Abstract
Used in many communities, Theatre for Development (TfD) allows performers and audiences to interrogate their cultural history and their society to promote positive social change. While many scholars have investigated the impact of TfD on audiences, very little research has investigated the psychological impact on the performers. This study attempts to fill this research gap by interviewing participants in a theatre creation project about their views on contentious social issues before, during, and after the creation of scenes involving such themes. We hypothesized that, by performing counterattitudinal and/or unfamiliar behaviours, cognitive dissonance should arise in the performers, which should result in some level of internalisation and attitude change. Results support the hypothesis, particularly in regard to the themes of ethnicity and gender (in)equality, and point to the value of using TfD processes in divided communities. This has implications for many fields, including international development, gender studies, education, and clinical psychology.
Highlights
Theatre for Development (TfD) uses theatre to create spaces that allow for difficult social, cultural, and political conversations to happen within a safe but actively engaged environment
Can performing in a theatrical role have the same effect? This was studied in the context of “Kwe Kalyet”, a play developed by a long-term, interdisciplinary research team and their performer participants in Kisumu, Kenya called “Old Stories in New Ways” (OSNW)
What do these findings mean? This study demonstrates that cognitive dissonance was created in the participants when they performed behaviours that differ from their beliefs, and that internalisation occurred in many of the performers, resulting in articulated and/or demonstrated attitude change
Summary
Theatre for Development (TfD) uses theatre to create spaces that allow for difficult social, cultural, and political conversations to happen within a safe but actively engaged environment. Internalisation is the process by which one’s behaviour changes one’s attitudes or beliefs, and generally comes about organically: attitudes and beliefs are formed by engaging in daily behaviours and societal roles. They can be changed when engaging in new or different behaviours creates cognitive dissonance, a state of psychological discomfort created by confronting an attitude or behaviour that is counter to one previously held. This was studied in the context of “Kwe Kalyet”, a play developed by a long-term, interdisciplinary research team and their performer participants in Kisumu, Kenya called “Old Stories in New Ways” (OSNW). “Kwe Kalyet” is an adaptation of a traditional Luo story, “Lwanda Magere”, which describes historical violence between the Luo and Kalenjin peoples
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