Other Facets of WanSmolbag Theatre

Why is Wan Smolbag Theatre is more than community theatre?

Wan Smolbag Theatre has been involved in some exciting developments which are a spin-off from its theatre work and from the strong relationships they have built up with some communities.

Wan Smolbag Kids

In 1995 we started a series of workshops with children who were not at school. Thirty turned up to the first workshop, with age ranges between 8-12. Wan Smolbag Kids is the group that the young people from the workshop formed. After the Community Project (see below), another four young people joined the group pushing the numbers to nine. The group members range in age from 11 or 12 through to 16. They have plays on dental hygiene and on how the body works aimed at primary school children. As most children do not go to secondary school, it is hugely important that they get some reproductive health education before they leave school.

The Blacksands Community Project

When Peter Walker, Director of Wan Smolbag Theatre, talked of making a community play with Blacksands at the beginning of 97, the group were right behind him; but it was a leap in the dark.

The Community play was a way of building stronger ties with the older people of Blacksands. We didn’t know what reaction we would get when we sent a note round the Blacksands area, asking for a meeting of people who wanted to make a play with us. About a hundred people came to the first meeting and over 80 to most of the following workshops.

The eldest of the participants was in her sixties and the youngest about 10. The majority were between 14 and 21. We were terrified when we realised that the Blacksands community wanted to do a play. So many people in the building – would they work? Would they come on time? They did come and they did work.

The play that was made with the Blacksands community reflects many of the role plays that they made during the workshop; looking at the role of the Chief, the problems between men and women, stealing and lack of work. It centres around the family. Only the father works, but he drinks kava every night.

Kam Pussem Hed – Youth Drop-in Centre / Reproductive and Sexual Health Clinic

Wan Smolbag Theatre have been doing plays on reproductive health for nine / ten years, using different approaches, targeting different audiences. The response has always been enthusiastic but the question remains, what if people have all the knowledge, they’ve overcome the shame, but the local clinic is under orders from a chief not to give contraception to single people? Or the nearest supply is a long way away?

Of course a theatre group cannot do much about that in a country as a whole but Wan Smolbag Theatre has initiated a new drop in centre at its warehouse base in Port Vila.

During 1997 Wan Smolbag Theatre spent six months working closely with the Blacksands/Tagabe Community. During this time a community play was developed, and research was conducted into custom stories and many issues affecting the contemporary daily lives of community members. In May 1998 follow up work was done with the community on issues that had been highlighted by the community members during the development of the community play resulting in Wan Smolbag Theatre responding by developing additional programmes outside of its core activities of playmaking and theatre. Three core services were identified as a priority for community members. One of these was a community drop in centre that provided a common area where people could come and watch videos, chat, get advice and counselling on reproductive and sexual health issues, access to contraception, and anti-natal checks. Other services provided are small educational groups/ workshops on reproductive health issues and this may develop into other health areas over time.

The Health Department, Save the Children Australia, Wan Smolbag and the Blacksands community are all involved in the running of the KPH Youth Drop in Centre, officially opened February 1999; which has received funding from DFID, NZ ODA, AUSAID, SPC and UNFPA for a six month pilot project and is to be supplied with contraceptives by the Health Department.

At the official opening of the KPH Centre, the Minister of Health stated that this was an ideal model for reproductive and sexual health clinical and counselling services for youth and an important service as these were the largest ever group of young people reaching their reproductive years. The Department of Health are also continuing their commitment to the Centre by providing all contraceptives, STD testing and STD treatments, and are members of the KPH committee.  

Turtle Monitor Network

Turtle Monitor are a group of interested village people who were chosen by their village to help with Wan Smolbag Theatre’s turtle campaign. They watch for nesting turtles and advise people on turtle conservation. The network started in 1995. After performing a play about turtle conservation turtle play we talked to villagers about the number of turtles they saw. They all said numbers had decreased greatly over the last few years. Many of the villages Wan Smolbag Theatre worked with chose a ‘turtle monitor’ and over the years Wan Smolbag Theatre has built up a good relationship with them, running workshops with them on environmental issues. This has lead to most villages banning the killing and eating of turtles and their eggs and the monitors have been instrumental in putting ‘tabus’ on the reefs around Efate.

What started out as a network of 20 so monitors from the island of Efate, has now expanded to some 70 or so monitors on 5 islands.

Can theatre educate?

In Vanuatu there are many people who do not read or write, many who have had only a couple of years of schooling. These people want information but they have no way of getting it from books; the radio does not reach everyone either, as people do not always have radios and if they have radios, they cannot always afford batteries. People in the villages say the plays make things clear, they can understand the message from the pictures they see in the play; but we need to know if the plays work. If the people get all the information they need from the dramas.

Everyone loves to watch a play or a film – but do they really inform people? Are they passing on the right messages? Thanks to our Research Officer, George Pedro, we are able to do detailed surveys to find out what people knew before and what they find out after watching the plays. We collect family planning statistics and follow up months later to se if the work of the group has created any change in understanding and attitude and if more people are using family planning or going for treatment.