Hello, we're the GM Jokers! 

We are a team of creatives practicing Legislative Theatre in Greater Manchester. This is not your ordinary theatre; this is a powerful tool for social and political change, for democratic transformation, and community empowerment. 

Currently we stand as a group of 9 individuals who have experienced systemic trauma in one way or another, whether due to our gender, race, religion, our past, or our present... the system and its policies have impacted us, and this is what ignited our passion for Legislative Theatre. 

The practice of Legislative Theatre grew out of Forum Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, and requires facilitators known as jokers to deliver and discuss scenes created with actors with lived experience. Why Jokers? Because we are like the unbiased card in the pack. We are trained to allow the actors and audience, also known as spect-actors (spectators + actors), to own the stage; as jokers, we facilitate the building of scenes, the understanding of the problems presented, and the gaining of commitments to policy change made by policy makers in the audience. 

It's raw, it's real life and it's rough-edged.

We are the proud GM Jokers who bring this practice to Greater Manchester and the UK in a variety of ways.