4elements Theatre Company is committed to creating ambitious theatre through social engagement. We are passionate about social change and offer workshops in Theatre of the Oppressed to individuals, community organisations, educational bodies, and NGOs.
We have created workshops for Amnesty International, The National Institute of Intellectual Disabilities, and The School of Nursing and Midwifery in Trinity College Dublin. Our facilitators have trained with internationally recognised practitioners including Julian Boal, Keith Johnstone, and Hector Aristizabal.
The arts address what is uniquely individual and human in each of us. Our perceptions and reactions are our own as nothing else can be. Through the arts people can realise their potential to contribute and participate in their communities, both geographical communities and communities of interest.
Through this creative approach we will encourage participants to utilize their own skills to address issues in their community.
In Theatre of the Oppressed there are no fixed roles. Participants can be variously actors, directors, and playwrights. This shifting of roles and responsibilities acknowledges the ability of participants, both performers and spectators, in all areas of discovering, creating, and telling.
Theatre of the Oppressed has been used in schools, prisons, hospitals, in conflict situations, with community groups both rural and urban, and in professional theatre. The key elements in all these projects are participation and dialogue. The process of taking part in Theatre of the Oppressed allows the opportunity for participants to express their lived-experiences through the language of theatre.