Theatre director, playwright, and theorist, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His revolutionary models of political theatre-making have gained an international reputation, especially through his book Teatro do Oprimido (1975, Theatre of the Oppressed).
Augusto Boal (born 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an innovative and influential theatrical director, writer and politician. He is the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O.), a political theatrical form originally used in radical popular education movements, growing up alongside Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Boal was elected as a Vereador (Brazilian equivalent of city council seat in US politics) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 but he was not re-elected in 1996.
Career
Boal took an interest in theatre at an early age, but did not become involved himself until he received his degree. Shortly after graduating from university, Boal was asked to work with the Arena Theatre in São Paulo, southeast Brazil. It was here that he began to experiment with new forms of theatre that would totally change its future.
Boal’s teachings caused a lot of controversy, and he was labeled a cultural activist — which the 1960s Brazilian military coups saw as a threat. In 1971, Boal was arrested, tortured, and eventually exiled to Argentina, where he published his first book "Theatre of the Oppressed" in 1973, later fleeing to Europe. Eventually Boal lived in Paris, teaching his revolutionary approach to theatre for twelve years, and creating several Centers for the Theatre of Oppressed. In 1981, he organized the first ever International Festival of the Theatre of Oppressed in Paris.
After the end of Brazil’s military junta, Boal returned to Rio de Janeiro where he still lives today. He has since established a major Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio (CTO Rio), and has started over a dozen theatre companies that work to develop community-based projects.
Paulo Freire was a major influence on Boal’s teachings. He and Freire became so close in later years, that when Freire died, Boal is quoted to have said:
Teachings and literature
Among a number of publications the three most Major works of Literature by Augusto Boal are:
Theatre of the Oppressed (published in UK 1979, Pluto Press) Games for Actors and Non-Actors (1992, Routledge) Translated into English by Adrian Jackson The Rainbow of Desire (1995, Routledge) Translated into English by Adrian JacksonMost of Augusto Boal’s techniques were created after he realised the limitations of didactic politically motivated theatre in poor areas he was practising in.
Theatre of the Oppressed
This is probably Augusto Boal's most academically influential work in which the reader follows Boal’s detailed analysis of the Poetics of Aristotle and the early history of western theatre. Therefore oppressive states, such as the Brazilian government of the time, from Boal's perspective, use theatre to propagate their oppressive system.
Games For Actors and Non-Actors (second edition 2002)
This is probably Augusto Boal's most practically influential book in which he sets down a brief explanation of his theories, mostly through stories and examples of his work in Europe, and then explains every drama exercise that he has found useful in his practice. In many ways it is everything that 'Theatre of the Oppressed' is not: it contains little academic theory, instead relying upon practical example. Therefore drama practitioners have found this to be a particularly useful reference book whether or not they are practicing theatre that is related to Boal's academic or political ideas. It is arguably the best collection of drama exercises/games (Boal himself refers to many of these as 'gamesercises', as they combine the training and 'introversion' of exercises with the fun and 'extroversion of games') currently in circulation and has been largely influential in the development of Community Theatre and Theatre in Education (T.I.E.) practices in Europe, South America and worldwide.
The Rainbow of Desire
Also known as The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy, this book re-evaluates the practices commonly associated with the Theatre of the Oppressed for a new purpose. It has been argued that Boal contradicts himself with this take on his work as it mostly concerns itself with creating harmony within society when his early work was concerned with rebellion and upheaval. However, Boal's works can be seen as a progression and exploration of a Left Wing world view rather than a unified theory.
Key terms and practices
Forum Theatre
While practicing in Brazil earlier in his career, Boal would apply 'simultaneous dramaturgy'.
Forum Theatre was born from 'simultaneous dramaturgy' when, according to Boal, by chance a (female) audience member who was so frustrated that the actor did not understand her directions, took their place. This undid the audience/actor split and a new form of political theatre was created. This concept of the 'spect-actor' became a dominant force within Boal's later Forum Theatre work.
Thus, Boal's current manifestation of Forum Theatre is as follows: the actors (be they professional or drawn from oppressed communities) perform a play with a scripted core, in which an oppression relevant to the audience is played out.
The spect-actor then attempts to overturn the oppression using some method unused by the actors, whilst the actors portraying the oppressors improvise to attempt to bring the production to its original, scripted ending.
If and when the oppression has been overthrown by the spect-actors, the production changes again: the spect-actors now have the opportunity to replace the oppressors, and find new ways of challenging the oppressed character.
Invisible Theatre
This is a previously rehearsed play that is performed in a public space without anyone knowing that it is a play.
The actors involved will work to a scripted core, but improvisation is necessary as the whole purpose of the theatre is to get the community involved in discussing the issue being performed.
The logistics of Invisible theatre involve both the antagonist and victim of a social injustice being played out by actors in a public space. Therefore those practicing Invisible Theatre are often seen as Activists and it is not uncommon for them to come into conflict with the authorities and/or police.
Image Theatre
A form of theatre that begins with movement to achieve a static result. Boal's philosophy behind this form of theatre is that the body is the first and primary method of expression, and by using the body rather than speech, the normal 'blockades' and 'filters' of thought can be bypassed. Boal encourages the participants to immediately create an image rather than think about it, as thought would defeat the purpose of expressing raw, unrefined perceptions on an idea or issue. Generally, this form of theatre is also used to express oppressions.
Image theatre is also dialectic, as those who view the image created are also able to 'mold' and 'sculpt' the bodies of the participants to more accurately portray their opinions on the issue.
In keeping with Boal's philosophy of theatre for empowerment, images may also be created of the 'ideal image', in which the oppression is overthrown.
The images may often also be dynamised: that is, the image is altered and changed to express different facets of the issue.
Newspaper Theatre
A system of twelve techniques… giving the audience the means of production rather than the finished artistic product. They are devised to help anyone to make a theatrical scene using a piece of news from a newspaper, or from any other written material.
Legislative Theatre
As part of Boal's role as Vereador, he created the new form of theatre called legislative theatre to give his electors the opportunity to voice their opinions. The concept is similar to forum theatre; Some 20 laws were created through legislative theatre during Boal's time in government.
Joker/Facilitator
Much of Augusto Boal’s theatrical process requires a neutral party to be at the centre of proceedings, in most cases, but not all, this would be a Drama workshop leader.
In Western practice the name of this individual is usually the Facilitator, although in Boal’s literature this role is referred to as the Joker.
Spect-actor
This is a term created by Augusto Boal to describe those engaged in Forum Theater.
Equally, the term 'spect-actor' can be attributed to the participants in invisible theatre (who are unaware that they are part of a theatrical production, but nevertheless contribute to the discussion) and image theatre (who, upon viewing the image created, may alter it to reflect their own ideas).
Recognition
In 1994, Boal won the UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal, and in August 1997 he was awarded the 'Career Achievement Award' by the Association of Theatre in Higher Education at their national conference in Chicago, Illinois, where he conducted a five-hour workshop for conference attendees as well as collecting the award.
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