Robert Hamm
Background:
Bertolt Brecht is one of the main sources that influenced Frigga Haug when she started (and continued) developing/using CMW. Concepts like “living historically” or “living in the third person” are inextricably connected to the original idea of CMW.
Brecht wrote about the usefulness of employing the alienation-effect for the purpose of gaining (new) perspectives, insights, understandings of otherwise ‘all-to-familiar’ phenomena. An aspect of alienation-effect is by design included when we write stories in the third person.
But as a group process CMW offers further opportunities to use the alienation-effect, most prominently in the form of performing and acting out memory-scenes, using written scenes as scripts that are playfully modified.
My own experiences of acting out of memory-scenes in various CMW seminars is overwhelmingly positive. It added to the discussions in at least two ways:
It brought new/different angles into the discussion, mainly by way of interpretations of characters/roles that were enacted, and … it was always fun, everyone involved enjoyed the activity, which impacted positively on the liveliness of discussion/s.
This does not mean that in all cases everyone was in agreement with various interpretations of characters/roles. Quite the opposite. There were frequently disputes over ‘this’ or ‘that’ way of acting out. But this is exactly what made the whole thing interesting, putting the different perceptions into context/s (it aligns with the process of text-analysis/deconstruction, e.g. when it comes to ‘vacuums’ or ‘clichés’ or ‘irritations’) … aka the alienation-effect at work!
But these experiences are merely anecdotical.
In a longer term perspective (beyond the Symposium) I would be interested in a more structured discussion, picking up questions about potential benefits and/or pitfalls when using drama elements in CMW, and also looking at potential linkages to other playful uses of drama in group processes.
For the Symposium however, I would like to mainly (though not exclusively) focus on the practical side of things: The fun and frolics of playfully acting out a memory-scene.
Session-Structure:
There are three parts to the session.
a) Participants will be put together in small groups (max. 4). A memory-scene that was written in a CMW-project in the past will be read out to all participants. In the small groups participants will collect their ’empathic understanding’.
b) A very brief instruction will be given, whereby the groups are supposed to develop their own ‘alienated version’ of the scene into a stage act. The group will develop and rehearse their scene amongst themselves. If a group is stuck for a start some general suggestions will be available.
c) The groups will perform their scenes in turns.
We will have a brief concluding round with personal impressions from the session (making use of a ‘feedback template’).
After-Effects
In the best of all cases, the session may be a spark for people with an interest in a more structured evaluation of drama/performance as part of CMW to organise themselves in further discussion or projects.