Challenges and Adaptations
Participatory theatre is a powerful method, but it brings specific challenges. Where difficulties emerge, these are not necessarily signs of failure, rather they often reflect the emotional and relational depth of the process. Being aware of potential difficulties helps facilitators remain responsive and supportive.
Emotional intensity: Strong feelings can emerge, especially when engaging with personal or sensitive issues. Build in time for reflection, offer opt-out roles, and ensure participants feel emotionally safe throughout.
Uneven participation: Some voices may dominate while others withdraw. Use thoughtful facilitation, smaller breakout groups, and varied ways of contributing, such as speaking, improvising, or shaping scenes collaboratively, to ensure everyone has space to participate.
Discomfort with theatre: Not all participants will feel comfortable performing, ensure there are different ways to take part.
Practical constraints: Limited time, space, or resources may affect delivery. Focus on core elements – story, participation, and dialogue - rather than performance quality.
Cultural fit: If working as an outsider, take time to understand the group of participants and the social setting. Collaborate with local partners, use relevant language and symbols, and be prepared to adapt.
In this video Eszter Kelemen discusses guidance for organising and facilitating a Participatory Theatre session:
Potential Impacts
Understanding the potential impacts of participatory theatre can help anticipate the kinds of changes it may support and plan for how these can be recognised and strengthened over time. Impacts can occur at multiple levels, from individual awareness to shifts in community engagement.
Intrapersonal change takes place within an individual, involving shifts in knowledge, attitudes, emotions, or skills.
- Confidence and agency: Performing, improvising, or taking on new roles can build self-assurance and help participants express their views more openly
- Reflective learning: Preparing and performing scenes encourages self-reflection on values, experiences, and connections to themes such as biodiversity, justice, or inequality
- Emotional processing: Engaging in theatre can help participants express emotions such as grief, anger, hope, or care in a supported setting
Interpersonal change occurs between people, who influence and learn from each other through shared activities and dialogue.
- Trust and empathy: Co-creating and performing builds mutual respect and understanding
- Collaborative problem-solving: Working together to shape scenes fosters cooperation and shared decision-making
- Knowledge exchange: Group discussions and rehearsals provide opportunities to share personal experiences and perspectives
In this video Eszter Kelemen describes how the play invites participants to explore decision-making:
Community-level change involves shifts in the practices, norms, or shared identity of a group, organisation, or place-based network.
- Cultural relevance: Theatre that reflects lived realities strengthens identification and ownership of the process
- Collective dialogue: Performances can spark discussions on local and wider environmental or social concerns
- Sustained engagement: Strong connection to the play’s themes can lead to ongoing action or advocacy
Policy-level change happens when participatory theatre influences decision-making processes, organisational practices, or governance priorities.
- Shaping policy agendas: Performances that bring lived experiences into decision-making spaces can reframe issues and influence policy priorities
- Embedding community perspectives: Insights from theatre can be incorporated into strategic plans, regulations, or institutional policies to ensure they reflect diverse voices
- Building sustained policy relationships: Networks formed through the process can create ongoing channels for dialogue between communities and policymakers
In this video Eszter Kelemen describes how the play opened dialogue on challenging topics such as biodiversity loss and how these conversations were carried forward into action:
Ways to Measure Impact
For more detailed guidance on measuring change, see the Impact Module. Three techniques that may work well include:
- Participant reflection tools – Use journals, drawings, or audio diaries to track changes in confidence, perspectives, and creative skills
- Post-performance co-reflection workshops – Bring participants together after the play to reflect on what they learned, relationships formed, and actions inspired by the process
- Audience feedback – Collect responses through comment walls, short surveys, or facilitated discussions to understand how the performance affected viewers and what follow-up actions it inspired
