One of the ways the communities of Brighton and Hove will be involved in writing the Health Improvement Programme for the city is through Legislative Theatre

Legislative Theatre was invented by Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theatre practitioner who is world famous for his accessible theatre technique, Theatre of the Oppressed.

Boal was elected a vereador or councillor for the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Instead of suggesting laws to improve the quality of life for Rio’s citizens, he asked them what they would like to change, through theatre.

This involved groups of people in Rio devising plays about issues that affected them and then taking them to various public places for people to comment on.

The play would be shown twice, the second time through the audience would be actively encouraged to stop the action and suggest what could be changed to improve the situation. Boal was able to pass 32 new laws in Rio while he was a councillor through this method.

On the set interview with Adriana Lessa de Miranda of theatre network magazine

Brief introduction and Interview from Arts Wire, New York Foundation for the Arts

In Brighton and Hove, the Scarman Trust is working with the Coalition 4 Youth (organisations that work to involve the local community and young people in decision-making processes) to enable a grassroots group from the city to devise short plays exploring the root causes of ill health locally. These will be shown during the event and people will be asked to stop the action and suggest changes that the community or the decision-makers could make to positively affect change in the situation. At the end of this process, everyone attending will have an opportunity to prioritise through coloured dots, what they want to see happen now, soon or later.