Stimulus: The Fan Club — a forum theatre scene

How forum theatre works

Forum theatre was invented by the Brazilian theatre-maker Augusto Boal. The actors play a short scene in which things go badly. Then they play it again, and this time the audience — Boal called them spect-actors — can stop it and step in.

First run: the scene is played straight through. Nobody interrupts.
Second run: at any stop point, anyone in the audience can say “Stop!”, tap an actor on the shoulder, take their place and try something different.
The Joker runs the forum. After each attempt the Joker asks the audience three questions: What changed? Would that work in real life? What did it cost the person who tried it?

The rules for today

You may replace Cai, Dev or Sara. You may not replace Elin or Jac. Making the people who started it suddenly become nice is not a solution — it is magic.
No magic. Every idea must be something a real Year 9 pupil could do tomorrow.
The actors playing Elin and Jac stay in role and react the way those characters would, but they only use the lines in the script, or shrug, or say “whatever”. Nobody invents new insults.
When you step out of a role, say “I’m me again” and shake it off.

The characters

Name	Who they are
CAI	Year 9. Auditioned for the school show last week and sang a solo in rehearsal.
ELIN	Year 9. Filmed the rehearsal on her phone. Popular; runs the class group chat.
JAC	Year 9. Elin’s friend. Thinks it is all a laugh.
SARA	Year 9. Not really friends with anyone involved. Reacts to posts without thinking.
DEV	Year 9. Cai’s best friend since primary school.

Staging: messages in the group chat are spoken by the character who sends them, facing the audience, holding up one hand like a lit phone screen. Private messages are spoken quietly, facing each other.

Moment 1 — Friday, 21:40

ELIN: (posting) A ten-second video from rehearsal. Cai’s voice cracks on the high note. “who let him sing [crying-laughing face]”

SARA: (reacts with a laughing face without reading properly, then goes back to her game)

DEV: (types “that’s harsh”. Looks at it. Deletes it. Puts his phone face down.)

Moment 2 — Saturday, 10:15

CAI: (opening the chat, reading) Forty-seven reactions. (Types.) “can u delete that pls”

ELIN: “can’t take a joke [eye-roll]” (She renames the group “Cai-raoke Fan Club”.)

Moment 3 — Sunday, 20:05

Moment 4 — Monday, 08:50, the corridor

Somebody off-stage hums the high note as CAI walks past. SARA laughs, then sees CAI’s face and looks away.

CAI: (to the form tutor, off-stage) Miss, I’ve got a headache. Can I go to the office?

Moment 5 — Monday, 22:30

CAI sits alone, phone face down. DEV types a message to him, looks at it, and deletes it. Lights down.

If this scene is close to home

Talk to a trusted adult: a parent or carer, your form tutor, head of year, or the school’s safeguarding lead. Outside school you can contact Meic, the helpline for children and young people in Wales, in Welsh or English: 080 880 23456, 8am to midnight every day, or by message and online chat at meic.cymru. Childline is free and confidential on 0800 1111.