Media education through theatre. IJC trained actors of the “Guguta” Theatre on how to develop media skills of the audience
The Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) continues its collaboration with the Municipal Puppet Theatre “Guguta”. In 2024 and 2025, the actors will go on tour with the Russian-language version of PikPok.online@guguta, staged by the creative team in late 2022. The Russian-language version of the show has been performed on the stage of the “Guguta” Theatre since 2023.
Before the tour began on 24 April, the IJC involved the actors of the “Guguta” Theatre in a training on Media Education. Expert Natalia Griu, the co-author of the Media Education manuals, challenged the creative team to identify the sources from which they get their information, urging them to analyze the quality of these sources. On the other hand, Natalia Griu discussed with stakeholders the five compulsory steps of media literacy training, in line with the European Commission’s recommendations: access, analysis, creation, reflection, and action.
“By what you do, you can follow the steps of media literacy. Everything that means access, analysis, and reflection happens in theatre. You can contribute to media literacy in a way that no textbook will, because you have a higher form of conveying a message, through art. (…) The moment when you talk to the audience is essential and we have to help children to leave the performance with the key messages”, explained Natalia Grîu.
“I am glad first of all that you understand the role of education through theatre. This training helped me to systematize some of my thoughts. When we go with shows to children, before the show and afterward, I talk to them. I usually urge them to pay attention. The training drew my attention to some steps a child has to go through in terms of information. Now, when I go to the audience and talk to them, I will know how to structure my message more effectively before and after the show”, said Gabriela Lungu, director of the “Guguta” Theatre.
PikPok.online@guguta is an adaptation of the educational story “A Click of the Fangs or the Manipulative Wolf”, written by Latvian media researcher Solvita Denisa Liepniece, and is aimed at kindergarten and primary school children.
The performance lasts 45 minutes and is included in the repertoire of the “Guguta” Theatre, both in Russian and Romanian. The show is a premiere for the media space in the Republic of Moldova, being made in the form of an educational and entertaining story. The play is aimed at kindergarten children as well as primary school students, helping them to understand how the online environment works and encouraging them to analyse what they have seen or heard especially on social networks.
The training for the actors of the Municipal Puppet Theatre “Guguta” was organised by the Independent Journalism Centre as part of the “Media Education and Literacy and Optimisation of Newsrooms” (MELON) project. This project is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moldova.
