Theatre is changing the way communities view donkey welfare

A new study from the University of Portsmouth is the first to show how interactive theatre can help improve the lives of working donkeys in equid-reliant communities, providing further evidence of the transformative impact of arts-based initiatives on animal welfare.

Conducted in collaboration with international animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary, the Lamu Arts and Theatre Alliance (LATA) and local donkey owners, the research is the first of its kind to evaluate using this approach to promote donkey welfare.

Donkeys are integral to life on the Lamu archipelago in Kenya, where they make a valuable contribution to the local economy, transporting goods and people, sometimes at the cost of their own welfare. Encouragingly, researchers found forum theatre performances significantly increased awareness of donkey welfare needs among both adult and youth audiences, paving the way for long-term improvements in donkey care.

Forum theatre is a unique interactive performance method where audiences are encouraged to intervene in the narrative, suggesting alternative choices that could lead to better outcomes for the characters. 

The production, co-developed with LATA and local donkey owners, followed the story of a family whose livelihood depended on their donkeys, depicting common welfare challenges such as overloading, lack of veterinary care, and plastic waste ingestion. Performances were held in public spaces and local schools across Lamu, Kenya, allowing broad community participation.

Dr Emily Haddy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Theatre is unique in its ability to connect with people in a fun and engaging way and it was exciting to see significant positive changes in attitudes towards donkeys, especially a greater awareness of donkey sentience, after the performance. While arts-based approaches are still rare in the animal welfare sector, this study highlights their potential to bridge communication gaps, break down barriers, and inspire positive behaviour change.”

Said Hassan, Director and Founder of LATA, explained: “In the forum theatre skit we create a problem, for example a big problem in this village is that donkeys don’t go to the hospital, people don’t take good care of them, give them food and so on, so we act out a bad-ending scenario  for the community and ask them to give solutions to avoid the bad ending.”

The study found more than 85 per cent of adult respondents strongly agreed that the performance raised their awareness of three key indicators: donkey health needs, donkey welfare needs, and appropriate loading.

For young audiences, before and after performance surveys showed significant improvements in the belief that donkeys feel pain as well as increased empathy and greater confidence in identifying how a donkey is feeling. These results are particularly encouraging, indicating that the next generation of donkey owners will have a better understanding of the need for good donkey welfare.

Dr Solomon Onyango, Country Director for The Donkey Sanctuary in Kenya, said: “The Donkey Sanctuary welcomes this pioneering arts and theatre initiative to bring the importance of good donkey welfare into the heart of Lamu’s donkey-owning communities. The innovative approach is an ideal way to reach younger audiences and we hope that this kind of early education will shape future hearts and minds to share our mission to create a better world for donkeys everywhere.

Donkeys are integral to life on Lamu, where they make a valuable contribution to the local economy. Without motorised vehicles, communities rely heavily on donkeys to transport goods and people. The Donkey Sanctuary’s seafront clinic and veterinary team in Lamu are there to improve the lives of the donkeys on the island by ensuring they have access to healthcare and by providing welfare advice to their owners.

The authors hope this study will encourage wider adoption of participatory arts-based methods in animal welfare initiatives, particularly in resource-poor and geographically isolated communities.