Creating a space for the individual: Different theatre and performance-based approaches to sexual health communication in South Africa

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections such as HIV are illnesses that affect both a person's physical health as well as their mental and social wellbeing. Yet, the global development of public health responses have, for the most part, remained focused on the physical wellbeing of people with little attention paid to the individual's emotional wellbeing. With the highest number of HIV positive people worldwide, South Africa requires a new and positive approach to the pandemic (Ross 2008). This article aims to bring attention to practice, in this instance, theatre and performance-based work, which considers the people and communities affected and afflicted by HIV, and other sexual health concerns, as individuals with individual thoughts and emotions, for greater inclusion in a more positive approach to tackling AIDS. This article will consider three examples of such practice, namely the Themba HIV/AIDS Organisation, the Etafeni Centre and our place, our stage (OPOS) project.

Evaluating the Sharing Stories youth theatre program: an interactive theatre and drama‐based strategy for sexual health promotion among multicultural youth

“…5,18 This was evident through discussion around condom use, and the use of condoms as props throughout the drama workshops contributed to normalising the idea of carrying condoms. This experience appeared to have a positive impact on the attitudes and beliefs of the participants in relation to buying and carrying condoms.…”

“…4 Theatre and drama-based sexual health education has been shown to be a reliable strategy that is understood and enjoyed by many different communities and age groups. 4,5 The present study evaluated a theatre-based program in WA designed to educate multicultural youth on sexual health and relationship topics. The research also provided insights into using drama as an evaluation method as well as a health promotion strategy.…”

Process drama and sex education: Advocating for drama-based components of adolescent health initiatives

“…It appears, however, that only a fraction of theatrical interventions have been evaluated for efficacy (Glik et al 2002), and most interventions lack the theoretical framework required for effective sex education (Balanko 2002;Glik et al 2002;Kirby 2007;Kirby et al 2007). This article will address evaluated interventions from the past twenty years whose results have been published in peer-reviewed journals; the majority of these publications describe interventions from the United Kingdom and South Africa (see Low 2010 for a history of theatrical HIV interventions in South Africa), and very few rigorous evaluations have been carried out in the United States (Glik et al 2002).…”

“…This category denotes a more participatory approach, and the Theatre for Development model, closely linked to Theatre of the Oppressed (Evans et al 1998) with this category. Theatre for Development adheres to the community-centred values of Theatre of the Oppressed while not focusing on oppression per se, and Theatre for Development is often utilized with HIV prevention in developing countries in Africa (Low 2010). While Francis places considerable emphasis on the participatory, process-driven nature of this work, it is important to note that drama as process is different from process drama as defined by O'Neill (1995), as drama as process can encompass not only process drama strategies but also other forms of theatrical interventions such as Forum Theatre.…”

“…In this article, I focus on the O'Neill definition of process drama as a proposed strategy for implementing drama-based sex education. Low (2010) argues that theatre-based sexual health interventions need to be a considered process. In light of the need for a considered process in these interventions, it seems wise for health care providers, theatre practitioners and educators to consider process drama as an effective and engaging form of sex education delivery.…”