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Forum theatre was first explored by Augusto Boal and can be great for developing ideas. It brings the actors and audience onto an equal playing field. Ideas generated are varied, as audience members can experiment with situations from their own life experiences. As such, forum theatre can work well as a way to explore alternative outcomes for a variety of pieces of devised work.

A scene is shown once and then repeated to the audience, during which any audience member (Boal called them ‘spect-actors’ can shout ‘Stop’ and step into the scene, taking the place of one of the characters. The scene then continues in a different way, showing how that audience member can change the situation and gain a better outcome. This can happen several times, with different spect-actors. Actors need to remain in character and improvise their responses, with a facilitator (Boal called them the ‘Joker’) aiding the communication between the actors and the audience.