Posted: 18th November 2024
Performance for Futures: A Futures Literacy Theatre Lab in Practice
In the fifth session of the Future Narratives webinar series, Pedro de Senna offered an in-depth account of his first practical application of the Performance for Futures methodology. Conducted on the island of Lesbos, Greece, in 2019, this project tested the potential for theatre-based participatory techniques to enhance futures literacy among a highly vulnerable group: unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors.
Drawing on his background in theatre and recent work in futures studies, Pedro described how this initiative built upon the structure of UNESCO’s Futures Literacy Lab (FLL) by introducing physical and performative methods in place of conventional tools like flipcharts and post-it notes. The goal was to overcome what Stuart Candy terms the “experiential gulf” in futures work – bridging the abstract with the tangible by enabling participants to explore futures through embodied experience.
The workshop was designed in partnership with local NGOs and UNESCO’s Chair in Futures Studies at the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH). It was initially intended for 30 participants (aged 15–18, of mixed gender, with some proficiency in English). However, the reality upon arrival was starkly different: nearly 40 male participants, many younger than expected, speaking over ten different languages, and with widely varying educational backgrounds.
The workshop was held outside of the infamous Moria refugee camp – at the time the largest and most overcrowded in Europe – and engaged youth from countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, and the DRC. Many had endured significant trauma, and several had never attended formal schooling. In this context, theatre’s non-verbal, bodily forms of communication proved particularly effective.
Theatre as Method in the Futures Literacy Lab
The session adhered to the standard FLL tripartite structure:
- Reveal – Participants used drawing and group discussion to express their views of education in the year 2040, producing physical tableaux to embody these future visions.
- Reframe – Facilitators introduced a reframing scenario: a future in which work is no longer necessary for survival, prompting participants to imagine the purpose of education beyond employment. This shift provoked lively reinterpretations of earlier images.
- Rethink – On the final day, participants were invited to reflect through movement, translating three personal keywords into short physical sequences. These were then shared in a collective performance that embodied feelings of confusion, hope, vulnerability, and agency.
Throughout the process, techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, particularly image theatre and the role of the “spect-actor”, were adapted. In one significant moment, a participant interrupted another group’s presentation to revise their image, demonstrating spontaneous critical engagement and collaborative reimagining of the future.
Pedro acknowledged the ethical complexity of such interventions, especially when working with communities marked by trauma and displacement. While theatre can provide moments of joy, empowerment, and expressive freedom, questions remain about sustainability, consent, and follow-up, particularly given the dislocation and volatility of refugee contexts. The facilitators were aware of their positionality and privilege, and the project was ultimately curtailed by external factors, including the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and the burning of the Moria camp in 2020.
The workshop also revealed tensions in assuming shared frames of reference. The theme – “the future of education” – assumed some formal schooling experience, which not all participants had. Nevertheless, the collective and embodied nature of the workshop enabled meaningful participation across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
Pedro de Senna’s presentation demonstrated how performative methods can meaningfully extend futures literacy beyond verbal and cognitive domains. While not without ethical and logistical challenges, the Futures Literacy Theatre Lab in Lesbos served as a compelling proof of concept for how applied theatre can be used to support imaginative agency and critical reflection, especially in contexts where conventional participatory methods may fall short.