Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

6-2004

Abstract

In this article, we review one 'tailor-made play', one piece of organization theatre called Varnishing the Truth. We then reflect on the questions we asked of ourselves while watching this performance and reviewing the video of it: how does this activity relate to its claimed theoretical foundations (Boal's forum theatre)? Is forum theatre an appropriate model for organization theatre? Can 'things be made to move' by an activity such as the one to which we were an audience? In the process of answering these questions, we emphasize the reductive adoption of radical techniques (that is, Boal's forum theatre); the depoliticization of corporate theatre; and, the limitations of the theory of negotiated order as a model for learning, given the discursive construction of organizational roles.

Keywords

organization theatre, forum theatre, Augusto Boal

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Theatre and Performance Studies

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Organization Studies

Volume

25

Issue

5

First Page

841

Last Page

851

ISSN

0170-8406

Identifier

10.1177/0170840604042417

Publisher

SAGE Publications (UK and US)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840604042417

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