Industrial Theatre is a term to describe theatre that is commissioned by a business and performed for a group of its employees in a work-place environment to raise awareness, create knowledge, enhance training and to facilitate change^[1]. The theatre piece is carefully designed to be effective in furthering the interests of the commissioning company, or promoting wellbeing among its employees, generally using the tool of a short play performed by actors, or another arts-based intervention. The process is enhanced when it is not a didactic performance presentation, but a more participatory example of two-way communication, with the audience actively participating in the production. After the intervention, the commissioning company will generally review the impact of the intervention^[2].

Industrial Theatre can take on many different forms and have different objectives within an organisation. People generally use the term “Industrial Theatre” with very little consensus regarding its meaning or function. It is used, in general, to define any theatre that occurs in an industrial setting. This broad categorisation ranges from a play informing people about HIV and AIDS, to actors role-playing situations as part of staff development and training, to a piece of theatre that furthers the aims and facilitates more effective functioning of that particular organisation. Practitioners use it to achieve different objectives related to, for example, issue management, internal communications, promotion, advertising and awareness campaigns. The circumstances that it addresses are industry and issue specific. For example, Industrial Theatre may be defined as the use of drama and drama techniques to create learning and change in business environments. This is achieved by creating synergy between the disciplines of drama, organisational development and psychology in the design and execution of projects (The Learning Theatre Organisation, 2000). Industrial Theatre has also been defined as the use of drama and actors within a commercial setting, to sell a product or service, to put across a concept, to raise people’s awareness and to enhance training[3]

Industrial theatre can be used to pass on any message, or explore any work-place problems. From trips and slips to conveyor belt operation, or exploring a company’s values, industrial theatre has been used to cover a wide range of topics. Some companies mount large-scale productions with extensive costumes and props, while others will present simpler and more mobile and cost-effective works. Industrial theatre is often seen as a top-down process of communication, from the owners or managers of business to its employees. However, it can also be imagined as a spectrum ranging from less interactive theatre forms (top-down) to a more dialogical process, where theatre is practiced with the people or by the people as a way of empowering a workforce or community, listening to their concerns, and then encouraging them to voice and solve their own problems, as in the practice of Theatre for Development ( David Kerr, 1995; Zakes Mda 1993). Participation in such theatre interventions can be rated on a scale of ten different levels; from minimal participation as an audience member, to maximum participation of group members actively involved in determining both the content and the form of the intervention (Durden, 2011).

Good industrial theatre practitioners will have an understanding of the purpose of the intervention, and will then consider the best framework or form for delivering the content of the message.

Other terms that are used to describe this purpose-designed theatre include:

• Workplace theatre: theatre that happens in the workplace.^[4][5]
• Corporate theatre: theatre performed in a corporate environment - or with a marketing purpose.
• Factory-floor theatre: theatre performed specifically in the factory environment, generally focused on production-related matters or health and safety.
• Roadshows: travelling theatre that reaches multiple workplace sites with the same production.

Industrial Theatre is situation specific, and can take almost any theatrical form that will effectively convey the desired messages and/or solicit the desired audience expression, including:

• Drama
• Comedy
• Musicals
• Forum theatre
• Problem solving theatre^[6]
• Ambush theatre ^[7]
• Image theatre ^[8]
• Dance
• Mime
• A combination of these forms.

The value of using industrial theatre to influence behaviour change is based on the understanding that the workplace has a powerful influence on social attitudes, values and behaviour (Durden, 2004). Workers spend approximately forty hours a week in the workplace, and are exposed to the views, opinions and attitudes of their peers. The factory floor is a place of social interaction, where people exchange ideas and may influence each other, thus determining what people believe and how they behave. To harness this effect, factories should be seen as more than simply sites for production, but also as sites for attitudinal change (Adkins, 2002).

Research into the use of industrial theatre have proven it to be “an appropriate training and development method” (Maritz, De Beer & Du Plessis, 2003:2). Theatre is found to be captivating and compelling, effective in encouraging audiences to challenge their own attitudes and behaviour “for the purpose of growth and learning” (Maritz et al, 2003:2). The goals of the theatre intervention need to be clearly defined in order for the intervention to be successful. If these goals are clear, the medium can be used to address any issue within the workplace environment.

Industrial theatre should be seen as a strategically designed intervention, not just entertainment. It is only effective if it brings about change. It must do more than simply introduce knowledge and heighten awareness among audiences. There is a strong body of theory about drama, and about achieving change through drama.

Dynamic communication models (Mersham and Baker, 2002), and meaning-making theory (Hall, 1998; Tomaselli, 1997), emphasize that the creators of a theatre intervention must have a prior understanding of the audience in order to conceptualise how the audience will make sense of the message encoded in the theatre performance.

To be effective, industrial theatre interventions should be context-specific and consciously use a culturally common language to connect with the audience and to avoid absurdities and misinterpretation. This is in line with the best practices promoted in health and behavior change communication (Piotrow et al, 1997).

Good industrial theatre practitioners will take into account the audience, the context, and the message to be conveyed in order to create work that will be menaingful and specific, rather than generic plays for a "one size fits all" audience.

The human brain most effectively stores and recalls information when it is in story format. Stories are literally how we are wired to communicate. Whenever possible, Industrial Theatre uses story structures and storytelling principles to deliver information — even (and especially) with content (such as corporate training theatre) that typically do not take advantage of storytelling. (Need references)

Actors will typically engage directly with the audience, breaking the fourth wall. (needs references)

Few industrial theatre practitioners conduct detailed post-exposure evaluation and research. Most rely on the audience’s laughter, the levels of applause and comments from management to gauge the effectiveness of an intervention.

Industrial theatre consultant, Emma Durden PhD, has conducted research into the reception and impact of theatre through a variety of projects, primarily working with those facilitated by the Problem Solving Theatre Project (PST Project) in South Africa. (we can list a few of my articles here – and maybe the PST project website).

Australian Industrial theatre company iHR^[9] identifies seven adult learning principles that are applied in Industrial theatre that are intended to ensure the full engagement of the audience and successful transfer of knowledge to the audience.

1. Active learning: The audience is encouraged to discuss, participate and interact with actors.
2. Multi-sense learning: The theatre supports visual, auditory and kinaesthetic content to better match the many types of learners.
3. Primacy and recency: The actor emphiasise the key learning areas and highlight key points and takeaways in the first and last parts of our sessions. Information is presented in 'bite sized chunks' to aid retention.
4. Feedback and reward: The learning path and progress through it is explicitly stated, audience members are encouraged to ask questions and facilitators will support positive interactions.
5. Practice and repetition: Regular summaries encourage retention, while physical participation also allows adult learners to absorb the utmost level of information and learning.
6. Meaningful material: The content is chosen to be relevant and meaningful to the audience, dealing with situations they are familiar with.
7. Holistic Learning: The content will explain the relationship of the content and the event to the broader perspective of the audience members' roles in their workplace.

Theatre for Development, like Industrial theatre, has the purpose of concientising an audience. Theatre for Development is generally not performed in an industrial setting. It is usually performed in a community setting, in public spaces (street theatre) or community halls. Industrial theatre, Development theatre and the similar but more politicised Agitprop theatre use similar dramatic techniques for ensuring audience involvement and lasting impact. (Durden, 1927)

Companies will consider many communication media for messaging within their business. Typically e-mail, posters, lectures, videos and theatre are used. The immutable format of industrial video is constrained to present a message in a linear manner. Video has the disadvantage of low engagement and low long term retention by the viewer (Durden, 1924).

Purpose commissioned video has a high up-front cost, but has the advantage of being able to be played multiple times in multiple sites for no further costs. In addition, there is a large library of existing video material that can be purchased or rented at much lower cost.

In contrast, Industrial theatre can be engaging and responsive to the audience. Industrial theatre will involve the audience, and some varieties will enlist audience members into the production to play out the message of the production. High audience involvement reinforces the message and the retained knowledge from the production persists far longer than a video or a poster display (Durden,1924b). Industrial theatre costs are incurred initially for development of the material, and then there will be per-performance costs.

Methods like e.g. 'invisible theatre', 'image theatre' or 'ambush theatre'^[10] can be acted in the streets, seen by people passing by. 'Invisible theatre' seems like a real situation to the audience, which mainly functions as a thought-provoking impulse to the people who observe the situation. Every kind of ITh-programme trusts in the strength of the word of mouth via people who face the situation, are part of a project or watch a critical play. 'Invisible theatre' in the streets reaches people who wouldn't attend a workshop or watch a play, thus the coverage of addressed people can be even higher and social change is another step closer.

The logistics of doing street theatre necessitate simple costumes and props, and often there is little or no amplification of sound, with actors depending on their natural vocal and physical ability. This issue with sound has meant that physical theatre, including dance, mime and slapstick, is a very popular genre in an outdoor setting. The performances need to be highly visible, loud and simple to follow in order to attract a crowd.

Companies commission theatre and entertainment performances for conferences, awards ceremonies, exhibitions, product launches, business meetings and corporate functions. These works are intended to promote a brand, sell a product or simply entertain. Their audience is not workplace staff and the design of the piece is more oriented to creating a favourable impression rather than a message. ^[11]

Quoted from Edmond and Tilley 2002.

While Jonkheid is understandably happy with her campaign’s  outcome, she is not one-eyed about theatre.  It is, she points out, expensive and “difficult to manage”.  The logistics can be complex: workplaces are not acoustically or otherwise designed as performance spaces.  
Furthermore, each expensive-to-stage performance is essentially a one-off.  Jonkheid describes the theatre she has used so far with Harmony as a “non-sustainable” communication medium.  It is costly to hire theatre professionals to make a customised piece, yet the message is only presented for the play’s actual duration; seven minutes.  
The Harmony project’s next phase, which Jonkheid has just begun, aims to make theatre a more “sustainable” employee relations tool.  She wants theatre to become a permanent channel for employees to articulate their views and problems, and is forming groups of twelve Harmony employees to work with one professional theatre director and four apprentice actors to learn acting and staging skills.  In doing so, she takes a step closer to the style of theatre that, from our analysis of theatre theory and the history of workplace theatre, we recommend as likely to be most effective for long-term benefit.

^[12] Industrial theatre is commissioned work. A client wishes to meet some management objective, and has decided that live performance is the optimal way to achieve that objective. The process of developing an industrial theatre work is similar to the processes followed in other artistic disciplines.^[13][14]

Preparation of a Brief: The producer engages with the corporate client and together they define the broad objectives of the work and the essential script and dramatic elements that must be included in the work to attain those objectives. Having a sense of the broad scope of the proposal the producer is able to prepare a conceptual brief and a proposal for costs. Once the brief is agreed, contracts are signed and the work proceeds.

Creative preparation: The producer and the playwright will prepare a script, assemble a cast and procure any costumes and props required. There will be liaison with the client on the finalisation of the script and on performance arrangements. The cast will learn the piece and modify the script to suit their artistic expression.

Technical: Industrial theatre done on a factory floor typically uses a minimal set and no sound system. If a production with sound equipment and lighting is required for a convention or large event than the relevant experts are called in once the performance design is almost complete. Most sound and lighting plans depend on the performance timing being close to finalised.

Performance: The work is performed on-site before the intended audience. It may be recorded, filmed or minuted for later review.

Assessment: Industrial Theatre is similar to advertising in that it is purposefully designed to change the knowledge and perceptions of the audience in some way. Following performances the client may request a study to determine the efficacy of the intervention. Further performances may be fine-tuned to address deficiencies.

Industrial theatre is used extensively in Southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. It is also gaining ground in the UK and in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands.

Kangaroo, Koala, Fosters, Outback, Bruce.

Rework this.....

Our actors and facilitators offer you the extension of “the actor factor” from our plays and theatre-based workshops for leadership training in many areas.^[15] Some examples of tools we can extend to leadership development include

Forum Theatre: The basis is a play or a scenario and we use “Stop the action” to review and replay action subject to the group’s work. Ideal for up to 15 people.

Skills workshops. The play or scenario is a starting point for smaller workshops where participants are encouraged to try out the actions and can be coached in supportive, personal and safe environments.

Challenge your organization “Have we done everything we can to develop employee engagement in our values?”

Rework this...

Our Proven Methodology

A signature feature of all iHR Australia's workplace training solutions is the use of our unique training methodology - Workplace Reality Theatre.^[16]

Workplace Reality Theatre consists of professional actors re-enacting real workplace situations. The scenarios featured in re-enactments have been specifically chosen for each program and highlight various common workplace behaviours. This allows those taking part in the training to observe the problems which are being discussed and to connect the scenarios and behaviour to their own work environment.

This approach helps to make the lessons learned more “real” for participants and to facilitate effective learning transfer. The use of live actors enables participants to become more emotionally engaged and creates a higher level of interest and involvement. Live acting makes subtle behaviours, such as body language, gestures and tone of voice, more clear for the audience and assists the facilitator in explaining and demonstrating desired behaviour and good practice, in comparison to examples of poor behaviour.

There are Industrial Theatre companies in Finland. The techniques used are similar to other countries, in that the problem is written into the plot of the work and enacted in an imaginary workplace. The audience is empowered to grapple with the issues, for example change management within the organisation, and to express their concerns and emotional reactions.^[17]

Eurovia ^[18] used theatre to raise risk and safety awareness in the workplace. In 2006, a play titled “Attention, travaux” (“Caution: men at work”) was staged in efforts to raise employee awareness with respect to occupational risk and mobilize preventive action in the workplace. Discussion sessions with employees were also held in conjunction with the play. “Attention, travaux” toured France and was staged about 70 times; it was seen by over 20,000 spectators, all of whom work with Eurovia. The performances were followed by discussions involving employees, divisional managers, and the Company’s quality-prevention-environment delegates. Brochure de présentation de la pièce "Attention, travaux"

In Germany businesses have been hiring corporate theatre productions since early in the 1990s. The performances have been commissioned for a variety of purposes, such as improving staff motivation, communication of information and staff morale.^[19]

Fabian Lempa writes that the German productions have used ideas and concepts from avant-garde theatre and theorists such as Jacob L. Moreno who wrote on psychology and drama, Bertolt_Brecht who broke many theatrical conventions to create a sense of astonishment and curiosity, Augusto Boal who embraced drama as a medium for political change, and Dorothy Heathcote who wrote on drama and education.^[20]

Yes, there is some. Say so here. https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=F54B34CE-DF68-5746-3293-CD6A01D01B50

Dr Margot Edwards, a senior lecturer with the School of Management, wanted to create an effective intervention for dealing with bullying at work. Instead of producing the usual seminar, she decided to write a play.

“I wanted to actually create something interactive to get people thinking in a different way about how bullying makes people feel and what the reasons behind it might be,” Dr Edwards says.

“A play allows people to have a discussion about the characters and their behaviour, without accusing a colleague. It also allows you to reflect on your own experiences and how they made you feel. We all remember those scenes in our head when the boss came in and shouted at us, for example, and we think ‘I wished I’d said this’ – you can use those experiences to effect change.”

More here.(Durden,1932 and 1937b)

Edmond and Tilley (2002) write^[21] that workplace theatre provides a useful and flexible public relations tool that can be used to meet the goals of employee relations programs, particularly in culturally diverse workplaces. The Harmony gold mining company used theatre to bridge workplace cultural divides and encourage two-way communication in the workplace.

Tulips, canals, windmills, clogs, dykes, herrings, salty liquorice.

And something can go here.(Bronté,1905)

• Greek & Roman Mask Timeline
• PST Projects (South Africa)

These cuttings are going to be integrated into the article or rejected.

Source: http://dynamicconversations.com/about/what-is-corporate-theatre/ A Raw and Powerful Learning Experience

Corporate Theatre is where two distinct industries – Education and Theatre – are blended to create a powerful learning experience in an entertaining and engaging manner.

There are three basic types of learning that we all undertake; skills, knowledge and attitude. We learn skills by ‘doing’ and we learn knowledge by ‘reading or listening’ to others who have the knowledge. Learning an attitude is not easy in a classroom with traditional training methods. This is why role plays and case studies have become popular training methods.

Attitudinal training that suit ‘Role plays’ as a training method include; customer service, sales skills and more advanced interpersonal skills such as counselling and coaching.

Our emphasis will be on having fun, and having a healthy laugh whilst new leadership insights are served up in a safe and non-threatening manner.

http://wp.wpi.edu/biz/2011/11/21/faculty-spotlight-steve-taylor-phd/

His early academic studies were in theater – writing and theater. He became interested in theater as a means for social change. His work in theater includes plays like “The Invisible Foot”, “Blasphemy and Doubt” etc. Professor Steve’s work employs theatre performances as a means of organizational development and change. His recent published papers include “Representing wholeness: learning via theatrical productions”, “Enacting the ‘true self’: Towards a theory of embodied authentic leadership” and “Understanding arts-based methods in managerial development”. In 2010 he presented a staged reading of the play “Cow going abstract” at the annual Academy of Management meeting, Montreal, Canada.

http://www.stepsdrama.com/our-approach/interactive-drama/

Performance management, customer service, difficult conversations - whatever the behavioural challenge, interactive drama is a brilliant solution to collectively explore better practice in a safe and highly engaging environment.

How does it work? The Actor-Facilitators start a scenario, one of them comes out of the scenario to ask the group for help, they facilitate debate and discussion with the group and then take the advice back into the scene. Simple, and very effective for exploring subtle and complex issues in detail. The learning comes from individuals seeing the impact of their behaviours being played out (for better or worse!)

This works with small or large groups, and at all levels – from senior executives to front-line staff.