about something that happens everyday. In the course of a performance maybe 3,4 or 5 people will come forward to tell a story in this way. 

This person, who is called the Teller, will cross from the audience area to the Teller's chair. The story is told from this place with the support of the Conductor. During the interview, the Teller chooses actors to play roles in the story. As the actors are chosen, they stand. When the story is told, the Conductor will say 'Lets watch'. 

The performers take this as their cue to set up for the beginning of the enactment. There may be music to set an atmosphere and mood; the actors may use their boxes or chairs to define the space. During the enactment, the actors and musician will spontaneously improvise a re-enactment of the story, and this may happen in different artistic forms. Whether as a naturalistic scene, or through abstract movement or sound, or as a dance, or with puppets and song (or a combination of these forms), the performers attempt to capture and present the essence and heart of the story.

At the end of the enactment, the actors look to the Teller as an act of acknowledgement. Then there is a closure with the Teller - an opportunity to say something more if they feel moved to. Sometimes nothing more need be said or perhaps a few words, sometimes the Teller is offered a chance for a correction or a transformation of the scene. And the actors will replay it accordingly. The conductor thanks the Teller who returns to their seat. And then another person is invited to tell the next story, and so on.

The simple rules of this process form part of the ritual that is an essential aspect of Playback Theatre.

The ritualistic aspect of Playback Theatre provides an important container for the whole experience. The ritual creates a framework, a definition for the process, within which the unpredictable and the miraculous can manifest. When the ritual is held well by the conductor and the performers, there is a subconscious sense of safety amongst the audience. And in this atmosphere, the most profound as well as the most mundane of personal stories will feel welcomed and honoured. 

The artistic transformation of the stories into drama provides another level of impact. When this is witnessed as a spontaneous ensemble creation, it offers a deeper experience of our humanity and collective potential. Playback Theatre therefore challenges the performers to listen, allow intuition and inspiration to arise, trust and support each other, and to call upon their innate personal wisdom and experience. So in Playback Theatre training, beyond basic improvisational theatre skills there is an urge to develop greater personal awareness, and self-understanding.

The notion of the 'citizen actor' is very much part of the Playback world - that anyone has the natural capacity to perform Playback Theatre in a satisfying way. Playback performers come from many different backgrounds - social workers, administrators, educators. Some are professional actors; many are creative artists, trainers and therapists. However it is an interesting phenomenon that members of Playback companies tend to stay in a company for many years often for little or no remuneration for their time or service. Somehow the values and work of Playback Theatre - the orientation of theatre in direct service to the community - gives more than sufficient reward to the members of a company. And the investment of shared experience over a period of time creates an artistry that can be extraordinary.

A third fundamental aspect of Playback Theatre is in its attention to social interaction. The ritual and artistic response is only meaningful when there is a good cognisance of the whole group experience. This theatre form is in direct service to healing relationship, communication and understanding between people. This is an underlying value, so the conductor interacts directly with the audience with respect and human warmth, and is sensitive to the larger social context of the Playback event. By listening to personal stories we feel and weave the deeper web of our story as a community of people and thus tap into the collective and universal experience. Social change and transformation begins here, as we make space for the stories of the community, through individual voices, and are affected by them. 

Sometimes a Playback performance may begin with an explicit theme, and the stories are offered following this thread. Sometimes there is no theme to begin with, and the underlying concerns and interests of the community will reveal themselves through the deeper patterning of the stories. This is not always obvious, and a skilful conductor may be able to bring this to consciousness at the end of the performance.

The flexibility of the Playback form permits a high degree of sensitivity to the needs of specific groups. A group in the Northern Territories of Australia performed to Aboriginal communities as part of a programme to enhance self-esteem and recovery from substance abuse. An audience of Swiss engineers and accountants shared stories through Playback Theatre about organisational re-structuring; an audience of Post Office workers in Washington DC were facing redundancy. In Sydney, Playback Theatre was part of a wedding celebration. In London, it was performed at a Remembrance Evening. In Alaska, schoolchildren used Playback Theatre to deal with their grief over the death of a fellow student. Hong Kong teenagers told stories of examination pressures. 

Playback Theatre is also used in therapeutic contexts, as an additional tool for psychotherapists in their group work. In Chicago, a group of schizophrenics, outpatients at a psychiatric unit, met regularly to do Playback Theatre for each other, and told stories of coping with everyday life. In Japan, a Playback group performed for mentally handicapped people and their friends and family every month.

As well as these special contexts, Playback Theatre is performed to the general public at theatres and art centres all over the world. You could be at a performance in Tokyo, Helsinki, San Francisco, or Christchurch, suddenly moved to tell a story that you had long forgotten, but was reminded of by the previous story. It has been said that Playback is a theatre of neighbours. You may have come into the theatre as a stranger, but almost certainly by the end of the evening, you will feel a sense of aliveness and ease in talking to the people around you.

One could say that Playback Theatre is a form of healing, even sacred, theatre which creates an opportunity for the divine to enter in to an experience shared by a gathering of people. However one conceives this, it is nevertheless grounded in everyday life and stories, where the spontaneous enactment of personal experience builds connection between people by honouring the dignity, drama and universality of their stories.

Click HERE for more information and order form (in Microsoft Word format).

Veronica Needa holds a small stock of the above books in the UK. Contact her on vneeda@aol.com for information on availability and prices.