Journal of Development Communication And Applied Theatre

Theatre has been used as a strong tool for social change, especially in situations where the literacy level, cultural obstacles, and distrust in the official institutions hinder the success of traditional methods of communication. The paper will discuss how theatre has been used as an applied communication tool in the dissemination of public health messages. Based on the theories of participatory communication, development communication and the practical uses of the applied theatre form, the study discusses the deployment of theatrical forms by communities like community theatre, forum theatre, street theatre and recently the COVID-19 awareness theatrical approaches. The interactive nature that is culturally entrenched in theatre allows it to transform the complex medical information to narratives that people can relate with hence increasing the understanding, retention, and behaviour change. The paper also compares the case studies in African settings especially in Nigeria whereby the use of theatre has been implemented in both rural and urban settings to mediate the communication gap between health authorities and people. Although the study takes into account such limitations as the lack of funding and scale-related difficulties, it finds that theatre is a crucial tool of participatory strategy in communicating about the health of populations. It suggests greater liaisons between theatre practitioners, public health practitioners and policy makers in order to institutionalize theatre-based health interventions.

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