Playback Theatre in North Africa

“M here, will teach script writing. J will take the directing track. And we have two performing tracks. C will teach acting, and Kimberly…Kimberly…,” the Sponsor paused and looked to me for help. “She will teach something…something new called Playback.”

This is how the trainers for a Drama Conference in ____ were introduced to the 120 participants gathered for 3 ½ days of training over the leap year weekend in 2008.

As the participants made their choices for which foreign teacher they would be with for the weekend, they wanted more information. The Sponsor invited me to explain, to pitch the Playback track. I stood with my interpreter and addressed a sea of eager faces. This was their first Christian Conference solely focusing on drama training and they wanted to make the right choice. I did my best to explain.

“From the first time I saw Playback in 2002, I have been excited about the possibilities of this new form of theatre. It is relatively new, created in 1975 in USA, but now there is an International Playback Theatre Network, and there are teams which practice it all over the world. It is simple, beautiful, inexpensive, and powerful, even when performed by amateurs. It also seems that it can be all these things in any language or culture. In a lifetime of being a theatre practitioner, I’ve seen nothing else that makes the most of what theatre has to offer that is special and different than television and films. Theatre, you see, is an immediate art form. The live audience is as important to the success of each show as the actors, play, or any technical element added. Playback is improvised theatre that takes the fun of improv – like the television show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” and gives it depth and purpose beyond just entertainment. Why? Because the stories, the content of the plays come from the audience. The audience is part of the creative process. The lives of ordinary people become the subject of art. In teaching you Playback, I don’t have to worry about my understanding Arabic or the nuances of your beautiful culture. You already know what is taboo, you already know what is funny. I will teach you how to improvise it on stage with adaptable rituals we use in Playback, and you will be ready to perform anywhere and anytime. Come learn playback with me this weekend and be perhaps the very the first to know it and use it in North Africa.”

Sixteen brave souls signed up for the Playback track, which, even after the introduction still felt like a mystery to them. But thankfully for me, they jumped in with both feet from the very first session; giving themselves wholeheartedly to the process of learning Playback. My translator D kept remarking about their enthusiasm unhesitating involvement. She said, “I can’t believe they’re doing this! It’s especially unusual for upper Egyptians, because they tend to be more reserved and conservative.”

(write to me if you want the rest of this article).

I fell in love with my students as I picked up some Arabic along the way. But the phrase I’ll never forget is:

"Yalluna Netfallug"… “Let’s Watch!”