A guide to “theater of the oppressed” from the perspective of drama leader and audience collaborator—the joker.

What is the theater of the oppressed—the theatrical forms arising in the 1970s that blur the line between performer and spectator? What is its method? How is the performance created and who are its non-actors and non-audiences? These and other questions are answered in Between the Stage and the Audience from the perspective of a “joker,” a guide of theater groups and a presenter of theater performances. This role works both with the group that prepares the theater performance and with the audience itself.

This book is structured according to the joker's dual roles. Descriptions of the various stages of the creation of a performance are interspersed with interviews with theater practitioners as well as specific examples from realized performances. In the second part of the book, six jokers who actively use the method of theater of the oppressed share their experiences and unique adaptations of these theatrical innovations in the Czech context.

Dana Moree is assistant professor at the sociology department of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University. Líza Urbanová is a theater dramaturg and practitioner, with experience from new circus company Decolages to Odin Teatret – Nordisk Teatrlaboratorium. Daniel Morgan is a translator with two decades of experience translating from Czech.