Forum Theatre as a tool of drama based, participatory research in Social Work. Methods, examples and methodical reflections

Forum Theatre is an interactive Theatre technique of the "Theatre of the Oppressed", which can be used as a tool of participatory research in Social Work involving the clients of Social Work into the creation and research process, the active participation of the audience during the performances and the transfer of results into social and political spaces. Starting with methodological reflections on drama-based research, methods of the Forum Theatre are presented and illustrated by examples of projects in fields of Social Work. This will be combined with methodical reflections. The question will be discussed, which claims of participatory research can be realized and which references to performative ethnography and critical, living environment orientated user research in Social Work can be made.