RESPECT
raising awareness of municipal services

Impro-Labo^® - Interactive theatre

They are true street knights, they go out every day armed with a cart, broom, dustpan and cleaning cart, pruning shears, paint and toilet brushes to combat decay. Thanks to them, their town or city is also a habitable place.

But how do you reach such a diverse group of workers from different city services such as cleaning, logistics, building management, community watch, sports management, green management, sewer management ... around a sensitive theme such as RESPECT? Can you also include office workers in this story?

Klein Barnum offers an interactive theatre programme as a solution, tailored to the needs of a typical municipal operation. This performance grew out of practical examples from the cities of Antwerp and Louvain. For both cities Klein Barnum developed a sensitising programme about RESPECT and CUSTOMER CARE, both to the citizen and between each other. For labourers, or a mix of labourers and office workers.

The pulse of a critical audience

We were warned, this audience can be critical, react immediately, and immediately show their approval or disapproval. Our first focus, therefore, is to earn their acceptance. We do this by using sketches to show understanding for the difficulties and tensions they experience in their dealings with the (sometimes very unreasonable) citizen. We unravel in a graphic way how the human psyche functions and create the insight that hardened attitudes create a spiral of incomprehension and conflict.

How can they win 'the battle' with the citizens?

We test on stage the effect of common strategies by letting them loose on recognisable situations. In the end, the smartest strategy, with which one gets the most respect, turns out to be the empathic and non-judgmental approach. The fact that you also show respect yourself, is a pleasant

Respect among colleagues

Now that there is a consensus on how to deal effectively with troublesome citizens, we make the link to respect in mutual cooperation. There too, there are areas of tension, not least because many different individuals work together, each with their own culture and vision. In this chapter, we show how a largely similar way of dealing, a similar strategy, can help build a respectful and collegial atmosphere.