Augusto Boal Theater of the Oppressed Background Info

Augusto Boal Theater of the Oppressed

Background Info In the 1960 s, Brazil was governed by a dictatorship Many people (farmers and landowners) lost land to military during this time. The military would come and declare that the land was now owned by the military – there was nothing this farmer could do about it. The military dictatorship would do what it wanted to do without consulting the people in the country, even if they knew the Brazilians would not agree with it, or it would be negative for them. They did it because they wanted to.

Enter Boal -Born to a baker and a housewife in 1931 -Got a degree in chemical engineering -In 1952, came to NYC and began studying theater -He went back and worked at a theater in Brazil -In the mid 60 s, the new regime exiled him to Argentina -During his 5 years in Argentina he wrote 2 books: Torquemada & Theater of the Oppressed

Boal cont. Boal talked openly about going on stage with a loaded gun in his pocket for fear that he would be shot or arrested for doing the performances he was doing. Boal was trying to help people to become free from oppression through his plays, but this was illegal and Boal continually ran the risk of being arrested or killed for speaking out against the military dictatorship.

Boal cont. -His method of theater seeks to transform the audience into active participants. -He believes that traditional theater is oppressive because it doesn’t give the audience a chance to express themselves

Theater of the Oppressed Spect-actor: the actor is the spectator and vise-versa Some traits of this theater: -loose interpretation of words (ex. embrace) -the audience can stop and question the performance and offer changes -may take place where people don’t expect theater (i. e. the mall, a sidewalk) -pieces of news can be turned into theater

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Resources http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Augusto_Boal http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Oppressed