Playback Centre

The Wonders of Teaching Playback

The students sat holding a giant circle of twine. They came from Denmark, Brazil, Canada, Australia, and the US.  Odia Jordaan, from Pretoria,South Africa, another student, had asked them to write on a piece of paper and tape to the twine one way they had used playback theatre. “Pick one setting,” she said. There was a diversity of answers: “in a school,” “for a corporation,” “at a memorial service.” She then asked them to tape a piece of paper with one setting where they dreamt of bringing playback theatre:  to corporations, to immigrants, to families, to troubled youth. Then, after giving individual pieces of twine to each member, she invited them to run it from their spot on the circle across to anyone else whose setting they aspired to.  The result was a network of connection that captured not only the wide range of applications for playback theatre, but the spirit of connection among its practitioners.

Odia’s presentation was part of a 4-day course called Teaching Playback Theatre to Beginners taught by Jonathan Fox that recently took place at Falling Waters in Saugerties, NY. It followed the three-day Beauty of the Form taught by Jo Salas. This course focused on the different playback forms and the art of when to use them. “I now have much more confidence about what to do,” said one of the students. “And it is so important to come to the source.” Jonathan and Jo are the founders of playback theatre.