Productions

Rowan Alba

This innovative approach to exploring social issues behind homelessness created a powerful piece of interactive theatre. But that’s only the beginning.

Gathering insights into the experiences of homeless people and the workers who try to support them

This Forum Theatre session successfully created a space for frontline staff to explore complex challenges in supporting vulnerable service users. The interactive format allowed participants to move beyond theoretical discussion and physically demonstrate alternative approaches, fostering collective problem-solving.

“For me, tonight showed that in the example of a worker feeling stressed, we need a collective strength — all workers should stand together who are working in particular sections of our society helping and supporting, because if they go under, everybody goes under.”

Audience member

How the partnership evolved

The partnership began when representatives from Rowan Alba attended TOSCOT Forum Theatre production with The David Hume Institute, The Footnote.
The production examined systemic inequality, power structures, and lived experience through an interactive performance model in which
audiences became “spect-actors.”‍ ‍

Rowan Alba had the following aims and interests in the development of the project:

  • The shift from individual blame to systemic analysis

  • The participatory nature of Forum Theatre

  • The embodied, experiential learning model

  • Embed trauma-informed, anti-oppressive practice within creative engagement

  • Create a safe, creative space for those with lived experience to explore systems affecting their lives

  • Offer an experiential learning model rooted in lived experience

  • Engage decision-makers in deeper reflection on structural barriers

  • The opportunity for audiences to rehearse change in real time

Recognising the relevance to homelessness services — where systemic barriers profoundly shape individual outcomes — Rowan Alba approached TOSCOT to explore whether this model could be adapted for their teams and those with strategic and decision-making responsibility.