FemTalks Forum Theatre Programme Comparative Report
Delivery in Hungary - Artemisszio In Hungary, the two pilots took part online. 26 women participated in the digital sessions. The majority of them came to Hungary for work, family or studies. In terms of origin, the group was composed of women from Poland, Brazil, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Jordan, Ukraine, Kenya and Romania. The conclusions of these two pilots conducted in Hungary were strong in learning and discovery, by the participants and the trainers. Even though the sessions were all conducted on the internet, the participants' conclusions are similar to those identified in the countries where the programme took place face to face: "It is interesting to realise that your everyday challenges as a foreigner woman are similar to other women's problems and that you can use comedy and improvise with others to try to take it easier".
For the trainers the process was very interesting, filled with learning opportunities and with a lot of positive feedback. The participants were very happy with the programme, they expressed their interest in further events as well. Artemisszio hopes that they will join their intercultural community soon, when the regulations allow them to meet in person in a bigger group as well.
The online approach and techniques worked well, and provided a rich learning experience in online theater: (I) The online workshops are an opportunity for women who may not live in Budapest or who, for some reason (family circumstances, insecurity, anxiety), find it difficult to leave their homes to still benefit from the programme. (II) Workshop at home brings both security and uncertainty as well (a voice may accidentally echo in, a figure may appear in the background, or a participant may say that they do not want to speak very loudly). (III) However, engagement can also be weaker because of the online format: it is easier to jump in and out, work in parallel, type in a chat that I have to go, the stakes are lower for a leaving than if I have to leave an actual training room, and attention can only be maintained for much shorter periods. (IV) What is clearly a downside is that the appreciation of humour, and often even its presentation is very limited. It was present when Artemisszio was working on sketches that, although they presented difficult topics, were often very humorous. Although at the beginning of the process, contrary to the conventions, participants were asked not to mute their microphones if possible when there was no noise around, so that it might be easier to contribute to the group discussions, but out of habit and politeness, usually everyone muted themselves. As a result, the ones who were doing the role play could not hear the giggles and laughter, which are affirming and give a sense of achievement.
