Performative Interventions

Change processes can take unexpected turns and do not generally follow a smooth, linear course. So successfully bringing about a given change is no trivial matter. Depending on the implementation phase of the process, and its ultimate goals, different kinds of intervention will be required.

One occasion might need a cognitive approach (plans, structures, etc), while another might be directed towards a more emotional effect (convincing employees of the need for change, building support for plans, etc).

Reaching people's hearts as well as their heads means striking the ideal balance between different kinds of intervention. And this can include non-traditional forms, such as 'Performative Intervention'. A Performative Intervention takes the form of a performance, a play, in which emotional experiences are combined with cognitive matters of fact.

This isn't as unusual as it might seem. Any managerial speech can also be seen as a theatre performance. The manager writes a speech (is a scriptwriter), thinks about how best to present it (a director), and then performs it (an actor). Colleagues watch and listen in a group (the audience) and are inspired to get going for themselves (identify with the theme).

Performative Interventions give pleasure, inspire interaction, and encourage creative thinking. They help to bind people to each other and to the planned change process. Adding a Performative Intervention to a change process makes it more playful, more meaningful and, ultimately, more profitable.

Troje has considerable expertise in developing and carrying out Performative Interventions, in which special use is made of 'theatrical reality'.

Theatrical reality

Theatre holds a magnifying glass to everyday reality, so that what is normally hidden is revealed. Beneath theatre lies the daily life we all recognise. This 'magnification of the real' makes it possible to have ordinary, pleasant conversations about sensitive issues. This applies to Troje on stage, but equally to those taking part in Troje's activities.
When theatre is performed, the audience make their own reality out of what they see. Every single person in the audience seizes on that which is most significant to him or her, identifying with people and situations and drawing parallels with themselves and others.
Within this 'theatrical reality', training course and workshop participants can explore alternative behaviours with more freedom and safety. It might look like theatre, but every single thing someone puts forward in a scene is taken from the real resources they possess in the here and now: their own personality and their own body.