Theatre of the Oppressed at Dialogue Cafe today! 0 Reply
Today at 19h30 (Lisbon) Joana Lobo Antunes will be doing a demonstration of the Theatre of the Oppressed. Come and join us at MUDE or UCAM.
Theatre of the Oppressed is a participatory form of theatre that was developed by Augusto Boal in Brazil. It involves actors and non-actors playing out stories of oppression (factory owner mistreating the workers/abusive husband abusing his wife etc). In these performances, the audience can stop the performance at any time, take over from one of the actors and re-write the story. This can continue until all the members of the cast and the audience are satisfied with the new script.
Between 1993 and 1997, Boal was a Councillor in Rio de Janeiro. During that time, he developed ‘Legislative Theatre’ which is based on the same principles as Theatre of the Oppressed, but instead of acting out a scene where someone is being oppressed, the subject of the performance is a proposed new law. Spectator-actors (or Spect-actors) can take to the stage, express their opinions and support, oppose or modify any of the proposals. This approach was recently used in the UK in Brighton to promote public engagement in a local health improvement programme.
To find out more see Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed, Pluto Press, 1979, Augusto Boal, Games for Actors and Non-actors, Routledge, 2002 and Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics, Routledge, 1998.
