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Copyright by
EDGAR QUILES

1981

THE THEATRE OF AUGUSTO BOAL

By
Edgar QuiTes

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partiaT fquiTTment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Theatre

1981

ABSTRACT
THE THEATRE OF AUGUSTO BOAL

By
Edgar Quiles

This study analyzes the contributions of Augusto Boal to
the theory and practice of contemporary theatre, and examines how
he applied them between the years 1956 and 1980. Focus1ng upon Boal's
development as a director and playwright with the Arena Theatre of
$50 Paulo, this study describes Boal's poetics of the oppressed as
it takes form in his more than 20 books and plays; in theatre reviews
and articles which appeared in the newspaper, 0 Estado de sac Paulo,
from 1956 to 1978; and in the manuscripts and notes drafted by Boal
for future publication.

The fundamental idea behind the poetics of the oppressed is
that theatre, in itself, can be a liberating force in society. His
theatre aims to return the means of theatrical production to its
origins in the masses of society. This goal is based upon Boal's
firm belief that theatre can be a collective tool through which
people can not only understand society, but can also liberate their
own powers to change it. That is, theatre can teach people to act.

Boal's theatre attempts to transform the spectator from a
reflective and passive position to a more active one. This study

'examines how Newspaper Theatre, Invisible Theatre, Forum Theatre,

Edgar Quiles

and Image Theatre try to remove the walls between actors and spec-
tators by creating theatre forms in which all participate. Also
Boal's theatre attempts to undermine the notion that a character in
a play is the private property of an actor, a notion which arose
when a wall was constructed which separated protagonists from the
chorus. This study looks at the theatre techniques developed by
Boal, such as The Joker System, exercises for actors and non-actors
and the dialectical structure of interpretation, which all aim to
reunite protagonists and chorus.

This study concludes that Boal's theatre can be characterized
on the one hand by an aesthetic which asserts that theatre can take
place in many different places, at any time, and in any form; and
on the other hand by a social perspective that demands that theatre

focus upon social problems which affect the masses of society.

DEDICATION
This Dissertation is dedicated to

my daughter

Mariana Mercedes Quiles Fabian

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to
Augusto Boal, not only for permitting to study his theatre, but also
for his helpful guidance and cooperation.

Appreciation is extended to doctoral committee members, Dr.
Farley Richmond (doctoral committee chairman), Dr. Donald Treat,
Dr. Georg Schuttler, Prof. Frank Rutledge and Dr. Bob Chamberlain
for their guidance and continuing encouragement, not only during the
period of the study, but throughout the doctoral program as well.

The contribution of the Interlibrary Loan Service of the
Michigan State University Research Library is noteworthly and very
much appreciated. Also the writer is particularly indebted to the
Overseas Study Program of Michigan State University, for their
financial assistance. Without the support of the program the study

would not have been possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures .

CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE BASIS FOR A NEW THEATRE POETICS.

A. Boal' 5 Definition of Theatre. . .
B. Boal' s View on the Development of the Theatre

III. THE THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED .

Fundamental Concepts and Principles

The Development of the Poetics of the
Oppressed: The First Steps (1964-73).
Boal' 5 Experience in Peru: Basis of the
Theatre of the Oppressed (1973). .

The Theatre of the Oppressed Between 1973
and 1980 . . .
The Theatre of the Oppressed Fiction or
Reality. . .

“100(3)

IV. BASIC CONCEPTS OF BOAL PEOPLE' S THEATRE: A LATIN
AMERICAN PERSPECTICE. . . . .

A. The Difference Between "People" and
"Population" .

B. Boal' 5 Concepts About Culture, Education and
Language . .

C. Latin American "People' 5 Theatre" .

V. BOAL'S ACTORS TRAINING . ,
The Ritual and the Social Mask Concepts .
Dialectical Structure of Interpretation .
Training Exercises . .

Training Games

COED)

iv

Page

14

14
23

39
39
43
83
100
140

150

150

151
154

174
174

206
233

Page
VI. BOAL AS A DIRECTOR AND PLAYNRIGHT. . . . . . . 240

A. His Years as a Student (from 1950 to 1956) . 240
B. The Beginning of His Professional Career: '
First Successes and Failures (from 1956 to
1960). , 243
C. The Plenitude of a Director and the Artistic
Maturity of a Playwright (from 1960 to 1965). 251
D. Boal as the Director of his Own Plays: The
Musicals (from 1965 to 1970). . 264
E. The Dramas of Boal' s Exile (from 1970 to 1980) 275

SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A - Excerpts from an Interview with Augusto Boal 299
APPENDIX B - Chronological Biography of Augusto Boal . . 313
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1 Forms of Interpretation and/or Revelation of the
Character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

2 The Dialectical Structure of Interpretation . . . 198

vi

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This dissertation analyses the contributions of Augusto Boal
to the theory and practice of contemporary theatre. The theoretical
importance of Boal's poetics of the oppressed will be explained, and
the practical elements of his notion of a people's theatre will be
described. Furthermore, in presenting the scope of Boal's contribu-
tions it will be necessary to explore not only the political nature
of his theories, but also the political impact of the application of

those theories in the dynamics of actual theatre performances.

Justification

 

Augusto Boal is a prominent Brazilian director, playwright,
and theoretician. The diversity of his interests is reflected in
the breadth of his published work. He has written five books on
dramatic theory, ten plays which range from satires to musicals,
various books on practical exercises for actors, numerous essays,
some short stories, and more than fifty articles published in various
international theatre magazines, journals, periodicals, and news-
papers.

In recent years Boal's work has influenced much of Latin
American theatre. Also, Boal has achieved international recognition
as a theoretician with the translation of his Categories of Popular
- Theatre, The Theatre of the Oppressed, and 200 Exercises for Actors
1

 

and Non-actors into French, Genman, Italian and Spanish. However,

only The Theater of the Oppressed has been translated into English.

 

This dissertation will serve to increase North American access
to the depth and diversity of Boal's work. This should prove to be
a timely service as the importance of Spanish and Portuguese lan-
guages grows in North America, and as Hispanic culture continues to

flourish in the United States.

Research Methodology_

 

Primary sources used in this dissertation are: books, arti-
cles, and pamphlets written by Boal from 1956 to 1980; Latin Ameri-
can, North American and European theatre periodicals; theatre reviews
of Boal's work that appeared in the Brazilian newspaper 0 Estado de
Sao Paulo, as well as other Latin American and European newspapers

such as La Opinién of Argentina and Le Monde of France; my own per-

 

sonal interview with Boal in January 1980, and my own direct parti-
cipation in Boal's workshops on people's theatre at his Center for
the Theatre of the Oppressed in Paris, France.

Secondary sources used appear in a theoretical bibliography
of the Latin American people's theatre, and in a bibliography of the
history of Latin American and Brazilian theatres, and in the cita-

tions referring to other researchers dealing with Boal's work.

Scope

The structure of this dissertation is as follows. This first

chapter introduces two concepts central to Boal's work and also

presents a biographical sketch of Augusto Boal and a brief outline

of the history of Brazilian theatre. Chapter II focuses on the
theoretical aspects of Boal's conception of a new theatre poetics.
Chapter III presents the poetics of the oppressed and describes the
motivations behind this work in terms of Boal's own practical experi-
ences. Chapter IV reviews Boal's analysis of the Latin American
people's theatre. Chapter V discusses Boal's conception of an actor's
training and also describes the actor training exercises developed

by Boal in connection with his theatre of the oppressed. The final
chapter studies Boal's work as a theatre director and as a play-

wright.

Definition of Terms

"Poetics" and "spectacle" are two concepts which are basic
to most of Boal's work. By a "poetics" Boal means not only a criti-
cal treatise which deals with dramatic theory, but one which concerns
dramatic practice as well. And by "spectacle" Boal means not merely
a public performance, but a performance which intends to convey a
particular message to an audience. Oftentimes Boal will use the
idea of performance as a synonym for spectacle.

A Sketch of Augusto Boal's
Intellectual Development

 

Augusto Boal was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1931. In
the early 19505, while studying chemical engineering at the University
of Brazil, Boal wrote one act plays and also acted in various student

productions. From 1953-1955, he attended graduate school in the

United States at Columbia University in New York City. While spe-
cializing in the study of plastics, Boal continued to develop his
strong interests in theatre and studied playwriting in the Theatre
Department at Columbia University.

In 1956 Boal returned to Brazil and became the artistic
director of the Arena Theatre in $50 Paulo. His success with the
Arena Theatre led, in 1960, to a professorship of playwriting at
the National School of Dramatic Art of Brazil. Boal continued his
association with the Arena Theatre and from 1960 to 1964 he received
numerous awards for his work both as a director and as a playwright.1

Boal wrote and produced Arena Narrates Zumbi2 in 1965. This
was Boal's first play to use the performance style of the "Joker
System." This system was refined two years later in a play both
written and directed by Boal, Arena Narrates Tiradentes.3

In response to political repression in Brazil during 1970,
Boal developed the technique of Newspaper Theatre. This was the
catalyst for the later development of his Theatre of the Oppressed.
Boal eventually became the victim of the political repression which
he fought against and was forced to flee from Brazil in 1971. He
continued to develop his theories of a people's theatre by giving
lectures and conducting workshops at various Latin American and
international theatre festivals. In 1973 he became involved in the
Peruvian government's National Literacy Program. His work there

exerted a practical influence upon the ideas which later appeared

in his Theater of the Oppressed.

 

 

 

Today, Boal lives in Paris, France. Here he operates a
Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed. This people's theatre
explores novel techniques, acting exercises, and theatre forms which
both reflect and generate new theoretical concepts for the contem-

porary theatre.

A Brief History of the Brazilian Theatre

In order to appreciate the uniqueness of Boal's theatre, it
is first necessary to have a rudimentary sense of the development
of the Brazilian theatre up to 1956. The following outline begins
with Brazil's colonization in the 16th century and chronologically
presents only the most elemental factors which characterize theatre
in Brazil during each century. For the purpose of this dissertation,
it is more important to present the historical direction of the
Brazilian theatre, than to provide a detailed analysis of the char-

acteristics of each period.

The Sixteenth Century

The first documented theatrical performances in Brazil were
autos which were produced by Portuguese Jesuit monks in the second
half of the sixteenth century. [Autos were European medieval theatre
forms whose didactic structure was efficiently employed by the
Jesuits in their efforts to convert the new world to Christianity.
Autos celebrated important religious events. Their performances
included music and dance. This air of festivity strongly attracted

the Indian populace. The Jesuits adapted the auto form to include

a representation of Indian culture, and a plurality of language
which mixed Portuguese, Spanish and many Indian dialects. The
distance between spectators and actors diminished as everyone in
the village took part in the production and performance. Here
actors served as the very vehicles of their own religious conver-
sion.

While these autos inevitably exerted the influence of Euro-
pean and Christian culture, many monks wrote gth§_that represented
elements of Brazilian culture. The most well-known of these authors
was a Jesuit father by the name José de Anchieta (1534-1597). He
wrote more than ten autos. All of them were in verse, and portrayed
characters and situations reflecting Brazilian colonization.

Anchieta wrote some of them completely in the Indian dialect of

Tupi .4

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

In the seventeenth century the religious character of the
autos disappeared, interest in them declined, and the theatre moved
into the secular sphere. Theatre as a social activity no longer
involved the entire populace of villages. It became increasingly
directed toward the colonizers rather than the colonized. Influenced
by the recent European migration, theatres presented operas.

Two theatre halls were built in Brazilian cities: the Opera
House in Rio de Janeiro, and the Vila Rica theatre in Minas Gerais.

The success of these theatre halls laid the foundation for the

future development of Brazilian theatre. Other opera houses were

soon constructed in numerous Brazilian cities. This not only encour-
aged theatre productions, but also theatre attendance as a regular
social activity.

However, while there was constant and lively theatrical acti-
vity, a vacuum yet existed in the area of original Brazilian play-
writing. Perhaps the only exception was AntOnio José da Silva (1705-
1739), who was considered one of the most distinguished authors of
operas. His fanatical nationalism firmly placed his operas in the

category of native Brazilian dramatic literature.

The Nineteenth Century

Despite the work of Jose da Silva, the nineteenth century
began with very little original Brazilian dramatic literature. The
early part of the century merely reflected much of the eighteenth
century theatre. Numerous theatrical halls were constructed in many
of Brazil's most vital cities: Diamantina, Recife, Sao Paulo, P6rto
Alegre, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and others.

In 1822, Brazil achieved political independence and the
theatre underwent a radical transformation. Independence brought to
Brazil not only a significant increase in its economic growth, but
also a development in cultural and artistic spheres of life. The
struggles between Brazil and Portugal nurtured and cultivated the
nationalism that was widespread in the Brazilian theatre at that
time. New ideals of liberty and love of homeland were characteris-
tic themes developed by the theatre in those revolutionary years.

This was the first century in which a substantial number of Brazilian

 

 

 

‘17.”-.Ma-

 

 

playwrights were represented: Manuel Antdnio Alvares de Azevedo
(1831-1852), Ant6nio GonSalves Dias (1823-1864), Ant6nio de Castro
Alves (1847-1871), Joaquim Manoel de Macedo (1820-1822), and José
Martiniano de Alencar (1829-1877).

Along with nationalism, romanticism gained importance and
developed as a strong independent movement within the Brazilian
theatre. Gongalves de Magalhaes began a romantic movement in Bra-
zilian theatre which continued until the end of the nineteenth
century. Greatly influence by Victor Hugo and the romantic school
of Paris, Magalhaes's dramas invariably applied romantic criteria
to Brazilian culture.

5 was constructed to

In 1838, the Royal theatre of $30 0030
accommodate the new Brazilian playwrights of the post-revolutionary
era. This theatre stimulated the creation of national companies.
Joao Caetano, a famous actor, headed the most important of these
national companies, and also gave Brazil the basis for the develop-
ment of an entire generation of Brazilian actors. He established a
school of dramatic art from which the majority of the Brazilian
actors of that period emerged. Caetano supported new Brazilian play-
wrights, especially Martins Pena, who instituted the Comedy of
Manners in Brazil.6

The comedies of Martins Pena accentuated popular character
and documented Brazilian customs. Martins Wilson characterizes the
Brazilian comedies that followed Pena's original success as typically

dealing with the principal themes of nationalism and bucolism.7 In

I the last half of the nineteenth century a different kind of theatre

9

developed out of Pena's work with comedy--a theatre characterized

by musical reviews, vaudevilles, and light comedies. These produc-
tions had many popular characters and they reflected a tradition of
in which theatre primarily offered entertainment. An important
material result of the success of these productions was the construc-

tion of many new theatre halls.

The Twentieth Century

During the first two decades of the twentieth century Bra-
zilian theatre continued the trends of nationalism and romanticism
set by the nineteenth century playwrights. However, in 1922, the
"Week of Modern Art" placed Brazil in contact with international and
vangardist movements which set Brazilian theatre on a radically new
course of development.8 The influence of the "Week of Modern Art"
materialized in a mature form in 1932 with Joracy Camargo's Egg
Bless You.9 This play radically broke from the comic and review
forms of theatre by launching a social critique that upset the tradi-
tion which viewed theatre merely as entertainment. Under the direc-
tion of the Polish director, Zbigniew Ziembinski, God Bless You
revolutionized Brazilian theatre. Earlier theatre traditions began
to disappear as new authors, directors, scene designers, and acting
techniques arose.

The second major play of the first half of the twentieth
century was Nelson Rodrigues' WeddingDress.10 Rodrigues's play was
first performed in 1943 by an acting company that introduced Brazil

11

. to new theatrical concepts. Martins Wilson notes that while

 

 

 

10

Camargo's God Bless You marked a revolution in playwriting,

 

Rodrigues's Wedding Dress marked a revolution in theatrical spec-

 

tacle: for the first time in Brazil, it was not the play but the
representation itself that attracted the greatest attention.12
Afranio Coutinho attributes this effect to the way in which Wedding
Dress rediscovered the fundamental idea of directing: the idea that
spectacle should integrate text, scenery and actors into a unity of
artistic vision:'3

After Wedding Dress Brazilian playwrights divided into three
groups. One group continued writing the kind of farce and comedy
typical of vaudevillian theatre. The other two groups wrote with
the idea of theatre as a means of artistic expression and social
critique. The more conservative of these two sets of writers
attempted to form a transitional group capable of writing modern
plays, but ones less revolutionary than those of Joracy Camargo and
Nelson Rodrigues. The more radical group comprised of young authors
such as Ariano Suassuna, Jorge Andrade, and Dias Gomes attempted to
create a new playwriting school. One of the effects of this antago-
nism among Brazilian writers was to fragment the audience of the
Brazilian theatre, which has been characteristically homogeneous for
centuries.

It was not until the 19505 that Brazilian theatre could
actualize the spirit of nationalism which lay not only behind the
works of Rodrigues and Camargo, but also behind many works of nine-

teenth century playwrights. The interest in current European theatre

' which grew out of the "Week of Modern Art" in 1922 brought to Brazil

11

numerous designers, directors and technicians. Brazilians themselves
became involved in all areas of theatre. So that, by the early 19505
Brazil had a generation of directors schooled in contemporary theatre,
a number of stable professional theatre companies, and a large number
of native Brazilian scene designers, lighting technicians, etc..

In addition to the great number of theatre halls already constructed,
and the various school of dramatic art, Brazil also had its own
national theatre company, The Brazilian National Theatre of Comedy,
established in Sao Paulo in 1948.14 All this served as the material
means by which the country could now effectively produce a theatre
which was more Brazilian and less European. The Arena Theatre of

$50 Paulo led in the effort to establish a truly Brazilian theatre.

, The Arena Theatre was an experimental theatre hall created
by José Renato in the early 19505. Modeled after the Arena Stage in
Washington D.C., the Arena Theatre is considered to be the first
playhouse in South America with central staging. In the early years
of its operation the Arena Theatre worked much as any traditional
theatre company. But in 1956, when Augusto Boal joined the company,
the theatre changed dramatically. Reflecting the mood of the 19505,
the Arena Theatre now broke with European influence and for a period
of time only performed works of Brazilian playwrights. The Arena
Theatre also encouraged an authentic Brazilian theatre movement by
establishing a laboratory of interpretation and a seminar for play-
wrights.

The efforts of the Arena Theatre to actualize a Brazilian

spirit of nationalism brought success not only to Augusto Boal but

12

to other playwrights such as Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Oduvaldo Viana
Filho, Milton Gongalves, Nelson Yarier, and others. Guarnieri and
Filho centered the themes of their plays on contemporary urban life
and they became foremost in the public's eyes during de 19605.
Boal's fame can be traced back to his early comedies, especially
Revolution in South America, which was a political satire staged in
the style of Bertolt Brecht.15 However, Boal's major contributions
to Brazilian theatre lay in his experimental concepts of a people's
theatre, and his innovations of a Newspaper Theatre, and a "Joker

System."

13

NOTES CHAPTER I

15ee Appendix B.
2Arena Conta Zumbi.

3Arena Conta Tiradentes.
4
in Tupi.

See Na Aldeia de Guraparim, the longer play written by him

 

50 Real Teatro de sac Joao.

 

6Comédia de Costumes.

 

7See Wilson Martins, ed., Teatro brasileiro contemporaneo
(New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966), p. 6.

8Semana de Arte Moderna.

9Deus Lhe Pague.

 

10Vestido de Noiva.
nDos Comediantes.
12Martins, op. cit., p. 8.

13Afranio Coutinho, A Literatura no Brasil, vol. II (Rio de
Janeiro: Editorial Sul-Americana, S.A., 1955), p. 278.

14Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (T.B.C.).

15Revolugfio na América do Sul.

CHAPTER II
THE BASIS FOR A NEW THEATRE POETICS

To comprehend Augusto Boal's theories regarding theatre it
is essential that one understand the theoretical basis which moti-
vated Boal to develop his new Poetics.

This chapter discusses at length that theoretical basis.
which is comprised to two elements: Boal's vision of what theatre
is and Boal's view on the historical development of the theatre. In
addition, we shall analyze Boal's definition of theatre from his
subjective point of view--that theatre is a political activity, a

means of communication and an artistic language.

A. Boal's Definition of Theatre

1. Theatre as a political activity, as a means of communication
and as an artistic language.

To Boal, theatre is a "weapon; a very efficient weapon,"1
which he also perceives as a political weapon, since theatre is a
political activity, as are all of man's activities. Inasmuch as
theatre is a social and collective means that satisfies the human
need for communication, it ultimately transcends the realm of poli-
tical activity. Boal elaborated on some of his ideas concerning
theatre as a means of communication in an interview with Charles
Driskell, published September 1, 1975, in the periodical Latin_

American Theatre Review. In answer to a question about the effects

14

15

of his experiences outside of Brazil on his theatre ideas he said:
...what we are doing all over South America is rescuing
the theatre and giving it back to the people so that they
can use it as a means of conmunication to discuss their prob-
1ems. We think theatre can be a means of dgscussing and
"rehearsing" revolutionary acts themselves.
The meaning that Boal conveys about theatre as a medium of communica-
tion is so implicit that he sometimes uses the word "theatre" as a
synonym for language:

You have to make the kind of theatre in which everything

is tested. This is the kind of thing I have been involved in,
creating several ways, to get everyone started making theatre.
Not for the sake of going to the theatge. It is theatre as
"language" than can be used by anyone.

In an article entitled "From Illusion to Reflection, From
Reflection to Action - Concerning the Theatrical Techniques of Augusto
Boal",4 Alicia Saco gave her definitive interpretation of Boal's view
of theatre: "Theatre is an artistic manifestation with a plurality
of expressive resources."5 Saco's theatre possesses that character-
istic of having a "plurality of expressive resources;" therefore, it
is more closely related to language than any other aesthetic revela-
tion. So, inevitably, theatre evolves as a very vital means of
communication for society.

This was revealed by Boal when, in 1973, the Peruvian govern-
ment invited him to participate in the National Literacy Campaign,6
with the sole objective of eradicating illiteracy within four years.
He has asked to use theatre as a vehicle of social change and as a
means of massive communication to help alleviate the nation's illit-

eracy problem. Boal prepared a general working plan consisting of

four stages. In this short synopsis, these stages and their

16

definitions once again substantiate Boal's view of theatre as lan-
guage.

First Stage: Knowing the Body; a series of exercises by
which one gets to know one's body...

Second Stage: Making the Body Expressive; a series of
games by which one begins to express one's self through

the body...

Third Stage: The Theatre as Language; one begins to
practice theatre as a language that is living and present...
Fourth Stage: The Theatre as a Discourse; a simple form

in which the spectator-actor creates "Spectacles" according
to his nee to discuss certain themes or rehearse certain
actions...

These stages will be discussed and analyzed in more detail in the
next chapter of this dissertation. At this juncture, it is enough
to present them as evidence that Boal believes that theatre is the
most direct and persuasive means of communication that society has.
It is for this reason that theatre is susceptible to political
maneuverings. For Boal, theatre's history has been the efficient
political maneuvering of this means of communication. This was the
reason that he wrote Theater of the Oppressed in 1974. In the fore-
word of his book, he states:
This book attempts to show that all theatre is neces-
sarily political, becuase all of the activities of man are
political and theatre is one of them. Those who try to
separate theatre from politics try to lead us into error--
and this a political attitude.8
In the same work, Boal, in analyzing the relationship between
art, theatre and politics, reaches the conclusion that "nothing is
alien to politics, because nothing is alien to the superior art that

"9

rules the relations among men. He speaks here of politics as a

"superior art," as well as a "sovereign art."

17

Medicine, war, architecture...minor and major arts, all
without exception--are subject to, and make up that sovereign
art.

...that the arts and sciences correct nature in all its
faults, and at the same time are interrelated under the domain
of a sovereign art which deals with all men, with all they do,
and all that is done for them: Politics. 0

In further examination of art as politics, Boal continues by

showing how Greek society organized the arts and the state. Accord-
ing to Boal, the arts and the state were arranged hierarchically,
depending upon the nature of each particular activity. In the arts,
they were distributed between the major and minor arts. Any group
of minor arts formed a major art. Boal notes, as an example of this,
that:

...the art of manufacturing paints, the art of manufac-
turing paint brushes, the art of preparing the best canvas,
the art of combination of colors, together constitute the
art of painting.

In this same vein, Boal says that Politics is the sovereign-major
art within which reside the minor arts. These are human activities,
e.g., working, worshiping gods, voting, and all of the real arts,
including theatre. However, in spite of this, he still considers
theatre a political activity. This is his reasoning in regard to
this concept:

So then, if there are minor arts and major arts, the
latter being the ones that contain the former, there will
be, therefore, a sovereign art which will contain all the
other arts and sciences, and whose field of action and
concern will include all the fields of action and all the
other arts and all the other sciences. This sovereign art,
of course, will be the one whose laws rule over the rela-
tions among men in their totality. That is Politics.

It is paramount here to include another quote of Boal's from his

book 200 Exercises and Games for Actor and Non-Actor Wishingto Say

18

13 This will demonstrate the emphasis

Something Through Theatre.
that Augusto Boal has placed on the reaffirmation that all theatre
is Politics:

Todo teatro es politico, aunque no,trate de temas

espec1f1camente POIItICOS- Teatro politico es un pleo.
nasmo, como lo seria "hombre humano"; todo teatro es
politico como todos los hombres son humanos...14

(All theatre is political, even if it doesn't speak

about specific political themes. Political theatre is
a redundancy as is the expression "human man": all
theatre is political as all men are humans...)

2. Theatre as a popular expression.

So we have seen that for Boal theatre is a means of communi-
cation, an artistic language, and a political activity. Moreover,
Boal feels that theatre must be totally popular--meaning that it
should be performed by the people, and not by an "artistic elite"
or a minority of the population. In Boal's opinion the essence of
theatre has always been popular:

Popular theatre existed always, because the people

always existed. Theatre is a language. The people always
expressed themselves through that language.15

Boal considers that there is a reason why the elite of
society do not want theatre to be popular. He believes that they
try to separate the "artistic phenomenon" from the "political and
moral phenomenon." In this manner, they are denying that all aes-
thetic manifestations should be political and moral at the same time.
We have already seen that this is an impossible assumption as it
relates to Boal's ideas. Politics are present in all of man's mani-

festations, and any aesthetic manifestation is political, even

nan's moral values.

19

Adding to this concept, we can readily see how Boal was
compelled to approach the concept of popular theatre from a more
radical perspective--the perspective of change.

E1 teatro es una forma de communicacion entre los hombres;
las formas teatrales no se desarrollan entre si, de manera
autonoma, si no que responden siempre a necesidades sociales
bien determinadas y a momentos precisos. E1 espectaculo se
hace para el espectador y no el espectador para el espectaculo:
e1 espectador cambia, por la tanto tendra que cambiar también
e1 espectaculo.16

(Theatre is a form of communication between men; the
theatrical forms do not develop by themselves, in an auto-
nomous manner; they always correspond to social needs and
to precise moments. The spectacle is made for the specta-
tors, not the spectators for the spectacle. The spectators
change and so the spectacle must change, too.)

This idea of change is the most important element in defining theatre
as being popular. According to Boal, what defines theatre as being
popular is not the theme itself nor the form itself. Theatre's
popularity does not merely speak of workers or peasants only, nor
does it only present spectacles in the streets and marketplaces for
viewing by the poor masses. What defines the popular character of
theatre is that which "has the people's perspective, the perspective
of change."17 With this statement, it is apparent that Boal is talk-
ing about a certain specific people-~a particular segment of society.
This specific group of people encompasses those who are in constant
change and those who accomplish or who are trying to achieve social
change. For this alone it behooves us to understand that the theat-
rical spectacle" is made for the spectator" (in this instance, mean-
ing the people), and they are capable of change. Subsequently, the
theatre must change along with the spectator. This is crucial when

Boal speaks about the popular character of theatre.

20

It is this idea of people and change which Boal expresses
as being "revolutionary" theatre. He thinks that theatre, in order
to be "popular," should be "revolutionary"--for it matters little
where the spectacle is performed. Theatre reaches its most revolu-
tionary pinnacle when theatre is used as a communication tool by the
masses of society.
...el propio pueblo lo practica, cuando deja de ser apenas
el inspirador y el consumidor y pasa a fgr e1 productor.
Guando se communica através del teatro.
(...the people practice it, when the people stop being the
source of inspiration and the consumers of theatre and begin
to be the producers themselves. When people communicate
through theatre.)
To paraphrase Boal, it is when theatre is used by the people as a
political weapon that theatre realizes its revolutionary potential.
In the Arena Theatre of $50 Paulo, Brazil, Boal developed a
series of techniques, exercises, and games in order to reach that
revolutionary peak in his popular theatre. This will be elaborated
on later in this dissertation. In summary, there are two critical
components in the definition of popular theatre: the presence of
the people and the necessity of change. This exemplifies the pro-
found influence of Bertolt Brecht. In his interview with Charles
Driskell, Boal admits that Brecht has exerted the "greatest influence"
on him, as well as the rest of the Latin American theatre, especially
the Brazilian theatre.
In my case especially--and in that of other Brazilian
authors there were two tremendous influences. One of them
was Bertolt Brecht. He was a great influence because he
taught us that our obligation as artists was to shed light

on reality, not only to reflect and to interpret reality,
- but to try to change it... 9

21

A Latin American theoretician, Alicia Saco, said, in 1975, that the
political theatre of Bertolt Brecht has been developed in Latin

"20 whose most contro-

America through what we call "Popular Theatre
versial figure is Augusto Boal. In paraphrasing Boal's ideas, she
said:

Este seria basicamente e1 teatro que refleja los intereses
del pueblo, no reduciéndose a la simple presentacion de las
contradicciones sociales sino configurandose como una actividad
art1stica que se engarza dentro de una accion de transformacion
de la realidad.2

(This would be basically the theatre which reflects the
interests of the people, present not only the social contra—
dictions, but shaping itself as an artistic activity within
the action of transforming reality.)

In both the political theatre of Bertolt Brecht and the
popular theatre of Augusto Boal, there is a commonality-—the parti-
cipation of the spectator (the people) against the hypnotic magic
of the theatrical illusion.22 The difference between the two is
that for Brecht the spectator's participation is fundamentally reflec-
tive and for Boal the spectator's participation is active. As indi-
cated before, theatre reaches its revolutionary peak when the people
become the "producer" of theatre. To realize this, Boal developed
various theatre forms: Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, Invisible
Theatre and others, which will be discussed later.

The article by Alicia Saco studies in depth the difference
between Boal's popular theatre and Brecht's political theatre. She
concludes that Boal is continuing Brecht's ideas and improving upon
them when he transforms the spectator from a reflective stance to an
active one. So, we have a third component defining popular theatre,

the action. This factor can be seen in the technqiues and theatre

22

forms created by Boal. Later, we will see how Boal achieves this
effect-—that of giving the spectators an active role in the theatri-
cal phenomenon. For now, it is enough to discern that this factor
constitutes the principal difference between Boal's theatre and

Brecht's.

3. Theatre as art: as an aesthetic manifestation.

To conclude with Boal's definition of theatre, it is signi-
ficant that we consider his most recent opinion or idea, which he
expressed to me during an interview conducted in January of 1980.

He discussed the concept of aesthetics, in which all of his former
ideas about theatre were implicit, especially his ideas on change
and communication. All of the arts for Boal are productions of
images of the world, and the theatre is "the production or ordered
images of the world."23 He further clarifies this by stating that
there are two methods by which art can face the ordering of the
world. One method is to present the world in constant transformation,
and the other one is to present it in a static form, unchangeable.
According to him, this static interpretation represents the ideology
of the ruling class, whose intentions are to maintain the status quo
at all costs and to circumvent any modification movement that will
threaten or endanger their domination and control over the poor
masses.

Now there is a way of ordering the world which shows the

world as being finished, a world that needs almot nothing to
be completed. This is a kind of ordering of the ruling class,
who want to present a perfect world. But there is a second

kind of ordering which is the image of the world in perpetual
change, in transition.2

23

With this idea in mind, we shall discuss "Elite theatre" and
"Popular or people theatre." For Boal, there are two distinct forms
of art expression: theatres that are completely different and the
two diverse orderings of the world. For him, theatre is an aesthe-
tic form through which human beings can learn about reality. This
concept of aesthetics, says Boal, has been misunderstood and delib-
erately mystified. For him, aesthetics does not mean "beauty"...
"prettiness"...that produces pleasure when we see it, and so forth.
Aesthetics is "communication which proceeds through the senses."25
Finally, for Boal, theatre develops into "the supreme aesthetic

because it uses all the senses and all of the rest of the arts."26

B. Boal's Views on the Development of the Theatre
1. General perspective.

We have reiterated before that the artistic elite of a
society tries to separate the artistic manifestation from the poli-
tical manifestation of theatre, and that, in Boal's perception, this
is both an error and a political attitude. Boal reasons that this
separation has occurred because the society's elites have attempted
to deny that theatre is a communication medium that can be readily
utilized by the people as a legitimate form of knowledge. For Boal,
theatre has always been a collective means to be used to transmit
the knowledge of a society. In order to maintain their dominance
over the society's masses, these elites have taken possession of

theatre. To understand better the process of how they began to

24

dominate theatre, we must look at Boal's conception of historical
theatre development.

Throughout the history of the theatre, the most powerful
elites of a community have been pirating theatre from the people or
the masses. In the beginning, theatre was a collective emotional
experience where everyone was able to participate.27 There were the
dithyrambic chants sung by the whole community. Theatre was a collec-
tive communication medium whereby the people learned about their
history, their heroes and their gods. Later, the elites began to
use theatre for their own political ends. They defined what was
aesthetically pleasing and what was good theatre according to their
own tastes and interests, while ignoring the tastes and interests
of the masses. Theatre was removed from the hands of the people--
walls between spectators and performers were erected, dividing the
participants into "people who act and people who watch"28 (passive
people versus active people).

Soon theatre art was appropriated by the elites from the
people and placed directly under their control. The definition of
theatrical concepts (what is drama, mimesis, spectacle, theatre)
began to be defined for their (the elites') perspective. Even when
the masses participated in the process of creating theatre, the
content, the form and the manner in which the spectacle would be
performed was defined and controlled by the elites. The Corpus
Christi festivities during the Middle Ages were a prime example of
this. The religious elite controlled the spectacle's planning and

implementation. Somewhat later, theatre was defined by the

25

aristocracy, after the church's decline. Eventually, the aristocracy
was replaced by wealthy merchants and they seized control of theatre.
While the elites changed and the concepts within theatre were modi-
fied, the use of theatre by these elites did not change. It was
consistently used as a means of "coercive indoctrination."29
This "coercive indoctrination" of the people by an elite
group subverted the original impetus of theatre as a collective
emotional experience through which people learned about their lives
in the community. Throughout the periods in which theatre was
dominated by an elite, the original nature of theatre as a collec-
tive, popular experience was continually kept active by such rudi-
mentary theatrical means such as strolling players, mimes, and
singers in marketplaces. Today, the theatre of Augusto Boal continues
this return to the origins of theatre. Thus, when Boal speaks of
the right of people to originate their own theatre, he attempts to
return theatre to a collective manifestation of community life. He
attempts to turn theatre away from a "coercive indoctrination", and
towards a communicative means by which people can better understand
themselves and their social lives. This was the first objective of

"30

his popular theatre technique of "Newspaper Theatre which endeav—

ored to "popularize the means of doing theatre so the people them-
"31

selves can use them and do their own theatre.
He felt that it was important to bestow upon the people all

the possibilities of theatre as a valid means of social communication.
With those ideas in mind, Boal studied the following periods

in the historical development of the theatre: the Greek and Roman;

26

the Medieval; the Renaissance and Romantic; and the Modern and Con-
temporary. He analyzed the social and cultural milieu in which the
"coercive indoctrination" of people through theatre occurred during

32 As the theoretical framework for this

these tumultuous periods.
study, he used a book entitled The Social History of Art, by Arnold

Hauser.

2. Greek and Roman Periods.

For Boal "Theatre was the people singing freely in the open
air...the carnival. The feast..."33 Then the ruling class, the
Aristocracy, took possession of the theatre and erected walls that
divided the spectators from the actors. This division between the
passive receiver of theatre and the active transmitter of theatre
was the first initial separation in the theatre. Later on another
division was conceived. The actors began to represent the Aristoc-
racy (protagonists) in the plays, while the other performers were
representative of the masses (as the chorus). According to Boal
this second division of theatre was devised so that the spectacle
could more efficiently reflect the ideology of the Aristocracy. It
was in this period of history that "coercive indoctrination" had its
beginnings. Aristotle was the first renounced theoretician of the
Aristocracy who propelled theatre in this insidious direction.

The intent of Aristotle's Poetics was to eradicate every
idea or belief in the spectator that was not palatable to the ruling
class of that period. Through the famous concepts of catharsis and

purgation, the people's ideas on changing the society were destrqyed.

27

This system was called by Boal “The Aristotelian Coercive System."

Aristotle, in his Poetics presented the protagonists as exceptional

creatures--human beings that possessed superior character qualities.34

They were symbolic of the Aristocracy, not the masses (the people).

In the beginning, the theatre was the chorus, the mass,
the people. They were the true protagonists. When Thespis
invented the protagonists, he "Aristocratized" the theatre
which existed before in its popular forms of mass manifesta-
tion, parades, feasts, et cetera. The protagonist-chorus
dialogue was clearly a reflection of the Aristocrat-people
(commoners) dialogue. The tragic hero, who later begins to
carry on a dialogue, not only with the chorus, but also with
his peers (deuteragonist and tritagonist) was always presented
as an example which sould be followed in certain characteris-
tics but not in others. The tragic hero appears when the
state begins to utilize the theatre for the political purpose
of coercion of the people. It should not be forgotten that
the state, directly or through Sgrtain wealthy patrons, paid
for the theatrical productions.

During the Greek and Roman periods, this was the theatre that pre-
vailed, based on the Aristotelian tragic system, which only responded
to the interests of the ruling class or Aristocracy. With the incep-
tion of a new social order, a new ruling class usurped the previous
ruling class' power and a new social era in mankind's history began,

the Middle Ages.

3. Medieval period.
A new theatre sprang up and a new ruling class came with it.
The Clergy and the Nobility of that period developed a new art. This
new art form tried to immobilize society by perpetuating the existing

system, whose principal characteristics were "depersonalization,"
"36

 

"deindividualization" and "abstraction.

 

 

28

The theatre, as in the other arts of that period, showed a
tendency toward abstraction. The characters of the dramas were not
human, but rather abstractions of moral and religious values. The
real and the concrete world, presented in the Greek and Roman trage-
dies, did not exist during this era. The most typical characters
were named Sin, Virtue, Devil, Angel, and so on. As Boal says:

"They were not characters--subjects of the dramatic action, but simply
objects acting as spokesmen for the values they symbolized."37
Abstract concepts were the characters of the Middle Ages' theatre.

As in the Greek and Roman eras, these characters symbolized the
Middle Ages' ruling class. Boal establishes that both of these
theatres were Aristotelian, even though there were fundamental dif-
ferences between them. They were both used by the elites to insure
that any attempt by the masses to transform society would be theatri-
cally purged.

In tragedy, what was important for Aristotle was its

cathartic function, its function as a "purifier" of the
citizen. All his theories combine to form a harmonic
whole which demonstrates the correct manner of purging
the audience of all ideas or tendencies capable of modi-
fying society. In this sense, the medieval theatre was
Aristotelian, though it did not utilize the same formal
resources suggested by the Greek theoretician.38

When a new ruling class appeared, the Bourgeoisie, a new
social and economic system was established. This marked the fall
of the feudal system and the beginning of the capitalist society, as
well as a new period in theatre history, the Renaissance.39 To Boal,
this was a transitional period entitled the "Bourgeois Concretion"

in which Machiavelli was the primary theoretician. A second period

29

ensued that correlated with the eighteenth century Romanticism that
had Hegel as its principal theoretician. Both the Renaissance and

the Romanticism period were part of what Boal calls the Bourgeois
Theatre. All of the poetics that were developed for that theatre

were inextricably related to the origin and development of Capitalism.
Boal entitled these poetics "The Bourgeoisie's Poetic of Virtu."40
These poetics existed up until the 20th century breakdown, and accord-

ing to him, they are still in existence.

4. Renaissance and Romanticism.

In this period the new elite transformed the protagonists of
Medieval drama into exceptional individuals. They ceased to be
symbols of moral values and were transformed into human beings as
in the Greek and Roman periods. There was a dissimilarity. They
were no longer one-dimensional characters, but rather multi-dimen-
sional. As in the Greek and Roman periods, they were separated from
the people as the new aristocrats. This new theatre was to present
human beings as concrete realities and not as abstractions. The
bourgeoisie believed that the individual aspect of concrete man was
the most relevant concept and its presentation was vital. Bourgeois
man possessed two motivations for his life, his own "Virtb" (his own
efforts) and the "Praxis" (his own work). Boal says that:

The Bourgeois owed nothing to his fate or his good for-

tune, but only to his own virtb. With his virtb he had
surmounted all the obstacles which were placed before him

by birth, the laws of the feudal system, tradition, and
religion.4 ‘

30

Furthermore, abstract characters such as the Devil disappeared
from the stage and were replaced by humans who possessed some of the
identical characteristics, i.e., Lady Macbeth, Iago, and Richard the
III. It is for this reason that Boal refers to this period as the

"Bourgeois Concretion"; 42

the moral and religious values of the
Middle Ages still were evident in the theatre but in concrete form.
The ordinary man, in this era, appeared to be analyzed in an indivi-
dualized and multi-dimensional manner. Again, the character of the
drama was the subject of the dramatic action, as was true in the
Greek theatre, but man was no longer an object symbolizing moral
values.

Boal postulated that the human being was liberated from all
of the moral and religious values of the Middle Ages. This gave
theatre the opportunity to communicate the new ideals of liberation
among the masses. The new protagonists were characters that con-
vinced the people of the urgency of freedom. When the Bourgeoisie
seized power and dissolved the old ruling class, this kind of theatre
appeared to be very dangerous to them. So began the search for new
methods of control to limit the new man and the power of the theatre.
A formal freedom existed that was impossible to eliminate. There-
fore, it was crucial that a new doctrine be established that could
limit this liberty.

It was necessary for someone to come along who, without
renouncing the freedom recently acquired by the dramatic
character, could impose some limitations upon him, working
out a formula that might preserve his formal freedom though

insuring that the dogmatic pre- -estab1ished truth would pre-
vail. That someone was Hegel.

31

Hegel believed that good actions i.e., truth should live in
the theatre, and bad things, i.e., lies, should die--and that drama
should illustrate a conflict of moral and spiritual values where
morality (truth) would prevail over evil. To achieve this effect,
the struggle of antagonistic characters was shown. The action ended
in harmony. This equilibrium and harmony was attained by the destruc-
tion of one of the antagonists. This occurred in two distinct forms:
by the death of one of the irreconcilable characters, or by the
repentence of one of the characters. Hegel established that the hero
must die if his death would make the truth shine more brightly. Here
is where we can readily see how the limitations are being imposed.

A concrete character, with all of his freedom, is presented to and
accepted by the audience. The ultimate value presented is not that
the human being is a valuable entity, but rather that his moral values
have prevailed.

For Hegel the character is again the subject of the dramatic
action. This is different from the Greek period, since his moral
values are what prevailed at the close of the drama. Hegel also con-
firmed that only men who have the time and the money to cultivate
these spiritual and moral values will be the heroes in these dramas,
the bourgeoisie and the aristocrats, not the poor or common masses.
The characters are "absolute subjects" who respond to their own
actions and are given the freedom to select either good or evil;
therefore, if they are poor, it is because they have selected incor-

rectly. This corresponds to the development of the Romantic drama.44

32

The Romantic drama followed Hegel's ideas. It resolved on
the spiritual level the problems men were faced with in society.
For Boal this was the first limitation imposed on theatre by the
Bourgeoisie, the first reduction of the Bourgeoisie's Poetic of VirtD.
Once again the theatre is seized by the ruling class and used as a

coercive instrument.

5. Modern (From the Nineteenth Century to the Present).

After Romanticism, a strong theatre movement was born, the
Realism of the nineteenth century. This new movement transformed
dramatic characters into objects again, but they were objects of
social forces. Parallel to these changes, the expansionism and
consolidation of the social and economic system known as Capitalism
occurred. During this period, the Bourgeoisie developed to its
zenith as society's aristocracy. As a result, the Bourgeoisie's
Poetic of Virtu clearly symbolized this ruling class. Due to this
Realism and Naturalism are still very strong theatre movements. In
fact, this is so in a much greater degree than ever with the develop-
ment of new similar arts, the cinema and television.45

Boal believes that this Realism was the second reduction of
the Bourgeoisie’s Poetic of Virtu. Human beings become direct pro-
ducts of their environment, without the consideration of other influ-
ential factors, except their social milieu. Again the characters

become unidimensionals on the stage. An objective theatre movement

that isolated other subjective possibilities developed. Everything

33

appeared on the stage as it occurred in reality and the subjective
opinion of the author was eliminated.

During the twentieth century, a series of subjective styles
appeared: Expressionism, Impressionism, Surrealism, and Absurdism.
The characters were shown as subjects of abstractions, and the limi-
tations as well as the reductions continued. With these changes,
human beings experienced even more diverse reductions. They were
transformed into new abstractions: psychological, moral and meta-
physical orders. This was the theatre of the Bourgeoisie with its
Poetic of VirtD. It began with the Renaissance and ended with the
innovative, subjective and relativistic theatrical forms of the
twentieth century.

In response to this movement, a new theatre was started.

This new theatre was ordained by a new social class that had its

birth in a Capitalist society, the working class. This new theatre
which was originally abstract was called by Boal "Dialectical Theatre."
Its characters still revealed their conditions as simple objects--
objects of social and economic forces. These forces were the cata-
lyst for a system that defined the dramatic action when they (these
forces) entered into contradiction. This was the theatre created

by Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht. Piscator created the basis for
this with his Political Theatre, and Bertolt Brecht became its
principal theoretician with his Alienation Theory.

Bertolt Brecht answered all of the previous poetics by trans-

forming the characters theorized by Hegel as "Absolute-Subjects"

34

into objects. His transformations were distinctly different from
the theoreticians of the Middle Ages, whose characters represented
religious and moral values, and supernatural forces. Brecht's char-
acters were the objects of social and economic forces which deter-
mined their thoughts and actions.

The poetic developed by Brecht was centered on the creation
of a reflective attitude in the spectator concerning the social and
economic forces that influence life's human conditions. With this,
Brecht hoped to demonstrate that society is changeable. Through his
epic or political theatre, he wanted to contribute in an artistic
manner to the transformation of capitalist society.

Boal needed a new poetic that would transform the spectator
from a reflective position to a more active one, and one that would
destroy the wall erected between the actors and spectators by the
ruling class. This poetic would invariably remove the wall between
actors and spectators by creating a theatre where all could partici-
pate; secondly, it would eliminate the wall that separated the protag-
onists from the chorus. In conclusion, the protagonists and the
chorus would unite and become as one. This is his theory called the
"Poetic of the Oppressed."

Boal's experiences in Brazil, Argentina, and especially in
Peru, verify that the destruction of the first wall is a feasible
proposition. The work he developed in the Arena Theatre of sec Paulo

demonstrates the possibility of eliminating the second wall.

35

NOTES CHAPTER II

1Augusto Boal, Theater of the Oppressed (New York: Urizen
Books, 1979), p

 

2Charles Driskell, "An Interview with Augusto Boal, " Latin
American Theatre Review, 19, no. 1 (Fall 1975), 74.

 

31bid.

4Alicia Saco, "De la ilusidn a la reflexion, de la reflexion
a la acci6n- -en torno a nuevas técnicas teatrales de Augusto Boal, “
Revista de Critica Literaria Latinoamericana, l, ndm. 2(Julio- Dic.
1975), 115.

 

5"El teatro es una manifestacidn artistica con pluralidad
de recursos expresivos."

6"Operacion Alfabetizacidn Integral."

7Boa1, op. cit., p. 126.
8

9

Ibid., p. ix.
Ibid., p. 11.
'Olbid.
11Ibid., p. 10.
121pm., pp. 10-11.

13200 Ejercicios y Juegos para el Actor;y No-actor con Ganas
de Decir Algo A través del Teatro.

 

14Augusto Boal, 200 Ejercicios...(Buenos Aires: Editorial
Crisis S.R.L., 1975), p. 13.

15Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

16Boal, op. cit., p. 11.
17Ibid., p. 27.
‘BIbid.

36

lgDriskell, op. cit., p. 72.
20Teatro Popular.

 

2ISaco, op. cit., p. 116.

22The theory of Brecht's epic - political theatre includes,
among its principles, a radical position against the illusionistic
theatre and its process of empathy which was developed to its per-
fection by Stanislavsky and supported by all its tradition of play-
wrights at end of the nineteenth and beginning of twentieth century.
Brecht rejected the eagerness of meticulous reconstruction of reality;
but basically he rejected the identification of actors and spectators
with the characters, and the hypnotical magic created on stage which
prevent and destroy any critical attitude. In contraposition to
illusionistic theatre, he created the Epic or Dialectical theatre
(also called Political Theatre), in which, through a series of aliena-
tion techniques, he obtains the critical attitude on actors and
spectators toward society, history and human behavior.

23Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11 and
13, 1980.

241b1d.

251bid.

26Itn'd.

27See Augusto Boal, "Teatro del oprimido," Crisis, 2, nfim.
l4 (Junio 1974), 25-32; Theater of the Oppressed, p. 119; and Teatro
Libero-Palermo (Ed.), Momenti: Godrano - Agosto 1977 (Palermo:
Teatro Libero Palermo,71977), p. 15.

 

28Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 119.

29See Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, pp. 1-50.

30Augusto Boal, Categorias de Teatro Popular (Buenos Aires:
Ediciones CEPE, 1972), p. 73; and Augusto Boal, Técnicas Latinoameri-
canas de Teatro Popular (Una revolucidn Copernicana a1 revé5) (Buenos
Aires: Ediciones Corregidor Saici YE., 1975), p. 52.

3‘Augusto Boal, "Teatro Jornal: Primeira Edi 30,“ Latin
American Theatre Review, 4, no. 2 (Spring 1971), pp. 7-58; and
Augusto Boal, Tétnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma
rgvgluefio zopernicana ao contrario (Sao Paulo: Editora Hucitepec,
7 ,'p. 3.

 

 

37

32Those periods correspond to the four social and economic
systems which developed throughout the history of human beings:
Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism and Socialism.

33Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 119.

34See Barret H. Clark, comp., European Theories of the Drama
(New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1977), pp. 3-22.

35Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 33.

The same idea is shown in Arnold Hauser, The Social History
of Art, Vol. I (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962), pp. 75-76.
In this respect, he says: "Tragedy is the characteristic creation
of Athenian democracy; in no form of art are the inner conflicts of
its social structure so directly and clearly to be seen as in this.
The externals of its presentation to the masses were democratic, but
its content, the heroic sagas with their tragic-heroic outlook on
life, was aristocratic. It unquestionably propagates the standards
of the great-hearted individual, the uncommon distinguished man...
it owed its origin to the separation of the choirleader from the
choir, which turned collective performance of songs into dramatic
dialogue..."

36Boal, op. cit., p. 55.

Arnold Hauser analyzes the function of this Mediaeval Art in
The Social History of Art, Vol. I (Page 164), as an authoritarian one,
which tried to inculcate in the people a solemn attitude of religious
respect for the status quo. Boal thinks that this is coercion,
because it represents a static and stereotyped world in which the
generic and homogeneous prevailed.

 

37Boal, op. cit., p. 56.

38Ibid.

39See Arnold Hauser, The Social History of Art, Vol. I.
40See Augusto Boal, "A poética da 'Virtfi', I-II," O Estado

de 550 Paulo, 13, 20 de outubro de 1962, Suplemento Literaria—Teatro,
p. 5.

 

4lBoal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 61.

Alfred Von Martin in his book Sociolggy of the Renaissance
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1944), makes an analysis similar
to Boal, but from a sociological perspective. For him, virtue and
competition were the new ideology of humanistics; and he considers
that Individualism (one of the principal characteristics of this
moment) was the one that covered the concept of virtue, which meant
man of "theory and practice". His thesis is that the Bourgeosie
wanted, in the first years of this existence, to destroy all the
restrictions imposed on men through the laws, traditions, and

38

religious values of the Feudal system; and after the old social order
was eliminated to impose their own restrictions.

42Machiavelli was the primary theoretician in this respect.
His literary writings were an artistic vision of Bourgeoise man.
He also gave great importance to the concept of virtue as a funda-
mental characteristic of the new individualized human being.

43Boal, op. cit., p. 73.

44What occurred in Romanticism, says Alfred Von Martin, was
that the Bourgeoisie was aristocratized. For him, this moment became
the "Feudalization of the Bourgeoisie." In his book The Sociology
Of The Renaissance, he makes the following analysis. At the beginning
of the Renaissance, the Bourgeoisie was violent, revolutionary. The
concept of society included the whole community: the people. Then
it changed. The fear of risk made it conservative. This occurred
after they took political power. So, dictatorship was born as a
result of their fear and loosing their power. Their humanism changed
also to a "Romantic Humanis,," more isolated from the masses and more
elitist. The spiritual ideas returned. And the Capitalist system,
which at the beginning was in close relation with Humanism, was
separated from it.

 

45Boal believes that the cinema and television were the
younger offsprings of Realism.

CHAPTER III
THE THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

This chapter will discuss and clarify the development of the
Theatre of the Oppressed and its fundamental concepts and principles.
We shall also analyze three critical developmental periods of this
theatre (from 1964 to 1973, Boal's experience in Peru during 1973,
and from 1973 to 1980). Finally, we shall discuss one of the most
controversial issues related to the Theatre of the Oppressed--whether

it is fiction or reality.

A. Fundamental Concepts and Principles

 

For Boal, the spectator was the fundamental element of com-
munication through theatre,1 and this was why the Theatre of the
Oppressed had as its first principle the liberation or transformation

2 Boal used these words (liberation and transforma-

of the spectator.
tion) synonymously and, to him, the liberation of the spectator
implied a transformation. The word liberation was used for the first
time, in 1978, in an interview with the Canadian Theatre Review:
I want the spectator to act, not watch. It is obscene
for a human being who is fully capable of "doing" to merely
watch. The first principle in my Theater of the Oppressed
is liberation of the spectator. The Theatre of the Oppressed
does not imply a reflection of the past but a preparation for
the future.
Later, in 1979, he altered this first principle's meaning by

substituting the word "transformation" for the word "liberation."

39

40

He also more accurately established what constituted this transfor-
mation: making the spectator a protagonist. In his pamphlet,

Pratique'du Theatre de l'Opprimé, published in Paris, in 1979, he

 

wrote that the first fundamental principle of his theatre is: "To
transform the spectator into a protagonist."4 This first principle
is the key to understanding his poetics of the oppressed since it is
the principal objective of his poetics; “to transform pe0ple--'spec-
tators,‘ pasSive beings in the theatrical phenomenon--into subjects,
into actors, transformers of the dramatic action."5
The second principle is a direct result of the first one.
It encourages the protagonist in a wider perspective to prepare for
future change, not only to interpret or to reflect upon the past.
Based on these two principles Boal establishes his poetics,
not as evangelical nor propagandist nor even didactic. It is not
evangelical since the Theatre of the Oppressed will not convey the
good word, the actual theatre, or even perfection; nor is it propa-
gandist since it will not attempt to convince spectators to follow
certain propositions nor to accept specific political positions. On
the contrary, it will try to understand the propositions and politi-
cal positions of the spectators. Finally, this poetics theatre is
not didactic since it does not pretend to know more than the specta-
tors. In other words, this theatre does not pretend to teach a moral
lesson or to give ethical lessons to the spectators; therefore, this
theatre is more than anything else "pedagogical,"6 and, in this sense,

everyone, spectators and performers, will learn together.

41

Taking into consideration what the Theatre of the Oppressed
is not and what its two fundamental principles are, the poetics of
the oppressed seeks the following:

(1) To dynamize spectators instead of promoting a catharsis
and not to purge from the spectators tendencies to
transform reality (hamartia), but the contrary, to
stimulate these tendencies by fortifying and increas-
ing them.

(2) To help spectators to reproduce situations by finding
their own solutions to their own problems through their
own forces.

Another crucial point is that this theatre always selects
its spectators, and the reason why is that Boal's theatre wishes to
serve only the oppressed and not the oppressors--which oppressed
people is irrelevant. He clearly defines the oppressors and those
who are oppressed:

The Theatre of the Oppressed is the theatre of the

oppressed classes and all those who are oppressed within

those classes. It is not the theatre of the oppressor

classes, although there you can find oppressed people.

It is not of the oppressed who are essentially oppressors;

but of the oppressors who are essentially oppressed.
Ultimately, the Theatre of the Oppressed is for those whose funda-
mental character is being oppressed within an oppressed class. This
is the reason why this theatre selects it spectators.

Finally, Boal believes that this poetics "must show a problem
and try to effect identification of the spectator with that problem."8

However, this identification process should occur through "analogy,"

42

and not "identity." To simplify this, the spectator says, "It seems
much like my reality," and not "It is my reality." Lastly, this is
a theatre of osmosis and empathy, and according to Boal this "trans-
forms the spectator into a passive being."9 This identification
through analogy transforms the spectator into an active being when
he says, "It seems...." If there is no identification with the
problem, then the Theatre of the Oppressed is non-existent. This
is applicable to Bertolt Brecht's poetics, too. In it, all identi-
fication is eliminated and the reaction of the spectator is through
what Boal defines as "solidarity," for the spectator only says, "I
must agree, although it doesn't seem to be my reality." Here, the
spectator does not identify with the problem, but only demonstrates
his solidarity.
In this manner Boal delineates the differences between his
poetics, and Aristotle's and Brecht's:
Aristotle proposes a poetics in which the spectator
delegates power to the dramatic character so that the
latter may act and think for him. Brecht proposes a
poetics in which the spectator delegates power to the
character who thus acts in his place, but the spectator
reserves the right to think for himself, often in opposi-
tion to the character. In the first case, a "catharsis"
occurs; in the second, an awakening of critical conscious-
ness. But the poetics of the oppressed focuses on the
action itself: the spectator delegates no power to the
character (or actor) either to act or to think in his
place; on the contrary, he himself assumes the protagonic
role, changes the dramatic action, tries out solutions,
discusses plans for change--in short, trains himself for
real action.10
Now, we can begin to analyze the development of Boal's poetics
of_the oppressed. We shall present it from a chronological perspec-

tive to clarify its basic techniques and fundamental changes.

43
B. The Development_gf the Poetics of the Oppressed: The First
Sieps (1964 - 1973)
l. Boal's experience in Brazil: 1964-1970.

a) The political situation.

In Brazil, from 1960 onward, there were political upheavals
which influenced the social and cultural development of that country,
and the theatre as well. The following is a summary of the most
relevant changes that have directly or indirectly affected the
development of the Brazilian theatre and the Theatre of the Oppressed.

The early 19605 experienced relative democracy and an increase
in the progressive forces. General elections were held and President
Janio Quadros, was elected. After his resignation two years later,
vice-president Joao Goulart assumed the presidency. The secretary
of the army, Marshal Denys, was opposed to that nomination. An
agrarian reform plan was instantly announced and a proposal to modify
the constitution was also presented. A measure was passed to curb
President Goulart's liberal policies--the House of Representativesn
agreed to limit presidential powers and created the post of Chief of
Government.12

In a meeting of the Organization of American States (O.A.S.),
in 1962, Brazil stated its position of non-intervention in Cuba. A
year later, in a landslide referendum vote, the people voted for a
presidential system. The General Confederation of Labor and the
National Union of Students verbally attacked Governor Lecerda of the

state of Guanabara, because he was opposed to the constitution's

modification. A resolution for minimum agrarian reform was signed

44

in 1964. This provoked the Navy and the governors of Minas Gerais.
$50 Paulo and Guanabara to revolt against President Goulart. As a
result, Ranieri Mazilli was named as interim president. The military
leaders signed a constitutional amendment that would cancel all pre-
viously legislated parliamentary bills. The congress elected Marshal
Castelo Branco as President of the Republic. This was the first
coup d'etat and it opened the way toward the imposition of censorship
and repression in Brazil and brought to a close the democratic period.
Boal believed that the years between 1960 to 1964 were char-
acterized by a kind of "populist," "liberal" and "unfolding govern-

]3 The theatre experienced tremendous development because it

ment."
evolved into a more popular form and content.14 Nearly 1,000 popular
theatrical cultural centers existed for the people. The theatre
received a great deal of government support, and this stimulated the
development of many national playwrights.15 Many professional and
amateur theatre companies performed for workers and peasants in the
different popular centers sponsored by the government. This signi-
ficant increase in theatrical activity was interrupted by the 1964
coup d'etat and subsequently all centers were closed. All theatre
productions that were held in the streets, in the workers' unions,
and other popular places were discontinued.

In response to the coup d'etat of 1964 a massive cultural
movement was started. Most of the theatrical performances--the new

nationalistic dramas written by many rebellious authors were targeted

against the military regime. The forms and styles varied, but,

45

ultimately, the essence was the same: to criticize the political
situation:

In the mid-sixties a new trend in the arts brought
forward more politically-tinged writing and active criti-
cism of the "establishment" than had perhaps ever been
experienced in Brazil. With it came a growing freedom
of expression, with the abuses which occasionally tend
to accompany new liberties. Writers used a much more
forceful language and focused upon the lower classes of
society, usually avoided as subjects in the past.16

Thus appeared a great number of plays characterized by social

17 18

concerns: Dias Gomes' Invasion and Birthplace of a Hero, recall-

 

ing Ibsen's An Enemy of the People; Ferreira Gullar's Dr. Getulio
l9

 

Vargar, His Life and His Glory, a musical carnival version of the

 

story of a Brazilian dictator and president; Plinio Marcos' Knife in

21

the Flesh;20 Opinion, a series of dramatic anti-establishment

pieces by different authors; AntOnio Vivar's Cordelia Brasil; Augusto

 

Boal and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri's Arena Narrates Zumbi; and many

22

others, such as Liberty, Liberty and Electra.

 

The above plays, although they faced censorship, were per-
formed without major incident. However, with the inauguration, in
1967, of a new president, General Artur da Costa e Silva, repression
intensified. His government was characterized by austere economic
measures accompanied by political reprisals and imprisonments.

Promised elections were postponed; criticism of the government was
viewed as subversive. The theatre realized its impact when many
productions were banned or cancelled and theatres were closed. Actors,
directors and playwrights were arrested. Foreign writers were also

included under the censorship law: Leroi Jones, Brecht, SOPDOCIES.

46

Gogol; even Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire was banned
because of the words "cow" and "gorilla" which were favorite epithets
of students and demonstrators for the police and other repressive
forces.

Due to this repression, theatre started losing its homogene-
ity. One faction was associated with the right wing-~acceptance of
the new government; the other faction, the leftist, was fragmented
into three splinter groups which displayed tendencies labeled by
Boal as: "Neo-Realistic," ”Exhortative," and "Neo-Romantic Tropica-
lism." Only the second one held its position of "attacking the
triumphant lie";23 this was the Arena Theatre of S30 Paulo under the
direction of Augusto Boal.

It was during these turbulent years that Boal created in the
Arena Theatre a new method and style of performing and writing plays
entitled the Joker System. He presented various productions, until
1968, when the political situation worsened and a second, more
violent coup d'etat occurred. Repression increased alarmingly and
Boal called this second coup "the fascist coup d'etat."24

An increase in protests against the opposition to the pre-
vailing political climate reached a climax when representatives of
the performing arts and others from different cultural sectors
initiated a week-long protest strike:

All theatres were closed for three days and street
demonstrations continued for almost a month. Banners
proclaimed: "Down with censorship!""Culture, not
Censorship!" A formal set of conditions was prepared

and submitted, including the following:
1. The release of plays and films banned by censors.

47

2. Suspension of the penalties assessed against the
producers of A Streetcar Named Desire.

3. Decentralization of censorship authority.

4. The formation of a new code of censorship, recogniz-
ing artistic freedom.

 

This confrontation between the intellectuals and the govern-
ment demonstrated how volatile Brazilian politics and the arts had
become by 1968. Another faction was evident in Brazilian society,
the Right Wing, which felt that the authorities were too lenient and
took its own action. Three fascist organizations were created: The
Brazilian Society in Defense of Tradition, Family and Property
(T.F.P.); the Anti-Communist Movement (M.A.C.); and the Command to
Hunt Communists (C.C.C.). All of this agitation caused the country
to experience, in 1968, an average of four bombings a month directed
against the police, security forces, foreign firms, government repre-
sentatives, and newspapers' and publishers' offices. Theatre acti-
vity experienced this same kind of repression.

The leading lady of one production was kidnapped by the
police in 530 Paulo, whisked off to Rio de Janeiro to be
interrogated by representatives of the military, and released
twenty-four hours later, after a most unpleasant and frighten-
ing experience. On several occasions bomb threats were made
at various theatres. Teatro Opiniao (Opinion Theatre) of Rio
de Janeiro, after such an attempt, put up a banner which said,
"This is the way fascism treats art." It also accused the
government of being passive in the face of increasing terrorism.
The government's reaction was to close the theatre for two
days. Certain popular productions were invaded and their casts

beaten. The Primeira Feira Paulista and Roda-Viva were parti-
cular target5726

 

Other cases occurred in sec Paulo. During a performance,
the theatre of Ruth Escobar was almost destroyed and the actors
.placed under arrest. Only the Arena Theatre of 550 Paulo, with Boal

as its director, and the Teatro Oficina, under the direction of

48

Fernando Peixoto and Martinez Correa, were not intimidated by the
repression into discontinuing their activities.

Between 1964 and 1968, the Brazilian theatre's content con-
tinued to be popular but not its form--for it could not be performed
in popular places such as, streets and marketplaces. After 1968, it
was impossible to do theatre for the people and because of the repres-
sion it was reduced as a cultural activity. For example, in 1969,
only six out of 20 theatres that existed in Rio de Janeiro were open
and half of them were used for musical spectacles. It was typical
to see only one theatrical performance a year in Sao Paulo.27

Censorship increased, as well as terrorist acts and politi-
cal persecution, and in 1971, nine more plays and twenty-four films
were banned. Augusto Boal's unwarranted arrest in 1971 was an example
of this:

But perhaps the most alarming and unpleasant action in

the theatre world was the reported sudden arrest and imprison-
ment of one of the country's leading directors, Augusto Boal
of the Teatro Arena of $30 Paulo, reportedly for statements
made while his company was visiting the United States and
Argentina.28

During those years, from 1968 to 1971, the Arena Theatre was
a part of the underground theatre movement in Brazil. This was when
Boal started to develop his technique of the Theatre of the Oppressed,
using his Newspaper Theatre. He also felt the need to begin defining
popular theatre from the Latin American perspective and these theories

were later written in his first books. Forced into exile by torture

and political persecution, Boal left the country in 1971.

49

After this brief presentation of Brazil's political climate,

we can now analyze the development of the poetics of the oppressed.

b) The Joker System: nucleus of the Theatre of the
Oppressed.

When in 1965, the Arena Theatre performed the play Arena

Narrates Zumbi, a new period in the development of this group began,

named by Boal "the Musicals".29 This play was the first of a series

"30

 

of performances called "The Arena Theatre of $30 Paulo Narrates...
With that spectacle, Boal and his group discovered and created a new
narrative story formula which was later perfected in another musical

spectacle named Arena Narrates Tiradentes. According to Boal, this

 

first spectacle created the necessary chaos to begin Tiradentes--
the creation of a new system.31
This new formula was originally named "Una nueva manera no

"32 ("A new non-traditional way of

tradicional de montar espectaculos
performing spectacles"). Later on it was called the Joker System.
The word "joker" has the same meaning as the "joker“ playing card,
which has more mobility than any of the other cards in the deck,
this system permits the creation of a kind of interpreter who can
play various roles: actor, character, chorus, and protagonist. The
texts could be written for this sytem or adapted to it, permitting
the scenic director to set up plays by any playwright. These texts
would be submitted to the group and they would determine the specta-
cle's form and structure.

Not until 1969 did this system take form as a solid instru-

ment of theatrical work, by creating a system of interpretation.

50

Before presenting a clear description of the functioning of this
system, we must discuss the first proceedings relating to its crea-

tion with the production Arena Narrates Zumbi.

 

The first step involved the disconnection of actors-characters
--all actors and actresses represented all of the characters. This
was not new in theatre. In the Greek tragedies, we find this dis-
connection--two or more actors alternated in the interpretation of
all the characters. Masks were used to avoid confusing the public.
The actors of the Arena Theatre used masks also, but not material
masks. They used what Boal calls "Social Masks."33 Social masks
were composed of rituals, whole systems of actions and reactions,
pre-established and mechanized. For example, to cross a street we
have to wait for the green light; when we enter a church we speak
in a low tone of voice. Even the relations between human beings were
processed according to actions and reactions that were more or less
pre-established and mechanized by laws, traditions, habits, and
customs. For Boal, ritualized behavior was a death behavior: man
doesn't create, he only performs established routines. The number
of roles performed by each person in the society created for him a
social mask. Each profession had its own social mask with its own
rituals: the rituals of the priest in the church--talking to his
parishioners, saying mass, and praying--were not the same as those
of a worker or a clerk. When the worker reached his home, he would
act very differently from the way the priest or the clerk would act

outside their professions. These rituals influenced the way of

51

walking and of looking of each individual. This made it possible
for us to distinguish between a military man and a teacher when we
would see them walking, talking, and acting. In general, these
behaviors, once ritualized, were the social masks of human beings.

These mechanized actions and reactions were part of the
actor's characterization. With Arena Narrates Zumbi, independent
of whom an actor represents in each scene, the group held onto the
permanent mask of the character by accentuating a psychological
feature. So, for instance, violence was typical of the character
Rei Zumbi.

The second proceeding was the consequence of the first one.
The spectacle was not performed from the character's individual
point of view, but it was narrated by the whole group according to
collective criteria. They were searching for a level of collective
awareness: "Nosotros somos e1 Teatro de Arena, y nosotros, todos
juntos, vamos a contaros una historia como colectivamente la vemos

"34 ("We are the Arena Theatre, and we, together, are

e interpretamos
going to tell you a story as we see and interpret it collectively").
The third proceeding was called the Genre and Style Eclecti-
cism.35 Within the same spectacle, in this case 2pmpi, the genre
changed without preparatory transition from simplistic melodrama to
the most absurd drama--this was also applicable to the changes in
styles. Boal said that with Zeppj, a healthful aesthetic chaos was

created, with the changes in styles. Some scenes were expressionis-

‘tic, others were realistic, symbolic, or surrealistic. The reason:

52

"36 ("In theatre any rupture

"En teatro cualquier ruptura desentumece
eliminates numbness"). Boal explained that in order to eliminate
numbness, the american playwriting norms recommend comic relief as

a form of stimulus. Here, in the example of Zempi, what was recom-
mended was a kind of stylistic relief.

The fourth and last proceeding was the use of music, totally
independent from the concepts. This rapidly prepared the spectator
for accepting the simplified texts.

After ng91, the Joker System was more tightly structured
and defined, with the play Arena Narrates Tiradentes by Augusto
Boal and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri. Using as its basis the proceedings

already described, the schematic of the Joker System involved two

structures: the structure of the text and of the cast.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT:
At least once, it included each of the following elements:

Dedication.--A song or scene in which the cast
dedicates the show to a person or event.

Explanations.--Breaks in the dramatic continuity

of the show, given by the Joker as lectures, arti-
culating the point of view of those presenting the
play (in this case the Arena Theatre). The Joker

is a man of our own time and does not belong to

the universe of the pley but to the universe of the
audience; the explanations may include anything that
needs to be explained, including recent events which
can be related to the play. They also change accord-
ing to the nature of the audience.

 

Episodes.--Each play is usually divided into five
episodes, three in the first act and two in the second;
the explanations come between episodes.

53

Scenes.--Each scene has its own style; several are
linked together into a whole episode by the commen-
taries.

Commentaries.--These are written mostly in poetry,
sung by the Joker or the orchestra. They hold the
play together illusionistically; as the scenes'
styles may change suddenly, the commentaries make
the audience aware of those possible changes, giving
information about the rules of the game in the next
scene.

 

Interviews.—-There are many devices which show the
audience the true mind of the character; for instance,
the soliloquy, the aside, etc. This one is taken
from non-theatrical rituals like soccer. During the
intermission of a soccer game the broadcaster usually
interviews the players on the field. In our system,
whenever it is necessary to show the audience the
inside story of the character, the Joker asks him
those questions the audience wants answered. During
the interviews, the Joker addresses the character,
not the actor.

 

Exhortation.--After the play ends, the cast sings a
song in which they urge the audience to act according
to the play's examples.37

 

In 1971, there appeared in Spain an article in a theatre

periodical, Primer Acto, by Boal explaining the Joker System. In

 

it, the description of the structure of the text differed somewhat

from the article in The Drama Review quoted above, inasmuch as Ipe

 

Drama Review article was published in 1970, and the material in it

 

was obtained from a six-week Ford Foundation supported trip through
seven Latin American countries, including Brazil, made by Richard
Schechner and Joan Pottlitzer in 1968. Therefore, the Spanish
periodical probably presents the Joker System in a more updated

, manner since its information was obtained in 1971 when the Arena

Theatre participated in the Nancy Theatre Festival in France. By

54

then, the Joker System was already consolidated and structured as
an instrument of theatrical work, and this occurred in 1969 after

the production of Arena Narrates Tiradentes by Boal and Guarnieri.

 

Because of this, we must present the structure of the text of the
Joker System that appeared in the Spanish periodical in 1971. We
shall only outline the components, as follows:38
1. Dedicatorias - (Dedications)
Explicaciones - (Explanations)
Capitulos - (Chapters)
Episodios - (Episodes)
Comentarios - (Commentaries)

Entrevistas - (Interviews)

\IO‘U‘l-file

Moraleja - (A brief moral observation)

As we can readily see, the first two parts stayed the same.
The first change was the reorganization of the episodes and scenes.
"Chapters" replaced the word "scenes." Many times the chapters
consisted of short scenes about a similar theme or situation or, at
other times, only one large scene. Everything depended on the type
of dialogue, the theme discussed, and the situation.

The second change occurred in the last part. Instead of an
"exhortation," the spectacle would end with a "moraleja," a brief
moral observation. The "moraleja" went beyond an exhortation. At
the end the cast not only urged the audience to act according to the
play's examples, but also to deduce a moral contained in the play,

not as a lesson but as a principle to have in mind when action

55

occurred. For instance, at the end of the spectacle Arena Narrates
Tiradentes, the ”moraleja" was the following: if Tiradentes would
have had the power of his confidants, and if they had had the good-
ness of Tiradentes, and if they all wouldn't have been isolated,
Brazil could have obtained its liberty 30 years earlier: therefore,
it would continue to be free and to struggle to gain additional liber-

ties as needed.39 In the spectacle Arena Narrates Zumbi, we can see

 

the "moraleja" with an exhortative character. Ganga Zumba realized
that to fight is a way of growing and of obtaining something--it is
the reason for being: "the whip whipped but taught; it whipped so
many times that one couldn't resist and reacted."40

Now, we shall examine the second structure: the structure
of the cast which was also the structure of the performing group.
Subsequently, this structure was established according to the drama-
tic-theatrical functions that could be accomplished by the performers

and not for the textual characters' point of view.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CAST:

The Protegonist.--Sometimes we make an identification
of the actor and the character, but only for the pro-
tagonist; e.g., Tiradentes, our national hero of Inde-
pendence. In these cases, the acting is naturalistic:
to eat, the character needs food; the fight, he needs

a weapon, e.g., Stanislavski, Antoine. He has only

the character's level of consciousness, not the actor's.
He is a photograph. He never abandons this reality
even when he is interviewed by the Joker.

 

The Joker.--Exactly the opposite, magic reality; the
actor as Joker can play any role, including the pro-
tagonist. Master of Ceremonies, lecturer, judge,
raisonneur, stagehand, he can interrupt the action,

repeat certain actions in order to demonstrate them
better, use slides, films, diagrams, statistics.

The Chorus.--The cast may be divided into two choruses:
antagonist and deuteragonistic; each chorus may have a
coryphaeus. The actor may change from one chorus to

another, in order to play a scene with many characters,

 

but the coryphaeus may not.

Most of the time we use one

chorus and each actor can play any character.

The Coryphaeus.--May substitute for the Joker, for example,

 

when the Joker is playing the protagonist.

The Orchestra.--Guitar, bass, drums; they sing part of the

 

text, help the Joker to demonstrate, and also sing in the

chorus.

This scheme could be changed, depending on the play. Thus,

in the preparation of a spectacle, the outline employed could be

summarized as follows:

Structure of the Text

Dedications
Explanations
Chapters
Episodes
Commentaries
Interviews

"Moraleja"

Outline of the Spectacle

Structure of the Group

The Protagonist

The Joker

The Chorus
Deuteragonist
Antagonist

The Coryphaeus

The Orchestra

Before describing each part of the spectacle, let us present

the eight reasons given by Boal for the creation of that system.

These reasons can be classified as aesthetic, economic and political.

The aesthetic ones are the following:

1. To present in the same spectacle the play and its

analysis (exegesis

57

2. To propose a permanent system of spectacle, which
would be the structure of the text and of the group,
that centralized all the processes, techniques, genres
and styles, and considered each scene as independent
from the rest of the elements. In this way the
multiform character of the spectacle imposed itself,
and the plurality of styles was reduced to one style
only through the explanations of the Joker who trans-
formed the spectacle into a forum of ideas and facts.

3. To establish a series of rigid rules which permitted
the spectator to know all the scenic possibilities
of each spectacle before the play began.

4. To restore the liberty of the subject-character
inside the rigid outlines of the social analysis.
According to Boal, this was a coordinated liberty
which prevented the subjectivistic chaos which
leads to lyrical styles such as expressionism and
surrealism.

Besides those aesthetic reasons there are two economic

reasons:

1. The mobility for doing tours.

2. The reduction of financial obstacles to performances
and productions, so all of them could be possible.

The progressive impoverishment of the population necessitated the
,creation of a system with a fixed and reduced number of performers--

the number of characters in a play did not matter.

58

Finally, there are two more overriding reasons that are poli-

tical.

1. With this system, Boal and the Arena Theatre wished
to increase the popularization of the theatre.

2. Through the analytical function of the Joker, the
ambiquities in the interpretation of the play were
eliminated, and the interpretation was always one
which expressed itself in the text's lines.

Further explanation of the aesthetic reasons for the system's

creation will be given inasmuch as they were the theoretical basis
of it. The first one (to offer in the same spectacle the play and
its analysis) attempted to show the author's or the director's or
the performers' opinion about the play. The author's point of view
of the play has always been exposed. The use of the monologue in
various plays fits this intention. The chorus in Greek tragedy
analyzed in various moments the behavior of the character. Too,

"43 of the Ibsen plays could be the spokesman

the famous ”raisonneur
of the author or even the narrator in various modern-contemporary

plays such as, After the Fall, by Arthur Miller.

 

It is apparent that in the performance of any play analyti-
cal criteria differ. For instance, in a play such as The Tragedy

of Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare either Brutus or Marcus Antonius

 

can be identified as the principal character. There are varied
interpretations even within the same text. These interpretations

are a particular analysis of the play. They are different forms of

59

focusing the action from a pre-established and pre-determined per-
spective.

According to Boal these interpretations always existed, as
in the above-mentioned examples. What Boal wanted to create was a
new form of revealing to the audience what the author and/or the
director thought about the conflict presented on stage. Boal said
that the previous forms--the monologues, the chorus, the raisonneur,
the narrators--created a kind of character closer to the characters
of the play than to the spectators. "Coros, narradores, raisonneurs,
etc., acaban por formar parte del argumento en vez de compartir 1a

"44 ("Choruses, narrators, raisonneurs, etc., wind

vida de publico.
up becoming a part of the plot instead of sharing the life of the
public"). Boal desired the contrary. He wanted the Joker to be
more closely related to the spectators than to the play's characters.
That is why the explanations were part of the Joker System. With
these explanations, the system tried to develop the spectacle on two
different and complementary levels: the level of the fable which
could use all the illusionistic and conventional resources of the
theatre, and the level of the lecture, where the Joker became an

45 In this manner, the Joker moved more toward the specta-

analyst.
tor's universe than toward the character's. Thus, Boal created a new
form that revealed the author's or director's opinion or point of
view of (as in this case) that which the company had about the play
and its interpretation.

The second aesthetic reason for the creation of this system

(i.e., to propose a permanent system of spectacle that centralizes

60

all the processes, techniques, genres and styles, considering each
scene as independent from the rest of the elements) implies finding

a solution to the problem of unity. Instead of thinking of the
problem in relation to the whole play, the Arena Theatre thought of
it in relation to each isolated scene. With this system, each scenic
problem had to be solved aesthetically according to its own separate
problems. What usually happens when a play is produced is that the
techniques used are from only one style. The style selected is one
that is considered proper for the most vital scenes, but for others
it is inadequate. In this manner, the stylistic unity of the whole
play first, reduces the number of techniques which can be used and,
secondly, limits the developmental capacity that each scene possesses.
With the Joker System, the director or the author can use at any
given moment techniques from realism or surrealism, or any other
effective style.

But, of course, the system did not forget nor eliminate the
problem of stylistic unity for the whole play. After the problem was
solved for each scene, it was necessary to solve it for the whole
play. Boal knew that it was a dangerous precedent to do a play
without unity in style in terms of its totality. Working only with
the scenes in isolation and combining non-unified styles, could
create chaotic anarchy. To avoid this and to find a total unity for
the whole play, Boal and the group gave great weight to the Joker's
explanations. In the Joker System the style of these explanations
Afitted into the general style of the play, serving as a point of

reference for the rest of the elements.

61

We are speaking here of writing plays that are funda-
mentally judgements, trials. And, as in the courtroom,
the fragments of each intervention, or testimony, can have
their own form, without damage to the particular form of
the trial. In the "Joker" also; each chapter or episode
can be treated in the manner that fits it best, without
damage to the unity of the whole, which will be provided
not by the limiting permanence of a form, but by the sty-
listic variety existing in reference to a single perspec-
tive.46

In discussing the third aesthetic reason (i.e., to establish

a series of rigid rules which permit the spectator to know all the
scenic possibilities of each spectacle before the play begins), we
must clarify that this rigid system did not suppress originality.
Boal maintained that he wanted his system to create an unalterable
identical structure, with enough flexibility to assimilate any
innovative discovery.47 In other words, inside that unalterable
identical structure the originality of each scene, chapter, episode,
or explanation should exist. Boal, to illustrate this point, pre-
sented an analogy with a soccer game:

Soccer has pre-established rules, a rigid structure of
penalties and off-sides, which does not hinder the improvi-
sation and surprise of each play. The game would lose all
interest if each match were played in accordance to rules
made up for that match alone, if the fans had to learn dur-
ing the match the rules governing it. Previous knowledge
is indispensable to full enjoyment.48

With theatre this could occur, too: the public would be

cognizant of the rules of the spectacle beforehand while still
experiencing the enjoyment of it. The improvisations and surprises
in each spectacle, scene, chapter, episode, and explanation would
relax the rigid structure of those rules. In this sense, original-

'ity did not contradict the rigid structure.

62

Finally, the fourth aesthetic reason (i.e., to restore the
liberty of the subject-character inside the rigid outlines of the
social analysis) implies solving the problem of what the character
really is: a subject of moral, spiritual, and internal forces, or
an object of social and economic forces. Those who accept the first
one ignore the great influence that the social and economic forces
have over the character, and those who accept the second one reduce
the liberty and the individual forces of the character. With this
point of view, the liberty of a character as the subject of the
dramatic action is removed and the dramatic action is reduced to the
conflict of social forces, and the characters are only the objects
of those forces. With the Joker System, the structure of the
dramatic conflict was always a product of the social forces, but the
character behaved as if he were unaware of them. However, the char-
acter was not only an object of those forces, but also a subject of
his actions. Social and economic forces were influential but not
determinants in the development of the dramatic action. Therefore,
the liberty of the subject-character was rescued from the rigid out-
lines of this social analysis. Boal recognized that both the social
and economic forces of the society and the moral, spiritual and
individual values of the character were important forces that were
present in the development of the dramatic action.

Let us examine more closely the different areas which formed
the structures of the Joker System by starting with the structure of
.the cast. The Arena Theatre of 530 Paulo decided to eliminate the

traditional distribution of character roles. Instead of representing

63

the characters of the play, they decided that what should be repre-

n49

sented were the "functions that the characters portrayed, and not

the characters themselves. These functions sprang up from the
"general structure of the conflicts in the text."50 In this way

the first function was the protagonist's, who presented the concrete
reality. This was the only time where a perfect and continuous link
between actor and character was permitted. One actor represented
the protagonist and the only the protagonist throughout the play.
The first function had the following characteristics:

1. The actor cannot perform any task that exceeds the
limits of the character as a human being; to eat he
needs food, to drink he needs drink, to fight he
needs a sword.

2. The space in which he moves must be thought of in
the terms of Antoine.

3. A "protagonic" character must have the outlook of
the character and not of the authors.

4. He will continue his action "really" like a character
from another play, lost on a theatre stage. He is
the "Slice of life," the detail, the real thing.

5. The actor must not only be guided by criteria of
verisimilitude; this scenographic conception must
do it, too: his clothes, his other personal items
must be as authentic as possible.

6. The audience must always have the impression of the
absent fourth wall, even though the other three may
also be absent.5

This protagonic function had the objective of recovering empathy.
According to Boal empathy was a theatrical mechanism which could be
used correctly or incorrectly. The Arena Theatre wanted to project
empathy, while simultaneously presenting the analysis (exegesis).
Therefore, the character selected to be the protagonist would be that

character whom the director wanted to link empathically with the

“public.

64

The second function was the Joker function which is the
opposite of the protagonic. This was the magic reality created by
himself. If it was necessary, he could invent fantastic walls, com-
bats and soldiers. To fight he could use an imaginary weapon and
to kill himself he could create a sword which did not exist. His
characteristics were as follows:

1. The "Joker” is polyvalent; his function is the only
one that can perform any role in the play, being able
even to replace the protagonist when the latter's
realistic nature prevents him from doing something.

2. The outlook of the "Joker"--actor must be that of the
actor or adaptor which is assumed to be above and
beyond that of the other characters in time and space.

3 He is omniscient. He knows the development of the
plot and the objective of the play.

4. He is magical.

5. He is polymorphous.

6 He is ubiquitous.52

If need be, the Joker can be assisted by the coryphaeus or by the
choral orchestra.

The third function is the choral function. The rest of the
actors of the company are grouped into two choruses: deuteragonistic
and antagonistic. The actors of the first chorus will perform any
character or any role which supports the central idea--the idea of
the protagonist. The actors in the second chorus will perform the
characters' roles which oppose the idea of the protagonist. The
characteristics of the chorus function are as follows:

1. The choruses do not have a fixed number of actors;

they may vary from one episode to another.

2. Actors and actresses, without regard to sex, will
be able to perform masculine or feminine roles,

with the exception, of course, of the scenes in
which sex determines the dramatic action.5

65

The coryphaeus function was employed with the chorus function
and followed, in general, the functioning of both choruses. Each
chorus possessed its own coryphaeus, and in one of these, two cory-
phaei, perhaps even a third one, might be substituted for the Joker
while he performed another function, for instance, the protagonist's.

Finally, the last function is that of the orchestra. At
least three musicians could compose it. Besides performing music,
the members of the orchestra would sing alone or with the coryphaeus
all the commentaries with were informative or illusionistic.

The structure was rigid, but a certain flexibility was per-
mitted. For example, if the play required a third group in conflict,
a third chorus named tritagonist could be created. Also, one could
possibly have two protagonists such as, Romeo and Juliet, or even
abolish the protagonistic function and create two Jokers. Sometimes
instead of a Joker, a play could have a Joker chorus. Above are a
few examples of this rigid cast structure's flexibility.

Any spectacle that started with a Dedication which took the
form of a choral song, a scene, a poem, or a mixture of them, then
shortly thereafter an initial Explanation followed that presented
the company, the author, and the adaptor, and revealed to the spec-
tator the techniques employed in the performance of the play,
together with the text intentions. The rest of the Explanations,
which would be inserted throughout the entire text, would be in
prose and spoken by the Joker in a lecture tone. For the Explana-
‘tions any usual lecture resources could be used: slides, poetry

readings, map showings, documents, letters, and films. The

66

Explanations set the general tone of the performance: debate, forum,
or tribunal. The characteristics of the Explanations were as follows:

1. All the explanations can and should be extremely dyna-

mic, changing as the play is staged in other cities or
on other dates.

2. If on the day of the performance some important event

occurs which is related to the theme of the play,
that relationship should be analyzed.

Aside from the Explanations the structure would be divided
into Chapters and Episodes. The Episodes would develop scenes more
or less interdependently. Each scene would be a total unit of small
dimensions which would contain, at least, a variation in the develop-
ment of the dramatic action. It could be in dialogue or song or
even reduced to a simple poem reading. These scenes would be con-
nected through the Commentaries which would be written in rhymed
verse. They would be sung by the coryphaeus, the choral orchestra,
or both at the same time. Inasmuch as each scene had its own style,
the Commentaries could take note of the changes in style.

Other relevant parts of this spectacle structure were the
Interviews. They would appear only if necessary. The interviews
were done by the Joker and they could include spectators, characters,
and actors. To accomplish the interview, the Joker would stop the
the action of the play. If a character was interviewed, the actor
who performed the role would respond, using the character's conscious-
ness and not his own.

Finally, the spectacle ended with a Moraleja or a brief

moral observation. This could be in either prose or verse, or even

67

a song performed by the Joker or the chorus. In some cases it could
be a combination of all of the above.

This Joker System existed until after 1969, when the dicta-
torship became more repressive and censorship more stringent. The
second dictatorship made it impossible to perform theatre for the
people either in terms of its forms or even its contents. Because
of the open political persecution, theatre in the streets was impos-
sible. The Arena Theatre of 550 Paulo wanted to continue doing
theatre for the people, but it was much too dangerous. They wanted
to create a new theatrical form that would reach the people and
could not be suppressed by the military nor through government cen-
sorship. Due to this, the first techniques of the Theatre of the
Oppressed were born, beginning with the techniques of the Newspaper

Theatre.

c) The first techniques: The Newspaper Theatre.

The Brazilian political situation forced the Arena Theatre
to find a different way of performing theatre, whereas the principal
objective was not to popularize the theatre itself (as in the crea-
tion of the Joker System), but to teach the spectators to perform
theatre for their own purposes.55 Instead of presenting a finished
production for the spectators, an invitation was extended to the
audience to see how they performed theatre for themselves. What the
Arena Theatre wanted was Vto popularize the means of production

instead of popularizing the finished production."56

68

This Newspaper Theatre transformed articles in a newspaper
into a short theatrical scene that could be performed anywhere. Boal
had this idea in mind since 1960 to produce a kind of theatrical
revue about the events of the week. He wanted to form a team of,
poets, playwrights, plastic artists, and composers for this purpose.
Later, during the rehearsals of Sao Paulo's First Fair of Opinion,57
which brought together six playwrights, six composers and a number
of plastic artists, Boal again thought of producing a weekly theatri-
cal review, but it was impossible. After the second coup d'etat,
in 1968, censorship and repression increased, and Boal's idea became

"58 a project for the Arena Theatre group. A team was

"obligatory,
created to work only on the development of basic techniques, collec-
tively creating a new form called Newspaper Theatre, because they
first used items from newspapers. However, it could be used with
other kinds of texts: chapters of books, lectures, discourses, or
any written text.

From the work accomplished by the group, Boal selected and
structured the spectacle named Newspeper Theatre: First Edition59
in September, 1970. This first spectacle was a practical demonstra-
tion of the first nine techniques. The objective was to stimulate
student's and worker's groups to use the techniques of this theatre

for their own interest.60

The first nine techniques
1. Simple Reading. This was not really a proper technique

since it was only the reading of the news without

69

interpreting it. In a newspaper all of the news was
written in relation to other information. Sometimes

the news was presented with the reporter's comments.

In addition to news items there may be other information:
diagrams, pictures, statistics, letters, or advertise-
ments. These were implicit comments which influenced
the sense of each news item. In other words, in each
newspaper each bit of news had a context which deter-
mined the meaning of it in relation to the reader. For
instance, a news article about the social life of a
country, if it appeared in the sports section, would

not have the same impact as if it appeared next to the
editorial page. So this first technique's purpose was
to present the news out of context. The performers tried

to internalize the most critical events of the article.

Improvisation. As a laboratory exercise the actors

 

improvised a scene with information from the newspaper.
Usually, the newspaper item was used as a general out-
line, like the canovacci of the Commedia dell'Arte. The
actors could improvise from the facts or even the motives
the causes for those facts. The improvisation not only
served to present spectacles for public viewing, but,
additionally, as an actor's technique for his personal
development. Finally, in the improvisation two levels

could be created: the level of illusion where performers

7O

totally integrated with their role, or the level of
commentary where performers do not integrate, do not
live, and do not pretend to be the role that they were
performing. With a combination of the previous two

even a third level could be created.

Reading with Rhythm. The newspaper was read as a song,

 

using various styles and rhythms: sambas, tangos, and
Gregorian chants. Each rhythm awakened certain emotions,
images and ideas. To read with rhythm is to interpret

the facts within the rhythm's perspective.

Parallel Action. The performers did pantomimes during

 

the reading of the newspaper. These pantomime actions
explained or criticized the newspaper article. Some-
times these actions contradicted the text of the news-

paper to provide criticism.

Reinforcement. The newspaper item was sung or danced to,

 

or both. Slides, jingles, songs, publicity material, or

any other kind of reinforcement could also be included.

Crossed Reading. Two different newspaper items were read
simultaneously. Sometimes articles which contradicted
each other were published in the same newspaper and read

simultaneously, each complemented the other.

71

Historic. Historical background was added to the news-
paper article to assist in the spectator's understanding,
by establishing relationships between the newspaper
event and the history of the country. For example, a
newspaper article about the wage problems of contempo-
rary workers could be preceded by a scene in which the
same relationship between slaves and masters in early
Brazilian history was shown. The intent was to present
the current event in other historical or national con-

texts.

61

Text Out of the Context. This technique consisted of

 

an actor reading an item as though in a situation other
than the expected or actual one. When a text was taken
out of its habitual context, a sitution was created
through which the social meaning behind the text became
more understandable. As Boal said:

An actor gives the speech about austerity pre-
viously delivered by the Minister of Economics while
he devours an enormous dinner: the real truth behind

the minister's words becomes demystified--he wants
austerity for the people but not for himself.52

Concretion of the Abstract. The subtext of the newspaper

 

was presented: the implicit idea. This technique clari-
fied through analogies, symbols, or any other equivalent,
certain words and facts which, due to excessive use, had

lost their capacity to evoke in the reader or spectator

72

the appropriate emotions. For instance, a mass media
entity, such as television, has desensitized people with
the presentation of such brutal programs that when a
tragedy (e.g., a violent death) does occur there is no
emotional response. Subsequently, the information does
not inform and death merely becomes an obscure abstrac-
tion. For example, the Arena Theatre in one of its
performances of Newspaper Theatre wanted to present
information about the death of a worker who was inciner-
ated in an oven. After using the Improvisation and
Historic techniques, the cast updated the worker's death
by burning small animals or puppets whose incinerated
odor reproduced the burning smell of human flesh. The
smoke helped to awaken the spectators so that they could

understand that kind of death.

These were the first nine techniques of the Newspaper Theatre

that Boal developed with the Arena Theatre in 1970. Later, from his

experiences in Argentina, Peru and other Latin American countries,

two new techniques were added which appeared in his book, Técnicas

Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular.

63

The last two techniques

10.

Complementary Reading. "Data and information generally
omitted by the newspapers of the ruling classes are
added to the news."64 The newspapers of the ruling

classes often hide crucial details, an act which gives

11.

73

a prejudicial slant to the news. Sometimes the lack of

a word or a phrase biases the reality presented. In this
case the news is not false but incomplete, e.g., a news-
paper published information about Paraguay saying that
the restaruants there served the best quality meat. This
could be true, but perhaps it is only partly true, so its
partial presentation lies about the reality. With comple-
mentary reading, the performers presented the truth

more completely. In the above case they added the infor-
mation that those restaurants were the most expensive and

could only be patronized by the very rich.

Insertion Inside the Real Context. The news was taken

 

out of the newspaper and reconstructed in its real con—
text. For example, Boal narrated a piece of information
that appeared in a television program that specialized
in showing the negativism attributed to the city of
Buenos Aires. The information concerned a child who
died because a doctor improperly diagnosed the infant's
illness and gave him medication to cure a simple cold
when the infant had pneumonia. The newscast held the
doctor solely responsible for the child's death. The
performers repeated the scenario with the identical words
used by the reporter, but they showed additional scenes
of the conditions that were part of the dead infant's

environment--the lack of adequate and proper health care

74

and extreme poverty-~both contributing factors in infant

mortality.

These elevan techniques developed by the Newspaper Theatre
constituted the first techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed.
With this Newspaper Theatre, the Arena Theatre of $30 Paulo wishes

to fulfill the following objectives:

Objectives

 

1. To return theatre to the people.
To demystify the pretended objectivity of journalism.
To teach how to read correctly.

To make theatre more popular.

01-pr

To demonstrate that theatre can be practiced by any
person, in any place.

With the first objective, the Newspaper Theatre hoped that
theatre again would become a collective experience where the people
participated, as in the case of the dithyrambic song. With the
second objective, the technique of the Newspaper Theatre demonstrated
that the importance of any news item and its meaning depended on its
relationship with other parts of the newspaper. In Boal's Técnicas

Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular, he presented the following

 

argument of Orson Welles, from the film Citizen Kane, about the true

 

state of a newspaper's objectivity: that no news item was important
enough to deserve the first page of a newspaper, but news that was

. placed on the first page of a newspaper would become an important

65

news item; and this was how public opinion was manipulated. The

75

Newspaper Theatre tried to reveal those subjective elements behind
the supposed objectivity of journalism, and this implied the third
objective of the Newspaper Theatre. To read correctly means to
analyze, to understand not only words, sentences and phrases, but
also their context and implications--it is to extract the maximum
information that words, sentences and phrases have.

The last two objectives are interrelated. In general, in
so-called popular theatre a finished product is imposed upon the
people: a product without the people's point of view. The Newspaper
Theatre intended to do the contrary: to popularize theatrical per-
forming so that the people could use it to produce their own theatre.

Theatre, like soccer, can be used and performed by everyone.
Soccer has become increasingly popular because everyone plays it,
including non-athletes, and it needs no stadium. The pleasure in
performing theatre as a genuine communication medium is legitimate
for everyone. Everything can be translated into theatrical terms.
As Boal says:

Podemos defender nuestras ideas en una asamblea sin

contar con el recurso de la oratoria. También podemos
representar y defender nuestras ideas en el teatro sin
que sea necessario recibirse en arte dramatico. Y de la
misma manera en que todas las personas son potencialmente
"artistas de teatro," asi también todos los espacios son
potencialmente "espacios dramaticos" y todos los temas
son potencialmente "temas teatrales."66

(We can defend our ideas in a meeting without the

device of oratory. We can also represent and defend our
ideas in the theatre without it being necessary to study
dramatic art. And in the same manner in.which all persons
are potentially "Theatrical artists," all spaces are also

potentially "dramatic spaces" and all subjects are poten-
tially "theatrical subjects.")

76

Boal published these objectives in different books, articles
and pamphlets between 1970 and 1975. In each publication, the order
and number of them varied. In most, he presented only three objec-
tives, but they were never the same. The order we present is based
on the chronological order in which his published theories appeared.

In the Newspaper Theatre, theatre was done by the people
and for the people. For the first time the people were not only a
source of inspiration for or patron of theatre, but also a creative
agent. They were active because they produced theatre. With the
Joker System, for instance, the intermediate presence of the artist
intervened, but with the Newspaper Theatre the people were the
artists, terminating the relationships of active artist-passive
spectator.67

This Newspaper Theatre, together with the Joker System, was
the product of Boal's experience in Brazil with the Arena Theatre
of $30 Paulo, between 1964 and 1971. In that last year, when Boal
was arrested, tortured, and later liberated, he went into exile in
Argentina to continue working on the ideas and theories he had
already begun.

2. Boal's experience in Argentina and the technique of the

Invisible Theatre: 1971-1973.

a) General explanations.

When Boal was exiled to Argentina, he continued working with
popular theatre and doing various Newspaper Theatres. This country,
» too, was eventually taken over by a military dictatorship which

prohibited any theatrical street performances because all popular

77

demonstrations were forbidden. Boal believed that using the News-
paper Theatre would be inadequate. So it was necessary to create a
new method of performing theatre that would be invisible to the
military troops who were constantly on the streets--a new kind of
theatre the police could not do anything about. Thus was born the
technique of the Invisible Theatre.

This theatre entailed the performance of a scene in a speci-
fic place (but not in a theatre) and in front of persons who were
not traditional spectators. The place could be a restaurant, a
street, or a train. The people would not realize that they were
viewing theatre since this would transform them into spectators.

It is always very important that the actors do not

reveal themselves to be actors! On this rests the
invisible nature of this form of theatre. And it is
'EFEETEETy this invisible quality that will make the
spectator act freely and fully, as if he were living
a real situation--and, after all, it is a real situa-
tion!6

This theatre required the very detailed preparation of a
specific scene. Rehearsals included possible interventions by the
spectators. All the actors had to be able to incorporate into their
actions the spectators' actions. Boal called these spectators'
interventions, "optional texts."69

The Invisible Theatre attempted to generate a discussion
about a specific theme with the spectators. With this the wall
between spectators and performers was destroyed. According to Boal,
many kinds of attempts were made to eliminate that wall. For

5 example, performers asked the spectators to come to the stage and

dance with them, but the essence of the wall remained because the

78

spectators knew that the actors governed them. The actors decided
when to dance and when to invite the spectators. Another example
was The Great Magic Circus, where the public was invited to work
with the scenery until some member of the acting collective told
them that the show was over. No matter what kind of innovation,
there was always a wall which divided those who acted and those who
watched.

But with the Invisible Theatre, spectators did not know that
they were spectators, and since they did not know this, they were
actors, acting under egalitarian circumstances, with the performers.
Mareso, the place where Invisible Theatre was performed was not
prepared beforehand, but was theatralized when the scene took place.
For this reason the terms "theatre in the street" or "theatre in the
train" were inaccurate; instead "street-theatre" or "train-theatre"
were used. "Theatre in the train," for example, would be a form of
performing theatre in a train previously prepared for that purpose.
But train-theatre means that the place selected, a train, becomes a
theatre. This idea may be clarified by examining two scenarios tried

by Boal in Argentina.

b) Invisible Theatre scenarios.70

(1) Train-Theatre: who is responsible?
Actors enter a train and sit separated from each other
throughout the car. During the first two station stops they take

preliminary measures, such as closing windows to improve the

 

79

accoustics, looking around for enough security, talking with the
passengers to warm up the atmosphere, and resolving any unexpected
problems.

After the third stop or when the ideal conditions prevail,
an actor acts as if he were recognizing some friend and both begin
to talk. In the conversation one of them declares that he works for
Standard Oil. He discloses that he had asked for an increase in
salary and that the company had given it to him, but because of
inflation, life was still intolerable. Both ask themselves who is

responsible. The first actor responds that the "hortaliceros"71

 

are responsible because this is a country which exports meat. Because
of the financial crisis people cannot afford meat, but eat vegetables

instead. The "hortaliceros" know this and, taking advantage of the

 

situation, increase the prices.

Up to this point, the other actors do not participate--they
just stimulate the passengers to listen to the conversation by con-
centrating their attention on the scene. At the next stop the actors
decide whether to continue the scene, dependent upon the amount of
attention and interest demonstrated by the people on the train.

If the people on the train are becoming interested, the
discussion begins again. An actress turns and protests, saying that

that is not possible--that her husband is an "hortalicero" and that

 

he increases prices because the owners of trucks which transport
vegetables are increasing their prices. Of course, a man stands up

, and comments that he is a trucker--that he is on the train because

 

80

his truck has a flat tire. He informs them that the price of
gasoline is increasing so he has to increase his transport prices.
Another actor enters the discussion and states that the
reason for increasing gasoline prices was the workers' demands for
higher wages. They went on strike and the company was forced to
increase gasoline prices. So, if someone is responsible, it is the
first speaker, who works for Standard Oil. The worker defends him-
self by saying that he asked for a salary increase because his wife
was pregnant, and they needed more money to survive the effects of
inflation. His wife, who sits beside him with a huge articicial
belly, stands up and enters into the discussion. The participants
agree that the one responsible is the baby who is yet unborn, but
who has already disrupted the nation's finances. After this con-
clusion the actors who have intervened leave the train, but those

who acted as animators stay to facilitate discussion.

(2) Restaurant-Theatre: The Law.72

The actors enter a restaurant and sit at three or four sepa-
rate tables, yet close enough to hear each other as they talk among
themselves.

The protagonist-actor enters alone and sits apart. He calls

h."73 An Argentinian law

the waiter and asks for the "commercial lunc
permits the poorest people to eat a "commercial lunch" without pay-
ing anything by merely registering the number of their identification

cards (this is somewhat similar to America's food stamp program).

81

The problem is that many restaurants did not obey this law and refuse
to serve the "commercial lunch."

If the restaurant is one of these, the scene continues. The
protagonist, after the waiter has said they don't have the commercial
lunch, asks for another type of lunch, but emphasizes that he doesn't
want wine or dessert. The waiter serves him and the actor eats. The
actor can talk with other clients. He should insist, even if no one
asks, that he is not drinking wine and he will not eat dessert. In
the meantime, the rest of the actors warm up the atmosphere, provoking
political discussions about actual themes.

The protagonist calls the waiter and asks for the bill. The
waiter brings it and the actor signs it and writes his identification
number. The waiter doesn't understand. The actor informs him that
he doesn't have money, and because there is a law to protect those
persons who don't have money, giving them the right to eat (excluding
wine and dessert) without payment, he is just giving the waiter his
identification number. A discussion then follows. The actor should
always insist that he is merely following the letter of the law.

If it is necessary, an actor-lawyer can intervene. He should
inform those present that the restaurant is violating the law and
that the patron is only exercising his rights. The actors ask the
rest of the patrons for their opinions and a volatile discussion
ensues.

With scenes like this, the cast must take the following pre-
. cautions: first, a supporting-actor should watch the entrance to

avoid any external interference during the discussion; second,

 

82

another supporting-actor should stand up and volunteer to pay for
the bill to avoid any further discussion; and third, another support-
ing-actor should be near the telephone to prevent anyone from calling
the police.

The above illustrations reveal the basic elements of Invisible
Theatre. This theatre form should not be confused with the Happening,

l"74 theatre form

which, according to Boal, is a "chaotic and unusua
in which everything can happen anarchically. Invisible Theatre uses
a structured and defined outline with a conflict and a specific theme.
Everything is rehearsed, even the improvisations and the possible
spectator's interventions. The actors will keep watch to avoid any
kind of physical danger. However, as soon as spectators become
actors, they will direct the action.
The general characteristics of Invisible Theatre are as
follows:
1. It is an attempt at art and, becaUse of this, it is
an organization of a determined knowledge of reality
processed through the senses.75
2. The Invisible Theatre has an ideology. It seeks to
demonstrate that ideology and it uses, as do the rest
of the arts, the sensorial means.76
3. Spectators don't see and don't know who is or isn't a
spectator; the spectators don't even know that there

are actors' they don't perceive that what is being said

has been previously planned.77

83

4. Invisible Theatre presents a specific vision of
reality.78
5. Invisible Theatre is organized and coordinated so its
vision about the world and about reality is also a
coordinated and organized one.79
Later, because of his popular theatre experience in Peru,
Boal continued developing and improving this form of theatre, but
it was not until he moved to Europe, particularly France, that the
Invisible Theatre became vita1--structuring itself into a more

clearly, completely defined form of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

C. Boal's Experience in Peru: Basis of the Theatre of the Oppressed

(1973)

1. General background.

In 1973, the government of Peru began a national literacy
program, Operation Total Literacy.80 The objective was the elimina-
tion of illiteracy nationwide in approximately four years. In the
republic of Peru, there are three to four million illiterates out of
a population of fourteen million. One of the most salient problems
that the government is faced with is the numerous, diverse languages
and dialects. Because there are many other languages besides the
spoken and written forms, and the ability to use a new language form
offers to the people a unique way to know reality and to transmit
that knowledge to others, the government set two essential goals:
first, to promote literaoy in both the native and the Spanish lan-

.guages without abandoning the native form; and second, to use

84

non-verbal communication as much as possible, especially artisti-
cally: theatre, photography, and movies. To make theatre a part of
that language program, Boal established as an essential objective
the transformation of the people from passive spectators into active
performers--transformers of the dramatic action.

For many years, Boal had been working with theatre forms to
achieve that transformation. Boal wanted to make all the production
means of the theatre readily accessible to the people. The problem
was how to achieve that transfer in non-verbal communication. He
used, to illustrate the process, an example from the photography
section of the literacy plan. Photographic obsolescence in such a
campaign would be to take pictures of the streets, people and places,
and then to show and discuss them. The instructors taught them how
to use cameras and then gave a camera to each person. The instruc-
tors posed various questions in Spanish, asking people to answer
those questions only with pictures.

With photography it was very easy to put into practice the
above process. But how could it be done with theatre? The produc-
tion means of photography are cameras, which are easy to use, but
production means of theatre are human beings, and are not easy to
use. Following this reasoning, Boal affirmed that the first words

of the theatre vocabulary are "human-body,"8]

the principal source
of sound and movement. To control the production of theatre, man
must first control his own body to make it more expressive.

Boal systematized a general plan for the conversion of the

spectator into an actor or performer.

a)

b)

d)

85

First stage: Knowledge of the body.

Sequence of exercises where the performer begins to be

aware of the possibilities and limitations that his

body has.

Second stage: Making the human body expressive.

Sequence of games and exercises where the performer

begins to express everything, using only the body.

Third stage: Theatre as language.

Theatre as life--as a vivid and present language. This

stage is subdivided into three levels:

(1) First level-Simultaneous dramaturgy. The spectator
writes, while actors simultaneously act out a play
or scene.

(2) Second level-Image Theatre. The spectator makes
a direct intervention, using images made with the
actor's body.

(3) Third level-Forum Theatre. The spectator makes a
more direct intervention into the dramatic action
and acts.

Fourth stage: Theatre as discourse.

Single forms that the spectator-actor performs--according

to their need to discuss particular themes or rehearse

various actions.

(1) Photo-novel Theatre.

(2) Breaking with Repression.

(3) Myth Theatre.

86

(4) Trial Theatre.

(5) Masks and Rituals

(6) Newspaper Theatre

(7) Invisible Theatre

These stages constituted a new theatre theory--a new poetics

based on popular or people's theatre. These stages were also the
culmination of the process which had begun with the development of
the Joker System in 1964. Boal's first experiments in Brazil and
Argentina (Newspaper Theatre and Invisible Theatre) were not elimi-
nated, but integrated with these stages, creating the basis for the

Poetics of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

2. Details of the stages of the plan.

a) First stage: Knowledge of the body.

Boal had to work with people who did not know much, if any-
thing, about theatre: workers, peasants, and villagers. They might
know something about television, and according to Boal, this was a
distorted knowledge of theatre. They commonly associated theatre
with luxury and allure. The simple fact that a literacy worker came
with the mission to teach tended to separate him from the people.
Whereas the teaching process often imposed a new layer of knowledge
on its pupils, Boal's theatre intended to bring out what already
existed inside the people. Therefore, this process was less threat-
ening to the people and less likely to be rejected. Boal began with
body exercises so that the people could begin to know their own

bodies and use them to express their innermost feelings.

87

There were a great variety of exercises to create body aware-
ness. For example, the exercises tended to compare the muscular
structures of a worker's body with that of a clerk's. According to
Boal, the number of social roles that a human being had to play
imposed on him a mask of behavior. That is the reason why people
doing identical kinds of work end up looking very similar to each
other. This idea is based on the concept of the Social Mask, which
Boal had developed with the Arena Theatre of $30 Paulo in the Joker
System. The exercises of this first stage had the objective of
analyzing the muscular structures of the participants.

Boal felt that, if a person could recognize his own muscular
structures, he surely would be capable of re-creating muscular
structures of other professions; in other words, interpreting other
characters physically. Boal presented seven examples of the first

stage of exercises:

Exercises

1. Slow-motion Race: The participants are invited to run

 

with the objective of loosening up. But the running

is done in slow motion with the slowest "runner" winning
the race. The runners must use the same movements (i.e.,
moving the knees high in long strides and arms pumping)
as in normal running. They must keep moving, but as
slowly as possible, with the result that each partici-

pant expends more energy than he would in a normal race.

88

This exercise promotes body control, good balance, and

body awareness in the participants.

Cross-legged Race: This race is similar to the tradi-

 

tional three-legged race with a few notable exceptions.
Each pair of racers must race with the leg adjacent to
his/her partner intertwined with the partner's leg. This
created "third" leg is never to touch the floor. So the
pair is forced, through using body control and balance,
to walk using only the left leg of one partner and the

right leg of the other.

Monster Race: A monster of four legs and no lead is

 

created in this exercise. Participants are paired off.
One member of the pair will lie down while the other
member positions himself over him facing the partner's
feet and bending down to grasp the prone partner's lower
trunk. The prone partner raises up to grasp the lower
trunk of his partner so that now both of their trunks
are linked. This results in a spider-like monster of
four legs and no head. The partners then must walk
forward, racing the other pairs. This exercise also
reinforces cooperation as well as muscle control and

balance.

Circle Race: Participants pair off and one partner lies

 

down on the floor with knees bent. The other partner,

89

placing his feet on either side of his partner's head,
bends over his partner and grasps his partner's ankles.
The prone participant also grasps his partner's ankles

and the race begins with the uppermost partner ducking

his head and somersaulting, while the prone partner begins
to sit up and take the uppermost position. In this way
their bodies form a wheel and the wheel moves forward
through the somersaulting of the partners. This exercise
requires as much energy from the prone partner as from

the upper one, if the wheel is to keep moving smoothly

and not to break.

"Hypnotism": One participant takes the role of "hypno-
tist." He puts his hand a distance of one to five inches
away from the face of his partner. His partner is
obliged to maintain this distance between his face and
his partner's hand by concentrating on the hand and
following its movements. The "hypnotist" begins to move
the hand slowly and the "subject" follows it by moving
in whatever way necessary to maintain the required dis-
tance. As the exercise progresses, more "subjects" can
be added to the "hypnotist's" field of power" and each
must follow the hypnotist's hand.

Boxing Match: The participants are invited to practice

 

boxing, but they cannot touch their partners-~everything

should be reaction.

9O

7. Wild West: Improvised scene typical of the wild west
genre of films. A saloon scene with fist fights and
dance hall girls would be a typical example. But the
improvisation must be very violent and without sound
and without actual harm to anyone. All is focused on
reactions.

The participants were asked to invent exercises of this kind,

by combining imagination and practice. This experience produced
about 200 exercises which Boal later published in 1975 as 200 Exer-

cises and Games for Actors and Non-Actors Wishing To Say Something
82

 

Through Theatre.

 

b) Second stage: Making the human body expressive.

Boal believed that people are accustomed to expressing every-
thing through words, eliminating all the broad capacities of expres—
sion that the human body has. After the participants finished the
first stage and had knowledge of the limitations and potentials of
their bodies, they begin to express themselves through their bodies.

In this stage a series of games helped the participants to
turn their bodies into expressive instruments. This simple game is
an example.

Pieces of paper are distributed with names of animals, both
female and male. The participants have ten minutes to give a bodily
representation of the animal they received. They are forbidden to
speak or make any noise. The communication must be exclusively

through their bodies. Then each participant tries to find his mate.

91

When a couple is convinced that they are a pair they leave the group.
When everyone has found his mate and the game is over. The crux
here is that all make an effort to express with their bodies the
characteristics of the animals.

A variation of this game can occur. Instead of the names of
animals, the papers can give the names of the participants. In this
way each one can represent another participant as he sees this person,
a view which can incorporate a sense of criticism or praise.

Like the first stage it is vital that each participant create
and produce his own new game. In this way he is not a passive

receiver, but an active being.

c) Third stage: Theatre as language.

As soon as the participants passed through the first two
stages, they were able to begin using theatre as language. This
stage was divided into three language/theatrical levels. Each level
represented a more direct participation of the spectator, as subject
instead of object. The previous stages were preparatory, centered
around the body of the participants. This third stage promoted the

spectator to action.

(1) First level-Simultaneous dramaturgy.

The participants interpreted a short scene of ten to twenty
minutes, proposed by any of the participants. The actors could
improvise the scene or write it and memorize their lines. The scene
ran until the conflict required a solution. Actors then stopped the

action and asked the participants to present solutions, which were

92

then performed. The audience could stop, go back, make connections
or interrupt. Thus, while the audience wrote the play, the actors
simultaneously performed and interpreted the play. All solutions
were discussed and presented in a theatrical form. For instance, a
lady presented a simple, short story scene about a problem of
machismo. An old man had two wives. His legal wife was illiterate.
One day she requested that her neighbor read her a letter she had
just received before her husband arrived. Unfortunately, it was a
love letter addressed to her husband. She became furious over the
situation and she wanted revenge.

After a series of discussions, the various solutions proposed
were, first, to leave her husband, second, to lock the door with the
purpose of forcing him to stay out, third, to cry a great deal to
give him a guilty conscience, and fourth, when the husband came home
to take a huge stick and hit him with it many times. After she had
beaten him to the point where he felt sorry for his infidelity, she
would kiss him, make love to him, and forget everything. This

solution was unanimously accepted.

(2) Second level-Image Theatre.

Here the spectator would participate more directly. A spec-
tator expressed an opinion about a specific subject of common
interest that the participants wanted to discuss. The subject could
be concrete or abstract. The participant had to express his opinion
but without words--using only the bodies of the actors. He used

them as statues and himself as the sculptor. He determined the

93

position of everyone, including their expressions. When everyone
unanimously accepted the whole composition of the actor-statues,
the sculptor had to create another grouping, showing how he would
like that topic or theme to be. In other words, in the first com-
position the sculptor made the theme as it existed in reality or
the Real Image. In the second composition he made the Ideal Image.

Finally, he had to show the Transitional Image: how to
move from the Real Image to the Ideal Image. For example, a woman
placed a man reading in a corner and writing something. Five other
persons were placed there, too, trying to read, but with their eyes
closed and their hands tied behind their backs. Behind the man who
was reading and writing there were two women, one giving him some-
thing, the other representing an old teacher. This was the image
that this woman had about her country and the problem of illiteracy--
a pessimistic and defeatist image--but reality.

The most critical part, the transition from the Real Image
to the Ideal one (everyone with books reading and writing in a class-
room), presented various alternatives. Much experimentation was
allowed but without talk. When someone said, "Not that way; I think
it is possible to...." he was interrupted, "Don't say what you think,
come and do it."

The solutions were first to obtain a change in the attitude
of the upper classes offering the learning opportunities to the
lower class. This was classified as a magic solution. The second
was to change the attitude of the person transforming the scene.

If the person identified with the teacher, the scene would become

94

the teacher taking action. If this person identified with the
illiterates, the scene was changed to the illiterates taking action.
In the third solution, social changes were made by the whole people
together and not by one or two persons.

Image Theatre was very attractive because it was very easy
to put it into practice and because it had an extraordinary capacity
to concretize ideas. Other techniques or variations in this Image
Theatre could be used. For instance, each participant transformed
into a statue could, by movement or a gesture, transform the whole
composition, or the sculptor-participant, after having finished his
work, could put himself into his composition. Furthermore, the
participant could memorize the Ideal Image, then returning to the
Real Image, and finally do the movements necessary to again obtain
the Ideal. Showing the totality of images permits an analysis of
the viability of the transitions.

Boal reaffirmed that the crucial point in all of this is

always the analysis of the possibility of change.

(3) Third level-Forum Theatre.
Here the spectators modified the dramatic action by direct
participation in it. First, the participants narrated a story with
a specific difficult problem; second, they improvised and/or
rehearsed scenes which illustrated the problem; third, they performed
a ten to fifteen minute scene with a proposed solution; fourth, they
discussed the proposed solution. Each one of the participants could

1 present any solution, but he had to do it on stage through performing.

95

Fifth, they evaluated the various solutions. Each scene was pre-
sented again, with each person having the right to change the action,
perhaps even to present his own solution.

This Forum Theatre did not impose any idea. The people were
given the opportunity to experiment with their own ideas, of
rehearsing all possibilities, and verifying their ideas in actual
practice. The spectator-performer practiced a real act. For example,
while he was trying to find out how to organize and study, he was
actually organizing a study. While he rehearsed how to study, he
was learning how to study, so the epxerience for him was a real

and concrete one.

d) Fourth stage: The theatre as a discourse.
There were seven basic techniques.
(1) Photo-novel (photo-romance) Theatre.83
This was the performance of any scene which followed the
style of the popular photo-novel literature. The general lines of
a plot of any photo-romance or photo-novel were read, without telling
the source of this plot. Then the participants acted out the story.

Finally, they discussed the differences between the photo-romance

and the acted versions.

(2) Breaking with Repression.
The participants were asked to think for a moment of an
incident when they felt that they were repressed but accepted the
repression. Then they re-created the situation, but tried not to

accept it and/or tried to change the repressive conditions. They

96

then analyzed the Explanations for the conduct which contributed
toward their repression and its acceptance. This technique attempted
to make the people aware of the possibility of change. Both scenes,
of repression and of facing repression, were to be acted out with

sincerity and objectivity, rehearsed as if they were acts in a real

play.

(3) Myth Theatre.
This very easy technique consisted in representing the myths
and folklore of any country with an analysis of their meaning and

true history.

(4) Trial Theatre.

A participant narrated a story; everyone rapidly improvised
it. Then the group separated each character into its various social
roles. The participants selected a physical object to symbolize
each role. For example, the role attributed to a policeman was,
first, that of a worker because he rented his labor. So the physi-
cal object to symbolize this role could be a tool. His second role
was a repressive agent. So the physical object could be a revolver.
Another role was a teacher because he taught others how to be
policemen. In this case the object could be a book.

After each character was assigned all possible roles with
their respective objects, the story was narrated again, but the
participants removed or even changed some of the roles. For

instance, the policeman could have one of the roles usually

97

attributed to a priest, and the story would therefore be acted out
differently.

Boal wanted to demonstrate that human and characters' actions
are not only the result of individual psychology, but also of social
forces which determine a type of behavior, a social mask pre-estab-

lished and pre-determined.

(5) Masks and Rituals.

In this variant of the fourth one, characters in the scene
were assigned new social masks, which would affect their behavior
and actions. The scene followed the usual rituals, but when the
actors changed their social masks, they modified these rituals. For
example, a man goes to confess his sins. A11 follow the usual
rituals: the man kneels, he confesses his sins, and the priest hears
the penitence; but not all men confess identically or even follow
identical rituals.

Then the social mask of landlord is assigned to both charac-
ters. The scene is performed again and the variations are discussed.
Subsequently, the scene is presented a third time; now the preist is
a landlord and the man a peasant. Later, the priest is the peasant
and the man the landlord. Finally, both characters are peasants.
The scenes will show different types of relations between the two

characters, according to the social masks they perform.

(6) Newspaper Theater and (7) Invisible Theatre.
These last two techniques have been previously described and

discussed.

98

These seven techniques were implemented by Boal in Peru's
literacy campaign. In them were present all of the techniques of
his later Theatre of the Oppressed. Therefore, a Boal's experience
with the people's theatre in Peru is the most significant stage in
the evolution of his Theatre of the Oppressed. Although Boal has
improved and developed more fully each component, technique, and

theatre form, the essence of his theatre had gone unchanged.

3. Final considerations.

From that experience in Peru, Boal concluded that being a
spectator is a negativism and, therefore, the spectators must be
liberated. They must think and act for themselves; thereby Boal
reaffirms the idea that theatre is or should be a social action.

The result of this experience was that theatre was returned to the
people.

With this experience, Boal demonstrated that theatre could
be used as a vehicle for social change and that theatre possessed an
inherent strength that could be used by the people for their own
purposes. Many experiments of this nature occurred throughout the
Third World countries with groups of peasants, workers, small farmers,
and landless laborers. As Ross Kidd, who studied those theatre
experiments in Latin America, Asia and Africa, says, "they are
rediscovering the potential of people's theatre as a weapon in their
struggle for land, better working conditions, and political rights."84

According to Kidd, on Boal's experience in Peru, the

popular theatre was used for "the development of revolutionary

99

consciousness."85 In this sense Boal followed the ideas of his
colleague, Paulo Freire, A Brazilian educational philosopher, who

wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed. For Freire and for many other

 

Latin American philosophers, the development of a critical conscious-
ness is the key component in the struggle for liberation.86 However,
Kidd concludes that Boal's kind of theatre is not enough to fulfill
or meet the requirements of the liberation struggle. It is not even
effective unless it has organization and real struggle:

Moreover "conscientization theatre" which is aimed at

liberation (in a Freirian sense) cannot operate in a vacuum
on the margins of class struggle; it must develop a sense

of history and relate to the current struggles of workers
and peasant organizations...: On its own, people's theatre
will never by anything more than an interesting and exciting
spectacle, a chance to let out grievances and frustrations.
It will work as a medium for social transformation only when
it is woven into an on-going process of critical analysis,
organization, and struggle. 7

Ross Kidd's article offers excellent clarification and
analysis of Boal's experience in Peru, even though it is focused
from a non-formal educational point of view. For Boal that experi-
ence can be studied from several different perspectives: pedagogical,
sociological, political, cultural, and even theatrical.

The salient point here for Boal is that again the spectators,
who are the people, act. The destruction of the wall which separates
actors and spectators (performers and people) is achieved. Through
active participation, everyone becomes the protagonist of the social
transformations. In this sense, the people are the active subjects
in the theatrical phenomenon. The people seize control of the means

of theatrical production to use for their own purposes. According

100

to Boal, this should be the Poetics of the Oppressed: 'Thus we
arrive at the Poetics of the Oppressed, the conquest of the means

of theatrical productions."88

D. The Theatre of the Qppressed Between 1973 and 1980

After his experience in Peru, Boal established his residence
in Argentina. From there, he traveled throughout Latin America
delivering workshops, performing his plays, and participating in
theatre festivals as lecturer, organizer, and judge. Between 1974
and 1976, he dedicated his life to writing the bulk of his theories
about the Theatre of the Oppressed, as well as various plays. But
mostly his theatrical career was focused on organizing the concepts
behind his experiments and experience with the Latin American people's
theatre--halting practice to formulate theory. His practical
experience continued after his exile to Europe in 1977. Due to the
political repression that occurred in Argentina, Boal was forced
to continue his exile in Europe, selecting Portugal as his first
alternative. There he experimented with the Theatre of the
Oppressed, but his work was basically conventional. However, from
Portugal he could establish contact with other European countries
and promote his theories about the Theatre of the Oppressed in
Europe.

It wasn't until 1978, when he moved to France, that he
continued developing his Theatre of the Oppressed through his tours,
conferences, lectures, and workshops delivered throughout Europe.

In Paris he created "The Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed,"

101

to promulgate his theories throughout Europe. In Europe, between
1978 and 1980, the Forum Theatre, the Invisible Theatre, and the
Image Theatre received his greatest attention. Other theatre forms,
such as Newspaper Theatre, were rather scantily developed. So, for
the development of the Theatre of the Oppressed, the years between
1978 and 1980 were a new stage. This new stage represented the
consolidation of the Invisible Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Image

Theatre.

1. The Invisible Theatre form.

E preciso que fique claro: teatro invisivel é teatro!
Deve ter un texto escrito basico que sera inevitavelmente
modificado segundo as circunstancias, attendendo as
intervenedes dos expectadores. Elegese um tema que seja
realmente candente, que interesse verdadeiramente aos futuros
espectadores. Com ele faz-se uma pequena pe a. Os atores
devem interpretar seus personagens como o fa iam se a pe a
fosse representada num teatro convencional e para espect dores
convencionais.

(It must be clear that invisible theatre is theatre!

It should have a basic written text which will be modified
inevitably according to circumstances, taking into consi-
deration the spectators' interventions. A theme which will
be really controversial is selected, one which will truly
interest the future spectators. From it a short play is
put together. The actors should interpret their characters
as they would do if the play were presented in a conven-
tional theatre hall and for conventional spectators).

As previously indicated, the Invisible Theatre is the develop-
ment of a specific idea with role interpretations and physicalization
of characters. Each scene should be rehearsed frequently and include
possible spectator suggestions. In 1979, Boal prepared the follow-
ing seven operating standards, or "rules of the game,"90 for an

Invisible Theatre performance:

102

a) Rules of the game of the Invisible Theatre.

(1) The objective of the Invisible Theatre is to make
visible the oppression (any kind of oppression) currently in exis-
tence.

(2) The performers (actors and actresses) should never
act violently against the spectators. This implies also that actors
should not impose themselves upon the spectator's participation.

(3) The scene should be theatrical and capable of
developing by itself without the participation of the spectators.

(4) The performers should rehearse the possible inter-
ventions of the spectators, during the rehearsals.

(5) All the actors should be prepared to dynamize the
spectators into action, at the moment the action begins; at the
same time they should motivate the discussions or the dialogues
with the spectators, facilitating the integration of the improvised
texts of the spectators with the thematic contents of the piece.

(6) The performers should keep in mind all the possible
security measures to guarantee the total success of the performance.
They should understand that each country has its own rules, laws,
etc. and its own dangers. These things are not the performer's
impositions upon the spectators; they are just external control
measures to facilitate the best development of the spectacle.

(7) The Invisible Theatre should not undertake illegal
actions, because the end of this form of theatre is precisely to

put into a new perspective and to discuss the legitimacy of legality.

103

b) An example at the Paris subway in 1978.

9] This play was

The title of this piece was Sexual Abuse.
performed three times in the Paris subway at the Chateau de Vincennes
line. The last subway car before the first class cars was the place
selected for the action. Four actions constituted the whole play.

In the first action, all the cast, except two actors, took the sub-
way in the first station. They placed themselves thus: two
actresses stayed standing up near the central door; another actress
seated herself in the front; an actor representing a Tunisian man
seated himself beside her; a mother and her son were two seats
behind. The rest of the actors were seated throughout the coach.
Between the first two stations nothing abnormal happened: they
read newspapers and talked with the other passengers.

The second action began in the third station when an actor
entered. He seated himself in front of the actress who was alone
or else remained standing beside her. After a few seconds, he
started to touch the leg of the actress with his leg. She protested.
He responded that it was just an accident. Nobody defended her.
Later he continued with his overtures, but this time he not only
touched her leg but other parts of her body. She again protested.

No one supported her and she changed her seat. Only the Tunisian
man agreed with and supported the aggressor in his actions. This
was the end of the second action.

The third action was at the fifth station. A good-looking

young actor entered. The two actresses standing up near the central

104

door started to discuss his good looks. After a few moments, one of
the actresses--the feminist--went toward him and asked him for the
time. He answered. Then she asked him at which station he would
get off. He protested. The actress tried to convince him to go out
with her, but he refused. Later she tried to kiss him, but he
resisted her again. The discussion had developed from a simple
argument to a climax, which was heard by everyone. At that moment,
the actor-passenger's interventions began. The man who had tried

to touch the girl in the second action came to defend this young
man. But the actress of the second action supported the feminist
woman, saying that when she had been attacked by a man no one
defended her, and that if a man had a right to attack a woman, a
woman must also be allowed the equal right to make sexual advances,
even if they are unwanted, toward a man she's interested in.

In the fourth action the feminist woman, her friend and
the actress tried to sexually attack the first aggressive actor,
who ran out. The rest of the actors stayed in the car to hear what
the passengers would say and to guide the comments or discussions
about the sexual abuse that occurs in the Paris subway or any other
place.

To make sure that all the passengers knew what was going on,
the actress playing the mother, asked her son what was happening.
The son moved closer to the action and in a loud voice informed his
mother. The theme of this short play was very clear: Neither men

nor women have any right to commit sexual aggression.92

105

c) The experience in a supermarket in the city of Liege.

This experience was carried out in October 1978 at the city
of Liége in Belgium. A complete description of Boal's experience
with his Theatre of the Oppressed in Belgium appeared in the Bulletin
d'information de Centre d'étude et de diffusion des techniques actives

d'expression, no. 1, 1979, pp. 32-43. The piece was divided into

 

six actions.

In the first action, twelve actors entered a supermarket to
buy their groceries. In the second action the protagonist, named
Frangois, entered, taking just indispensable groceries and nothing
extra which could be considered a luxury. The rest of the actors
then arrived later at the cash register. The third action began
when Fransois arrived at the cash register. Before the person in
charge of the cash register started to calculate the total price
that Fransois should pay for his groceries, Frangois explained that
he wanted to pay for everything, but that there was a problem. He
was one of the 600,000 unemployed that existed in Belgium and he did
not have money to pay, but he wanted to and he promised to pay later.
The person at the cash register responded that that was his problem;
that if he wanted those groceries he should pay for them. Frangois
said, "all right," but explained he would do so differently from
the normal, traditional way. Instead of money he would pay with
"work-hours." The cashier explained that it was difficult to use
the cash register to calculate "work-hours" since it just calculated
value in terms of money. Fransois concluded that he could not accept

that normal process.

106

The fourth action was the interventions of the other actors.
First was an actress who protested against Fransois, calling him a
bum or an idle vagrant. She said that all of the people that were
unemployed were really bums because they did not really want to work.
In a second intervention an actor announced that he also was like
Frangois, unemployed, and that he admired the courage of Fransois,
because he had exposed the economic situation of the Belgians who
were looking for jobs. A third actor advised Fransois to try to
find a job in another place. In those interventions, the actors were
amplifiers of typical spectator comments. The cashier finally called
the manager. At this point a great discussion was generated with
the customers directly participating in the action: discussing
unemployment, high prices, and low salaries.

The fifth action began with the entrance of the manager.

She tried to reason with Fransois. She was very polite, sincere,
and tactful, but she had already called the police. Finally, one
of the actors took the initiative to ask all to help FranSois by
collecting the money to pay for his groceries. Fransois paid the
difference and at that moment the police arrived.

The entrance of the police initiated a new and final action
that the actors had to resolve. Everyone protested vehemently in
favor of Frangois because he wasn't a thief. The policemen were
perplexed. The chief asked the manager if Frangois was a thief or
not, and why she had called them to arrest him. The manager accepted
the fact that he wasn't a thief, but demanded his arrest because he

had incited a riot. Due to the insistence of the manager Frangois

107

was taken to the police station, faced with the decision to continue
the play or to explain everything.

FranSois went there with Annie Declerk, who had been filming
this Invisible Theatre performance, by hiding her camera inside the
grocery cart. There they continued performing their roles. The
interrogation took six hours. At the end Fransois revealed the
truth, presenting his papers which proved that he was not unemployed
but an active actor (a professional actor who worked, receiving a
monthly salary). The police chief couldn't believe that the inci-
dent was Invisible Theatre. He could not understand how a person
or a group could create chaos like that: disorganizing the order
of a place, provoking riots, merely to perform an experiment in
theatre. Therefore, the police chief decided to charge Frangois
with performing a public spectacle without the appropriate authori-
zation. The argument Frangois and Annie used against that accusation
was as follows. To request a license or an authorization for per-
forming a public spectacle of Invisible Theatre would reveal the
theatre visually and in this way destroy the very essence of Invisible
Theatre. The spectators would again assume their passive roles,
losing their more human, full and active roles as protagonists. In
summary, the Invisible Theatre could not submit to the same police
rules which limited the conventional theatre. Therefore, to ask
for an authorization for performing Invisible Theatre implied a
barrier to aesthetic research. Since there was no censorship in
Belgium and the demand for a license would be a form of censorship,

the actors who participated in the spectacle could accuse the police

108

of abuse of power. With that argument everything was resolved and
the actors (Annie and Fransois) were freed.

Although many other Invisible Theatres were performed in
Belgium, the most important and significant was the performance in
Liege because with it new elements were added for defining what is
really Invisible Theatre. The Invisible Theatre form presents
fictitious scenes, but becuase it presents them without the circum-
stances of the rituals of the conventional theatre, those fictions
become a reality. As Boal says: "Teatro invisivel nao é realismo:

'93 ("Invisible Theatre is not realism; it is

e a propia realidade'
its own reality").

A description of some additional scenes presented in Stock-
holm, Sweden, will further clarify the development of Invisible

Theatre.

d) The experience in the ferryboats of Stockholm.

The first play was entitled The Baby of the Queen. The
problem presented was the health services. Boal had been invited
to participate at the festival of Skeppsholm in Stockholm. An
experiment with the Invisible Theatre form was to be performed on
July 19, 1978. On the morning of July 10, the newspaper Svenska
Dagbladet published a news article announcing the premiere of an
experiment in Invisible Theatre at the subway of Stockholm, and
advising the passengers not to be surprised by this new theatre
modality. Therefore, Boal and the cast decided to change the place

of the performance to the ferry boats which travel from the city

109

of Stockholm to a series of small islands in eastern Sweden. During
those days, the baby of the Queen was about to be born. There was

a general feeling of dissatisfaction in the population because of
the high cost of remodeling the hospital, where the baby would be
born, and because medical assistance for ordinary pregnant women was
unsatisfactory.

In the first action of the play a young pregnant woman (an
actress with an artificial pad on her belly) talked with her girl-
friend about her great admiration for the Queen and the royal family.
An actor representing a passenger disagreed with her. In the ensuing
conversation they discussed prices, salaries, royal wealth, republic
and royalty, medicine and socialism.

The second action began with the labor pains of the pregnant
woman. Another actor, who portrayed a doctor, appeared and tried
to help her, but she rejected his help. When she asked where he
came from, he answered "from the hospital"--that he had been working
all through the night attending five women in labor. The actress
responded that because of that she didn't want him to help her. When
she had her first baby, the doctor who attended her was so tired
that he ended up doing an unneeded Cesarean on her because he wanted
to finish as soon as possible. Now, she said, she wanted to be
attended by one of the four doctors of the Queen. She asked for
help to move her to the place where the doctors of the Queen were.
The scene continued with the actors discussing with the passengers

the health system in that country. Half of the spectators

110

participated in the discussions. The other half attentively followed
the discussion, but without intervention.

The trip from the city of Stockholm to the next island took
seven to ten minutes, which was the duration of the spectacle. When
the ferry boat arrived at the pier, the officer of the ship had
already contacted the hospital by radio, and an ambulance was waiting
for the pregnant woman. This was the third and last action. Since
the cast already knew that the ambulance would be waiting for her,
they had their own ambulance there, thus avoiding any possible
revelation of her true condition by ambulance attendants. When the
cast left in their own ambulance, the discussion among the specta-
tors at the pier continued.

Aside from this short spectacle, there were many others,
including some on racism. In one, Racism II: The Black Woman,
the first action began when a black actress seated herself where
everyone could see her in one of the ferry boats which traveled
from Slussen to Djugarden, a botanical garden. Because the ferry
boat was full of passengers, this spectacle provoked the most
volatile reactions.94 Actors portraying an Italian man, a business
manager, and a drunken woman stood on the ferry. The woman had a
beer can in her hand and provoked reactions from the spectators con-
cerning her behavior.

When the boat departed the second action started. After a
few minutes the Italian man approached the black lady and asked
her what she was doing seated there--that here she was a black,

seated, and he was a white, standing up. A violent discussion was

111

generated with the passengers concerning racial equality. The
black lady, irritated, gave her seat to the Italian, who began to
read his Italian newspaper. Then the drunk who saw the scene,
approached the Italian, and the third action began. The drunk
requested that the Italian give her his seat even though this was
a white country, it was a country of white Swedes, not dark Italians.
New discussions about nationality, race, and human rights began.
Finally, the Italian gave his seat to her.

The fourth action began when the businessman approached the
drunk and requested that she give him her seat, because although
she was Swedish, she is an unproductive drunkard, and, besides,
seating should be assigned not only according to nationalities and
race, but also according to social classes. He was white, Swedish
and a business manager. The cumulative effect was extraordinary.

A great number of people protested and defended the drunk lady, and
at the same time they defended the existence of basic human rights,
regardless of nationality, class or race.

In the fifth action an actor tried to convince the black
lady to return to her seat, but she refused. Other actors, seated
in different seats, stood up in a protest against racism. "1 stand
up because I am Brazilian! 1 stand up because I am Indian! I stand
up because I am poor..."95 At the end there were many empty seats
as a sign of protest; people remained standing up, pressed against
each other, staying closely entwined as a mass of entangled bodies,

until the ferry boat reached its destination. Boal described the

112

effect of this particular Invisible Theatre as more astonishing
than any that he had ever experienced.

Through those years of experience with Invisible Theatre
some ideas were clarified. The spectator had been transformed into
a protagonist of the action, but he was not aware that he was becom-
ing a protagonist. He was a protagonist of the reality he saw
because he ignored the fictitious origin of that reality. Boal
thought that the spectator should go beyond this ignorance and
participate in the dramatic action with full knowledge of what was
going on. In achieving this objective the Forum Theatre form has

played a very meaningful role.

2. The Forum Theatre form.

At first Boal had simply rehearsed Forum Theatre with a
small number of homogeneous spectators. However, between 1978 and
1980 in Europe, he prepared larger productions of Forum Theatre,
with a great number of spectators. From that experience, the Forum
Theatre consolidated as a new form of performing theatre with its

own "rules of the game."

(1) The playwriting:

(a) The text should characterize clearly each charac-
ter; it should identify each with such precision
the spectators can recognize the ideology of each
character.

(b) The solutions proposed by the protagonist should

have at least one political or social mistake to

(C)

113

analyze in the forum. That mistake should be
clearly demonstrated inside well-defined situa-
tions.

The play can be in any style (realist, symbolic,
expressionist) but surrealist or any other
irrational styles, because what Forum Theatre
intends is to discuss reasons in concrete situa-

tions.

(2) The mise-en-scéne:

(a)

(b)

(C)

The characters should do physical actions well
identified with their ideology, with their work,
with their social function, and with their pro-
fession. It is important that the characters move
about, otherwise, the spectators will tend to
remain seated, doing "forum" without theatre.

Each significant scene should find its own image.96
This image should accord with the public prefer-
ence; it should be agreed upon by everyone. This
image can be selected or found during the presen-
tation of the scene or in an earlier discussion
with the spectators.

Each character should be presented visually so he
can be recognized independently of his words.
Costumes and props should be easy for the specta-

tors to use.

114

(3) The game-spectacle:

(a) In the first part, the spectacle is performed
exactly as if it were a conventional theatre piece.

(b) Then the spectators are asked if they agree or dis-
agree with the solution presented by the protagonist;
presumably they will say, no. Then they are
informed that the spectacle will be performed
again in the same way. The conflict of the game
consists of the actors trying to finish the play
in the original manner and the spectators trying
to modify it to show that new solutions are possible.
This means that the actors present an image of the
world, which they will try to maintain. The spec-
tators will rehearse other images of the world.

(c) The spectators are informed that anyone can substi-
tute himself for the protagonist by approaching the
stage and saying, "Stop." All of the actors freeze
in their positions. The spectator immediately says
where he wants the scene to begin again. Then the
actors perform the scene from that point with the
spectator being the protagonist.

(d) From the moment the spectator substitutes himself
for the protagonist, a new solution begins to be
rehearsed, the rest of the actors become repressors,
showing the spectator all of the difficulties

involved in transforming reality. So it is the

(e)

(f)

(9)

115

players in the game and the spectator who attempt

a new solution-~to transform the world--versus the
actors--who try to convince them to accept the world
as it really is. If the spectator desists, he
leaves the game and the original actor replaces
him, bringing the play to its already known conclu-
sion. Another spectator could approach the stage
and say, "Stop," stating from which point he wishes
to begin the play again. The play will be repeated
from that moment and a new solution will be tried.
At some point finally the spectator will be able

to break with the actors' imposed oppression and
then the actors should desist. From that moment
the spectators are extended an invitation to sub-
stitute for any actor to demonstrate different forms
of oppression that the actors may not be aware of.
Then it becomes spectator-protagonist versus
spectators-oppressors. The oppression and how to
end it is discussed by the spectators. Each actor
who has been replaced on stage continues working

as an auxiliary ego.

One of the actors should perform the auxiliary
function of the Joker.97 He will explain the rules
of the game and correct the mistakes.

The knowledge gained from this investigation will

be the greatest that some social and human groups

116

will ever attain. The Joker should not be a
lecturer. He is not the owner of the truth. He
will merely show that those who have knowledge can

explain that knowledge better.

(h) After the forum is finished, a final model of fixed

action should be constructed that will be performed

by the spectators.
One example of this form of theatre, which occurred in the
small town of Godrano in Sicily, clarifies the rules:
a) "The cooperative: the character assumes his own role
and refutes the actor"98: A Forum Theatre experience.
Boal was invited by the Teatro Libero de Palermo to parti-
cipate in a cultural festival held in the small town of Godrano in
1977. In addition to workshops and lectures on Boal's Theatre of
the Oppressed, two performances of Forum Theatre were given by the
group directed by Boal. "The cooperative..." was the second one
presented at 9:00 p.m., August 13, 1977, in the Piazza Principale

di Godrano.99

 

In Godrano the shepherds wanted to create a cooperative to
solve the problem of the lack of a market for their cattle. The
shepherds accused the mayor of preventing the cooperative from
finally doing something beneficial. A play centered on that theme
was prepared and performed in front of thousands of people, includ-
ing the mayor.

Four actions constituted the whole play. In the first one,

three actor-members of the cooperative discussed their problems

117

with the mayor. They decided to question him and to request certain
measures. The second action started with the arrival of the actor-
mayor and another actor. The mayor explained that he had selected
that gentlemen as president of the cooperative because of the great
knowledge he possessed about its problems. The three members of

the cooperative protested that the president should be a person from
Godrano who was familiar with the local problems, not a person from
the outside who ignored them. The mayor persisted in his arguments--
imposing his wishes on the cooperative.

In the third action, the president presented his plan for
constructing the cooperative at a site some distance away since
ideal conditions did not exist near the small town. The members
again vehemently protested, but the mayor's argumentative skills
won the debate. In the fourth action, the mayor insisted on obtain-
ing the signatures of the three cooperative members as a necessary
part of the bureaucratic process. The members refused but were
finally defeated again.

During the forum, great tension was created. The accused
nayor was present in the audience and when the actor-mayor spoke
everyone looked at the real mayor. But the spectators continued
their interventions and discussions. Many times the play was inter-
rupted by a spectator saying, "Stop"; then the group performed the
new alternative. One of the spectators exclaimed that if the coop-
erative really worked as it should, he would not have been forced
to emigrate to Germany. Another spectator denounced the advantages

that the mayor enjoyed due to the non-functioning of the cooperative.

118

Other spectators proposed (always inside the theatre action) that
the mayor should be removed from the cooperative.

At some point the inevitable occurred. The actual mayor
screamed "Stop" and substituted for the actor who was performing
his role. He tried to transform this theatrical game of the Forum
Theatre into a new game which was not theatre. Boal called this
new game--this new intention of the mayor--"the parliamentary
game."100 The mayor wanted to discuss the problem without theatre:
"Okay. Now, finally, we are going to start talking seriously. Until
now you were doing theatre--joking about serious things. Now, we

10] But the moment he began to say

are going to talk seriously."
something which was not true, someone said, "Stop," and going onto
the stage contradicted what the mayor had said. The mayor kept try-
ing to change the theatrical game to his game, the parliamentary
game. He continued pressing for an end to the acting: no more
theatre performance, no more scenes. But each time that someone
said “Stop" the theatre game continued. It continued until the mayor
lost control and screamed: "This is my cooperative. If you want,
create another one!"102

This spectacle, which began at nine o'clock, changed from
Forum Theatre to forum alone. At two o'clock in the morning people
were still discussing the problem of the cooperative.

This Forum Theatre with the mayor of Godrano demonstrated

that this form of theatre is not dogmatic nor does it impose the

performers' ideas on the spectator, instead it liberates the

119

spectator; it stimulates him and transforms him into a protagonist.
In this game the spectator rehearses actions that he will use in
reality. In the Godrano experience the question raised was the
pertinent issue of the dilemma of the limits of Forum Theatre: is
Forum Theatre reality or fiction? In Godrano real people discussed
with the real mayor of their small town their real problems. The
only elements which were not real were the rituals of the theatre:
the rehearsals of the play, the Characterization, the written text,

the costumes and props, and the movements on stage.

3. The Image Theatre form.

The next book by Boal will concern the Image Theatre, the
new theatre form that was developed during his stay in Europe.
Techniques and Games of the Image Theatre will cover the exercises
and the techniques developed with the Image Theatre. By January,
1980, when I interviewed Augusto Boal in Europe, eight techniques

and twelve exercises had been developed.

a) The objective.

The Image Theatre intends to establish the differentiation
between "looking" and "seeing."103 The exercises developed for the
Image Theatre try to show people how to see what they are looking
at by stimulating their visual sense. Inasmuch as this sense, which
we use most in our daily lives, has been atrophied by advertisements,
publicity and the mass media in this complex twentieth century

society, it needs to be developed. According to Boal we are

120

accustomed to using our eyes for looking, but in reality we actually
see very few things.

Publicity, particularly, has acclimated us to looking without
actually seeing. We devise associations of impossible images which
are contradictory, antagonistic, and irreconcilable.

Olhamos o corpo seminO de mulheres lindissimas seduzidas

por um jovem musculoso e esbelto que bebe whisky com a
garrafa e a marca em primeiro plano, mas nao vemos que o
alcool pode, quando muito, conduzir a impotencia mas nunca
a excessos de virilidade. Olhamos as duas imagens e fazemos
uma associacao imp0551vel.105 (Italics mine).

(We 100R at the semi-naked-bodies of beautiful women
seduced by a muscular and slender young man who drinks
whiskey from a bottle that has its trademark in plain view,
but we don't see that alcohol can provoke sexual impotency
rather than an excess of virility. We look at both images
and make an impossible association).

Since human beings are accustomed to looking at images which
prevent them from seeing other images which can give diverse infor-
mation, the objective of Image Theatre is to help us to actually

see what we are looking at.

b) Some techniques.

Basically each technique is divided into two segments. The
first is the construction of a mode1--a visual image of some theme,
problem, or concept constructed only through the bodies of various
actors. Everything is visual, no one talks. The second part is

dynamization of the model, a kind of analysis of the model also

 

utilizing the actor's body in three different stages, from the simple
to the complex. In the first stage, the model is dynamized indi-

vidually; in the second, the model is dynamized collectively,

121

establishing relationships; and in the third stage, the dynamization
creates the contradictory image of the model.

These rules are not always consistent. Each segment varies
depending upon the type of group, its participants, and many other
circumstances. Not all of the techniques follow all of the above
steps, though, in general, these rules are the basis for the elabora-

tion of the techniques.105

(1) First technique: to illustrate a theme with one's
own body.
(a) The model:
In this case, the model can be constructed in two

‘06 asks five

distinct ways. First, the Joker
performers to show with their bodies the theme or
themes selected, one after another. None of the
five should see what the others do. Then the Joker
asks if any other participant has a different

image that he wants to project. When all have
presented their images, the Joker asks for the
dynamization of the model. The model can also be
constructed as follows. In a circle all of the
participants simultaneously create with their
bodies an image of the theme. A few seconds later
they will observe the image of the others, main-

taining their positions in the images they person-

ally created.

122

(b) The dynamization:
.Eipet, the Joker gives a signal. All of the parti-
cipants who created images go to the center and
repeat the images, seeing each other's image at
the same time. In the model everyone had shown
his image in the subjective form. With this first
dynamization stage, the group can have a multiple
vision of the theme. This is an objective vision.
Here it is not essential to know what each person
thinks, but what the whole group things about the
theme.
Seepnd, the Joker gives another signal. Everyone
should try to establish an interrelationship with
the participants according to the images shown.
Each one can select one or more images with which
to interrelate. Each can choose to integrate with
or separate from another image. If in the first
dynamization the social vision was the most impor-
tant, here it is the organized social vision: the
organic vision.
Thipg, the Joker gives a final signal. All of
the images must be changed into their opposites.
For example, if all of the participants created
images of victims to illustrate a theme such as
oppression, now they should transform into

oppressors. Boal wants each participant to act

123

as an object and as a subject. With this third
dynamization, each participant can penetrate more
profoundly the vision of his image. This opposite
image complements the first one, and a clearer
vision of all the facets pertaining to the model
is obtained.

(2) Second technique: to illustrate a theme using the

bodies of the others.
(a) The model:
The Joker asks one participant to construct an
image of the theme proposed by the group, using
the bodies of all the participants. When the
model is completed, the participant should consult
the group, but not verbally. The group can agree
with the model (the model then is kept), but the
group can also disagree (the model is then
destroyed). But the group can also agree with
reservations. In this case, the Joker consults
the group and eliminates everything the group
disapproves of or considers imperative. It is
always the group who should construct the collec-
tive image of the theme.
Boal emphasizes that it is an absolute for

the person who is sculpting the image with the

actor's bodies to do it rapidly so he will not

(b)

124

be tempted to think in terms of words. Those
words will be translated into images or visual
language, and according to Boal, the actor should
think in images.107 When he does not think in
images but in words, the images produced are very

poor.

The dynamization:

.EiEEE: the Joker gives a signal. The actors
inside the model should do a rhythmic movement
according to the content of the image. For
example, a man who eats is a static image. There
are many ways a man can eat, and there are many
rhythms for eating. He can do it sadly, and with
sadness the rhythm will be different than if he
does it happily. This rhythmic movement will

add supplementary information to the original
information given by the static image.

Segppd, the Joker gives a new signal. Then the
actors should do the aforementioned rhythmic move-
ment, but now they should say a phrase which cor-
responds to the content of the image. It should
be clear that the phrase should be said by the
character, not by the actor.

.Ipipg, the Joker gives another signal. Then the

participants in the model should again do the

125

previous parts, but also construct a conclusion.
For example, if the image eats with sadness, what
will he/she do afterward? If the image walks,

to what specific place is the image walking?

The purpose of this second technique is the construction

of an action, very well-defined, coordinated, and integrated. It

is necessary that in each dynamization the participant should take

into consideration the rest of the actors in the model.

(3) Third technique: the image of transition.

(a) The model:

(b)

This model works in the same manner as the pre-
vious technique until it reaches the construction
of a model which can be accepted by the entire
group. But here that model must have a theme of
oppression proposed by the group. Thus, according
to Boal, it would be a real model of oppression.
Then the Joker asks the group to construct an
ideal model, where the oppression is eliminated.
The Joker immediately returns the group to the

real model and the dynamization starts.

The dynamization:

fleet, the Joker informs the group that any parti-
cipant can give his opinion about which features
are to be transplanted from the real image (oppres-

sive) to the ideal one (without oppression). The

126

participants can discuss the changes, but cannot
use words, just movements and visual language.
Then the group in the second dynamization should
begin to experiment with the suggestions to verify
which ones are practical.

Seean, the Joker gives a signal. All the figures
of the image will begin a movement. Each time

the Joker claps, each figure, each actor inside
the image, will have the right to do a movement
according to the position his character represents.
Those who are in the oppressed situation will make
a movement toward their liberation. Those who are
in the oppressor situation will make a movement

to reinforce the oppression. Those movements
should be made according to the characters and not
according to the person who represents them.,
Ipipg, after various movements have been performed,
the Joker suggests that all of the figures con-
tinue their movements in slow motion. With each
clap they will make the movement more and more
slowly, permitting them to stop and carefully look
at themselves so they can know where they are in
relation to the others. The movement will end
when all of the possibilities of liberation have

been studied visually--when the image reaches an

127

almost total repose--when all the conflicts have
been resolved in one way of another, with or

without a happy ending.

This third technique permits greater concentration on a

single problem--only one form of oppression--one concrete case. As

Boal says: "The macrocosm is shown in a form of microcosm.

ll.108

(4) Fourth technique: the multiple image of oppression.

Sometimes the solutions to the problems of oppression and

a more complete understanding of them can be found not in the social

microcosm, but in the social macrocosm.

(a) The model:

(b)

The model to be constructed here should be multiple
and complex. Whatever the theme is, it should not

use one image, but rather various images which

show the dissimilar perspectives of that theme.

It is vital that the images not be repeated unless

that repetition is characteristic of that kind

of repression.

The dynamization:

fjret, the sculptors who have shown oppressed
images should substitute for one of the individuals
inside of the image so they can give their personal

perspective of the oppression. The sculptor has

128

the right to move the other figures of the image
to show the ideal image.

Sepppg, the image returns to the original model,
and after the Joker gives a signal, all of the
participants move slowly from the real to the ideal
according to the wishes of the sculptor. But each
figure will choose his own movement. Whether or
not the solution proposed by the sculptor is
possible or impossible is verified in this process.
Third, the image again returns to the original
model. The Joker gives a signal and starts clapping
his hands. The figures now start their movements
in character (as in the second dynamization of the
third technique) toward the ideal image. In this
way, the proposal of the sculptor is completely

verified.

(5) Fifth technique: the multiple image of happiness.
(a) The model:

Half of the group is sent out of the room. The
rest construct a model as in the previous techni-
ques: some of the participants sculpt their
images of happiness with the bodies of the actors.
Those images are placed throughout the room so
each one can be seen by everyone and yet be iso-

lated from the rest.

129

(b) The dynamization:
_Eip§t, the Joker brings in the individuals who
were out of the room so they can see all of the
figures clearly. Each selects the figure which,
in his opinion, best portrays happiness and then
substitutes for that figure. The persons that
have been replaced leave the room. If two persons
select the same figure as the best portrait of
happiness, the first person to reach the figure
will substitute for the figure and the other will
substitute for his second choice.
Sepppd, at the Joker's signal all of the persons
who were replaced have the right to reenter the
room and to select the best portrayal of happiness.
This time instead of substituting for the indivi-
dual each should put his body beside the body of
the figure chosen, imitating the same position.
If two or more persons select the same figure,
they will all imitate the same position.
IIEIQ; the Joker gives the signal and all of the
participants, including the original individuals
selected to be statues and those who sculpted the
images, will more simultaneously, establishing
interrelationships which portray an expanded view
of happiness. At this stage everyone is a subject

and no one is an object.

130

If a person sees a figure or figures that
he wishes to interrelate with, he will move in
that direction. But perhaps since that individual
or group is also moving, when the first person
reaches his destination no one is there. Thus,
the participant may need to reevaluate his path,
the general structure, the multiple image in all

of its aspects.

(6) Sixth technique: the image of the group.

(a) The model:

(b)

This model constructs, creating with all of the
participants, an image of the group itself. This
technique can be used when problems arise inside
the group; for example, when some individuals do
not want to participate or when there is no agree-
ment on the images and solutions proposed. The
intention here is to demonstrate how the group is
working and to detect reasons for any problems
within the group. Boal recommends the use of this

technique when there is an impasse.

The dynamization:

‘Eipet, the Joker explains that everyone is included
in the general image of the group, even though

some of the participants are observing from the

outside and others are in the middle, forming the

131

image which caused the disagreement. Thus, there
will be really two images: the global, general
image of the whole group, and inside the general
one, the nucleus image of a problem that has not
been resolved.

The Joker asks those persons inside the nucleus
who are satisfied with the image to stay in their
positions and those who are dissatisfied to leave
with the others who are looking on. Also the Joker
tells the spectators that if they feel uncomfortable
in their positions as spectators, they can inte-
grate with the nucleus image.
§eppng, the Joker asks the participants who have
moved out of the nucleus image to rejoin it, but
in whatever way they wish, not in the manner earlier
imposed on them.

.Ipipd, the final image of the global group will
reveal the capacity or lack of it that the group
has to work harmoniously. The problems and their
causes reveal themselves through the image of the
group and offer the clues necessary to understand
the problem more precisely.
This technique has been used by Boal consistently, not only
in experimenting with his Theatre of the Oppressed, but also in
traditional theatre. Sometimes, during the rehearsals of a tradi-

tional play, Boal encountered problems with the actors in terms of

132

characterization, lack of discipline, and cast integration. Many
times Boal faced problems that were not within the context of theatre,
personal problems among actors, professional jealousies, and so
forth. Many of these problems were hidden by the actors. With
this technique, those problems revealed themselves, and in this
manner Boal knew how to face them and thus began to resolve them.
These six techniques were typical of those developed by Boal
with his Image Theatre form between 1978 and 1980. He developed
many others and is in the process of developing many more. But
these six exemplify the highest developmental point the Image
Theatre has reached. Besides these techniques, there are also

exercises to enrich this theatre form.

(c) Exercises used with Image Theatre.
Boal has developed at least three principal
sequences of exercises to assist actors to
actually see what they are looking at. The
sequences are the mirror sequence, the sculpture
sequence, and the marionette sequence. Some
exercises from the mirror sequence best illustrate
this method for accomplishing the objective of

the Image Theatre:

(1) Simple mirror.
TWo lines of participants are created, one line facing the
other. The persons in line A are "subjects," and the persons in

line B are "images." Each "subject" initiates a series of movements

133

and facial expressions which should be reproduced in detail by the
"image" facing him. The "subject" should not consider himself an
enemy of the "image." This is not a competitive exercise involving
impossible movements or abrupt changes of expression. The exercise
is designed to achieve perfect movement synchronization between
subject and image. The movements should be done very slowly and
continuously, excuted as perfectly as possible so the exterior
observer cannot distinguish between the one who originates the move-

ments and the one who follows them.

(2) Change of Subject and of Image.

After a few minutes, the Joker, who directs the exercise,
gives a signal. The participants who were subjects become images
and those who were images become subjects. Here, also, the exterior
observer should not be able to tell who was originating the movements
at the moment of the change nor, more importantly, that a change was

performed.

(3) Subject-Image, Image-Subject.

After a few minutes, the Joker again gives another signal,
and both participants (subject and image) become simultaneously
subjects and images. All of the participants, face to face, have
the right to originate any movement they want and they also have
the obligation to reproduce the movements originated by their part-
ners. The communication is exclusively visual and the attention of

each participant should be concentrated on his partner, especially

134

on his eyes. Boal reaffirms that it is imperative to do this exer-
cise without any oppression or without any participant tyrannizing

his partner.

(4) Everybody takes hands.

The Joker gives another signal and everyone takes the hands
of the people next to them. Each participant now will be looking
at his partner in front and also have the hands of his fellows at
his right and left sides. Now, the communication, besides being
visual between opposite partners, is also physical and muscular
between participants within each line. The subjects continue doing
their movements, but now taking into consideration their cohorts
on each side. Again, the vital point is to do everything very slowly
so that the reproductions and synchronizations will be perfect. No
impossible and/or abrupt changes are permitted. Everything should
be continuous. The actor who does an impossible movement should
begin again with another that is easily followed. If the movements
are performed slowly and continuously, there will be a visual and

muscular coordination which will permit both lines to be identical.

(5) The two lines do a curve.

The Joker moves one participant at one end of the one line
to form a U-curve with that line. The second line reproduces the
U-curve. It is supposed that between the two lines is an imaginary
mirror. The participants move, looking at the eyes of those on the

opposite line. Thus, there is direct visual communication between

135

two people, and muscular and visual communication among three, and

now the actors have become conscious of the totality of each line.

(6) The symmetric groups.

The Joker gives a signal and everyone releases hands. Now,
the line constructs a collective and symmetrical image, imagining
a mirror which divides the room. The participants in the line can
create more than one block of images, but one person must never
perform an isolated image. The other line will mirror the images
of the first. Again, it is important to do everything slowly and

continuously to achieve perfect synchronization.

(7) The mirror breaks.

The imaginary mirror at the center breaks, creating pairs
of performers facing each other. The couples look at each other,
establishing subject and image, reproducing the movement originated
by one of them, but without tyranny, slowly and continuously. Each
participant should enlarge his capacity for concentration. The
space within which they operate now becomes more dynamic and change-

able, and their attention and concentration should be more intense.

(8) The partners exchange.

The Joker gives a signal and the participants exchange part-
ners with someone near. Each should try to find a new partner who
best corresponds with him. Then they should establish a new visual
dialogue or attempt to continue the visual dialogue they had with

their first partner. The participant should continue the movements

136

he was doing with his first partner until he finds the new partner.

If he cannot immediately find a new one, he should keep moving until
he can. The process, at a signal from the Joker, is repeated twice

with partners increasingly farther away.

If two participants select the same person, they will analyze
the visual communication. The one who communicates best with him
should stay and the other should find another partner. It is para-
mount that with a new partner, when communication is created, the
actors should be cognizant of the differences between that communica-

tion and the previous ones.

(9) The deforming mirror.

The Joker should explain before he gives the signal the next
step in the exercise, so the sequence of all the exercises is main-
tained.

At a new signal by the Joker, the relationships and communi-
cation of the couples are totally transformed. Up to this point
all of the movements and expressions were identically reproduced;
in this exercise the comments and the answers are reproduced. Each
person moves as he wishes. The partner "answers," "comments on,"
"increases," "reduces," "caricatures," "ridicules," and "destroys,"109
the movement message. In other words, he produces an image related
to the image he receives, but in contraposition to that image.

It is vital that both the image and the answer should be

performed almost simultaneously and continuously instead of one

partner waiting to respond.

137

(l0) The narcissist's mirror.

The previous exercise represented the destruction of the
partner's mask. After that each participant looks at himself in
the mirror and sees himself as being beautiful. Everyone should
try to produce all of the happy expressions he/she has experienced
in his/her life. But each should remember that the image he/she
sees is the image of his/her partner in front of him/her. The
participants see their own images in the body of the other person.
The idea of this exercise is that the participants try to find them—

selves in the others.

(ll) The rhythmic mirror.
In seeking oneself in the other, the dialogue becomes a
monologue. Both participants look for movements which can be rhyth-

mically reproduced and which are pleasant for both.

(l2) Unification.

Finally, on the Joker's signal, all of the different couples
strive for unification. This is an attempt, not an obligation.
There are three possibilities. First, at the end of the sequence
all of the group members may be already unified in one rhythm, one
movement. Second, the group may already be unified in rhythmic and
complementary movements which are not the same but are harmonized.
Third, the different groups never unify--they finish in different
groups and/or subgroups--each repeating its own rhythm and movement.

When the participants try to unite, they should remember not

to compete or to impose one group's actions or rhythms upon others.

138

Boal's intent here is a rhythmic study to visualize the degree of
compatibility and dialogue of the participants, in other words, the
capacity of the group for collective work.

Unification concludes this sequence of Image Theatre exer-
cises. Boal, in an attempt to amplify the visual dialogue, created
a series of exercises known as the sculpture sequence. These seven
exercises adhere closely to the form of the mirror sequence. One
participant is the sculptor and the other the statue. The movement
is also similar to that of the mirror sequence: from individual
positions toward the creation of a collective sculpture of the whole
group.

In the mirror sequence the dialogue is in mime. In the
sculpture sequence the dialogue should be translation. The actor
sees what his partner does and then translates the movement by
modifying his own body. The intended result is not to reproduce
the movement seen but rather to show the consequences of the move-
ment. For example, one actor who performs the function of the
sculptor arranges the body of his partner who performs the role of
the statue. No words or facial expressions are required of the
sculptor. The sculptor will try to construct a statue which reflects
an image. The actor who is the statue will respond with movements
and physical expressions stimulated by the sculptor's touch. The
participants are not performing synchronized movements, but instead
two different ones--one is the cause and the other is the effect.

Boal also created another sequence of exercises to enlarge

the visual dialogue. This sequence is called the marionette sequence.

139

Strings supposedly connect the subject (the puppeteer) and the object
(the marionette). The actor playing the part of the marionette
should do the movements that the distant puppeteer orchestrates.

For each part of the marionette's body there will be an imaginary
string through which the puppeteer will work. If the puppeteer
raises his left arm, as if pulling up a string, the marionette must
lift his left arm. A few movements and exercises are practiced in
this manner. Later, a new condition is added to the scenario. In
the middle of the room between the two actors there is an imaginary
pole, three meters in height. The imaginary strings of the marionette
lead from the puppeteer's hands over the highest point of the pole to
the marionette's body, creating inverse movements. For instance,
when the puppeteer wants to raise the marionette's hand he needs to
move his own down. So for each movement of the marionette there is

a corresponding opposite movement from the puppeteer.

All three exercise sequences of the Image Theatre function
through visual dialogue to develop the actors' capacity for observa-
tion. According to Boal the Image Theatre tries to develop visual
language. The introduction of any other kind of language--words--
creates conflicts and superimposes itself on the language which is
developing. These sequences even avoided symbolic or obvious signals,
such as moving the head to indicate yes or no, because they are too
closely linked with verbalization.

Finally, silence is an integral element in the accomplishment

of these exercises. Silence helps the actor's concentration and

140

will increase the interest of the participants in enriching the

visual dialogues which can be created.

E. The Theatre of the Oppressed: Fiction or Reality?

The question of theatre style now arises. How can this
theatre be described? Is it realistic, symbolistic, or expressionis-
tic? Where does reality end and the magic of the theatre begin?
Where do we place the Theatre of the Oppressed on the reality/fantasy
scale?

For Boal all of the theatre styles (expressionism, realism,
symbolism) can be included in the Theatre of the Oppressed with the
exception of such irrational ones as surrealism. Boal constantly
reaffirms this idea. Irrational elements which go beyond reality,
like surrealism, cannot be included. To attempt the transformation
of reality, the Theatre of the Oppressed must consistently examine
reality. But reality may be in many forms.

Related to this issue is another implicit problem, considered
by Boal as one of the most vital problems of the theatre: whether
or not objectivity exists--especially the objectivity of realism.

Is it possible to show life as it really is? According to Boal the
answer is no. The only way to show life as it really is would be for
the artist to assume "a cosmic point of view."110 And this is
impossible, since, according to Boal, the artist was, is and will
always be immersed in society. He cannot see life divorced from the
perspective of the society which molds him. Total objectivity does

not exist. For Boal, the realistic style is not only as subjective

141

as any other, but it is more dangerous because it is the opposite
of what the conventional theorists desire theatre to be. Boal and
his Theatre of the Oppressed realize that we must identify with
someone who is real and not a mere abstraction.

Boal does not consider his Theatre of the Oppressed as
realistic. He says it is "in a way but not as it is usually

defined."”1

He describes his theatre as "objective expression-
ism"112 because this style implies the perception of a reality
through one person--one specific character--but this reality is not
shown in the realism style. Realism presents a photographic reality
which was essential in the nineteenth century to counterbalance
Romanticism but is not today. Today, what is essential is change,
to create a new reality, not to describe a present one.
The Theatre of the Oppressed is also objective. Reality
is perceived through many people instead of through one. Expression-
ism is an individualistic approach, psychological realism. Every-
thing is perceived through the eyes of one character. So objective
expressionism attempts to transform the perception of reality from
psychological to sociological. An example will illustrate this:
If you ask twenty workers what a policemen looks
like, how he moves, how he behaves, you will get twenty
different answers but with a great deal of overlap.
The portrait created by this overlap is the description
of how they, as a class, see a policeman.
This is objective expressionism: the sociological perception
of reality.
Of all the forms of the Theatre of the Oppressed, it is the

Invisible Theatre which is most astonishing, for the reason that in

142

it the spectators are not aware that they are viewing theatre and
not reality. With this kind of theatre, the Theatre of the Oppressed
is evolving from the fictional toward reality, but not yet reaching
total reality. The fiction is always present, but it becomes
reality when it is presented to the spectators:
In the Invisible Theatre, for example, actors bring
with them the ficticious, which is the scene they are
going to perform. They come with the model already
rehearsed and prepared. But when they reach the spec-
tators and perform the scene, this fiction becomes
reality for the spectators. For them, the scene and its
problems are real.114
This is the essence of Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed: the
continuing conflict between fantasy and reality. What occurs is
what Boal called the explosion of the Theatre of the Oppressed, that
violent confrontation between reality and fiction. For the specta-
tors the place is always real: streets where vendors sell their
goods, restaurants, trains, subways, and ferry boats. In actual
reality a theatre scene explodes, astonishing the spectators. Some-
times they are even aware that it is theatre (Forum Theatre); at
other times they are unaware that they are experiencing theatre.
How should the Theatre of the Oppressed be classified?
Boal answers: "The Theatre of the Oppressed is exactly on the limit
between fiction and reality; this is the explosion of the Theatre

of the Oppressed."n5

143

NOTES CHAPTER III

1Augusto Boal, 200 Ejercicios y Juegos Para el Actor y No
Actor Con Ganas de Decir Algo Através Del Teatro (fiuenos Aires:
Editorial Crisis S.R.L., 1975), p. 15.

2Thomas Mellgren, "Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed,"
'ganadian Theatre Review, no. 19 (Summer 1978), p. ll3; Augusto Boal,
"Teatro del Oprimido," Crisis, II, num. l4 (Junio 1974), 26; and
Augusto Boal, Pratique du Theatre De L'Opprimé (Paris: Centre
d'étude et de diffusion des techniques actives d'expression, 1979),
p. 2.

 

 

3
4

5Boal, Theater of the Oppressed (New York: Urizen Books,
1979), p. 122.

Mellgren, loc. cit.

Boal, Pratique du Theatre de l'Opprimé, p. 2.

 

 

6Boal, Pratique du Theatre de l'Opprimé, p. 2.
7
13, l980.
8

 

Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January ll and

Ibid.

91bid.

IOBoal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. l22.
ncamara de Deputados.

12Chefe de Governo.

 

13See Augusto Boal, "Brasil: Teatro de la represidn,"
Primer Acto, nam. 146-147 (Julio y Agosto de l972), pp. 32-33; and
Oscar Fernandez, "Censorship and the Brazilian Theatre," Educational
Theatre JOurnal, 25, no. 3 (October l973), 285-286.

 

 

14Primer Acto, "Boal habla de 'Zumbi' y de la situacion
Brasilena," Primer Acto, ndm. 146-147 (Julio y Agosto de 1972),
p. 69.

 

l44
15Nelson Rodrigues, Ariano Suassuna, Pedro Bloch, Gianfran-
cesco Guarnieri, Plinio Marcos, Dias Gomes, Augusto Boal, and others.
16Fernandez, op. cit., p. 287.
17Invasao.
180 Bergo do Heroi.
19Dr. Getulio Vargas, Sua Vida e Sua Gloria.

20Navalha na Carne.

2'Opiniap.

22Liberdade, Liberdade.

 

23Boal, "Que pensa vocé da arte de esquerda?," Latin Ameri-
can Theatre Review. 3, no. 2 (Spring 1970), 48-51-

 

24Boal, "The Politics of Torture. The case of Brazil in
Latin America," Lecture delivered at the conference "An Inquiry
Into the Literary and Political Climate of Latin America," sponsored
by The Freedom to Write Committee of P.E.N. American Center, New
York, February 7, 1980. (Tape recorded)

25Fernandez, loc. cit.
26Ibid., p. 289.

27Boal, ”Teatro de Arena de S. Paulo," Primer Acto,_ndm.
135 (Agosto de 1971), p. 71.

28Fernandez, op. cit., p. 294.

29Musicales.

30Boal, "aQué piensa usted del arte de izquierda en el
Brasi1?," Primer Acto, nam. 132 (Marzo de 1971), p. 20.

3lBoal, "Teatro de Arena de 5. Paulo," Primer Acto, nfim.
135 (Agosto de 1971), p. 72; and Augusto Boal, Theater of the

Oppressed, p. l68.

32Boal, "Sistema Coringa," Primer Acto, nGm. 132 (Mayo de
1971), p. 19.

33See Augusto Boal, 200 Ejercicios y Juegos para el Actor
y No Actor Con Ganas de Decir Algo A través del Teatro, ppJ’TGJ2T.

145

34Boal, "Teatro de Arena de S. Paulo," Primer Acto, ham. 135
(Agosto de 1971), p. 73.

 

351bid.
36Ibid.

37Boal, "The Joker System: An Experiment by the Arena
Theatre of $30 Paulo," The Drama Review, 14, no. 2 (Winter), 93-94.

38See Augusto Boal, "Sistema Coringa," Primer Acto, nam. 132
(Mayo de 1971), p. 19.

39Augusto Boal and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Arena Conta
Tiradentes ($50 Paulo: Livraria e Editora Sagarana,‘1967), p. 163.

 

 

40Augusto Boal, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri and Edu Lobo, “Arena
Cuenta Zumbi," Primer Acto, nam. 146-147 (Julio-Agosto 1972), p. 97.

 

4lBoal, "The Joker System: An Experiment by the Arena
Theatre of $30 Paulo," The Drama Review, 14, no. 2 (Winter 1970),
93.

 

4ZBoal, "Sistema Coringa," Primer Acto, nam. 132 (Mayo de
1971), p. 19.

43See Augusto Boal, "Las Metas del 'Sistema Comodin',"
Primer Acto, nfim. 146-147 (Julio-Agosto de 1972), p. 57; and Theater
of the Oppressed, p. 175.

44Boal, "Las Metas del 'Sistema Comodin'," Primer Acto, nfim.
146-147 (Julio-Agosto de 1972), p. 58.

 

 

 

45Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 175.

 

451bid., pp. 175-177.

47See Augusto Boal, "Las Metas del 'Sistema Comodin',"
Primer Acto, ndm 146-147 (Julio-Agosto de 1972), p. 59.

 

4BBoal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 177.

49Boal, "Las Metas del 'Sistema Comodin'," Primer Acto, nfim.
146-147 (Julio-Agosto de 1972), p. 60; and Augusto Boal, Theater
of the Oppressed, p. 180.

SOIbid.

51

 

 

Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, pp. 180-181.
521bid., p. 182.

146

53Ibid., p. 183.

54Ibid., p. 185.

55Boal, "The Theatre of the Oppressed," Lecture delivered
at the Center for Interamerican Relations, New York, February 6,
1980. (Tape recorded).

561bid.

57Primeira Feira Paulista de Opinifio.

58Boal, Categorias de Teatro Popular (Buenos Aires: Ediciones
CEPE, 1972), p. 79.

59Teatro Jornal: Primeira Edicao.
60Boal, Técnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma

revolucao copernicana ao contrario ($30 Paulo: Editora Hucitec,
1979),Vp. 43.

 

 

Before this spectacle, Boal wrote various editions of this
Newspaper Theatre, explaining the functioning of the techniques of
this type of theatre. When he believed that the conditions were
favorable for the presentation of a spectacle based on these techni-
ques, he performed this first edition. These first nine techniques
of the Newspaper Theatre were originally published in Latin Ameri-
can Theatre Review, 4, no. 2 (Spring 1971), 57-60.

6Iln the first edition of the Newspaper Theatre, Boal used
as the title "Entrevista de Campo" which means Field Interview.
The meaning was the same. Because of the confusion he changed those
words to "Texto Fuera de Contexto" which means "Text Out of Context,"
when he published these techniques in his book Categorias de Teatro

Popular in 1972.
62

 

Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 143.

63See Augusto Boal, Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro
Popular (una revolucién Copernicana_a1 revés) (Buenos Aires:
Ediciones Corregidor Saici Y E., 1975), pp. 51-73.

64Boa1, Theater of the Oppressed, p. 143.

 

65Boal, Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular (una
revolucion Copernicana a1 revéS), pp. 53-54.

66Ibid., p. 55.
67Boal, Categgrias de Teatro Popular, p. 72.

 

147
68Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, pp. 146-147.

691bid., p. 144.

70These scenarios appeared on Boal's book Técnicas Latino-
Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma revolugao copernicana ao contrario,
pp. 73-82. *v

71

 

People who sell the green groceries in an open market.
72A Lei.
73" - u

Almuerzo ComerCial.

74See Augusto Boal, Técnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro
Popular Uma revolucao copernicana ao contrario, p. 72.

 

 

75See Appendix A.

76Boal, op. cit., p. 73.

77Ibid.

781bid.

791bid.

80"0peraci6n Alfabetizacion Integral."

81A detailed explanation of this experience of Boal in Peru
appears in chapter IV of his book Theater of the Oppressed, pp.
120-156.

82The book appeared later in 1977 in Portuguese with the
title 200 Exercicios e Jogos Para 0 Ator e Nao-Ator com Vontade de

Dizer Algo Através do Teatro. In 1979 the book was transTated into
the French.

 

 

83"Foto Novela". A soap opera, presented in a magazine
through the use of a series of captioned still photographs.

84Ross Kidd, "People's Theatre, Conscientization, and
Struggle" (Toronto, January 1980), p. 1. (Typewritten paper).

851bid.. pp. 2-8.

86The theory elaborated by Freire in his book Peda o of
the Oppressed, is based on the idea that the human being, although he
way be submerged in the "Culture of Silence", into ignorange, etc.;
is capable of looking critically at his world. In so far as he

148

learns and participates in an educational experience which seeks
this goal, he comes to a new awareness of himself, and his world
becomes radically transformed. This man is no longer a mere object
who1responds to the changes around him, but a subject who transforms
rea ity.

87Kidd, op. cit., p. 12.

88Boal, Theater of the Oppressed, p. X.

 

89Boal, Técnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma
revolucao copernicana ao contrario, p. 141.

 

90For more details see Augusto Boal, Pratique du Theatre de
l'Opprimé, pp. 17-18.

91For more details see Augusto Boal, Jeux pour Acteurs et
Non-Acteurs: Pratique du Theatre de l'Opprimé (Paris: Frangois
Maspero, 1979), pp. 24-27.

92Boal, Técnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma
revolupao copernicana ao contrario, p. 143.

93Ibid., p. 148.

94See Augusto Boal, Jeux pour Acteurs et Non-Acteurs. Pra-
tique du Theatre de 1'Qpppimé, pp. 31 -33; and Augusto Boal, Técnicas
Latino- Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma revolucao copernicana ao
contrario, pp. 145-146.

95

 

 

Ibid.

96See the second level of the third stage from the Boal
experience in Peru, where the concept of Image is discussed. Pages
93-95 of this dissertation.

97See pages 48-56 of this dissertation. The Joker in the
Forum Theatre will have the same functions of the Joker System.

98See Teatro Libero-Palermo, Ed., Momenti: Godrano-Agosto
1977 (Palermo: Teatro Libero Palermo, 1977), p. 24.

991bid., p. 20.

“Piazza principale" refers to the central square of a small
town where people meet and socialize.

100"Il Gioco Parlamentare." For more information see Teatro
Libero-Palermo, ed., Momenti: Godrano-Agosto 1977, p. 25.

149

'O'Ibid.

"Bene, Ora finalmente cominceremos a parlare seriamente.
Fin qui voi stavete facendo teatro, giocavate con cose seria. Ora
parleremo seriamente."

1021bid., p. 26.

"Questa e la mia cooperativa. Se volete fatevene un'altra!"

103See Appendix A.

104Boal, "Sistematiza 50 do Teatro Imagem: exercicios, jogos
e técnicas do teatro imagem" Paris, January 1980), p. 1. (type-
written manuscript).

105These techniques, such as the exercises of the Image
Theatre appear in the Boal's writing: "Sistematizagao do Teatro
Imagem: exercicios, jogos, e técnicas do teatro imagem," typewritten
manuscript, 39 pp.

106In this case, the Joker is the director and coordinator
of the group.

107Boa1, "Sistematizagfio do Teatro Imagem: exercicios, jogos
e técnicas do teatro imagem," p. 17.

1081mm, p. 22.

"O macrocosmo é mostrado em forma de microcosmo."

1091b1d., p. 5.

H01mm, p. 16.

111 .
Mellgren, op. c1t., p. 110.

112

113

Ibid.
Ibid., PP. 110-111.

114Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980, see Appendix A for more information.

n51pm.

CHAPTER 1v

BASIC CONCEPTS OF BOAL'S PEOPLE THEATRE:
- A LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

This chapter will analyze Boal's concepts of People's Theatre
and will be limited to the Latin American perspective. Studying
Boal's ideas concerning the differences between "people" and "popula-
tion," as well as his views on culture, education and language will

clarify the Latin American people's theatre concept.

A. The Difference Between "People" and "Population"

 

Understanding the diversity between the concepts of people
and population, is the key to comprehending Boal's idea of people's
theatre from the Latin American perspective. In the countries of
Latin America the concept of people's theatre is closely linked to
the social and political struggles of the masses against their
oppressors. Sometimes the words "popular theatre," "political
theatre," and "radical theatre" are used in an arbitrary and often
confusing way to mean the same theatrical event--the people's theatre.
Nevertheless, behind all of those terms is the clear objective to
differentiate the "people" from the rest of the population. Accord-
ing to Boal:

We cannot confuse the people with the population.

"People" are those who sell their labor power: peasants,

workers, etc. The population is everybody. The Bourgeoisie
is part of the population but not part of the "people."1

150

151

For Boal the population is the totality of inhabitants in a
given country, region or society. But the concept of people is
more restricted because it includes only those who "sell their labor
power."2 The concept of the people for Boal includes workers,
peasants and those who are temporarily or occasionally associated
with them, such as students, teachers, and some intellectuals. For
Boal, those who constitute parts of the population, but not the
people, are the proprietors--the landed gentry--the bourgeoisie and
its associates (executives and administrators) and in general all
of those who think as they do.3 These persons are called by Boal

"4 The people are the majority of the P0PU1at10",

"the anti-people.
the masses, and the anti-people are the minority of the population,

a privileged elite. The population pyramid, according to Boal's
definition, would have at the top the minority elite, the anti-
people, and at the bottom the majority of the population, the masses,
who are the people. Therefore, one should be cognizant of this

diversity when analyzing the basic concepts of the Latin American

people's theatre.

B. Boal's Concepts About Culture, Education and Langupgg

For Boal, the concept of culture contains two senses: one
that is quite broad and the other more narrow. In the broad sense
culture is all of the human activities accomplished in any parti-
cular society at any specific moment. He offers an example. To
leat is an animal activity, but how you eat is a cultural activity.

How you eat, at what time you eat, what you eat, how the food you

152

eat is prepared, who eats and in what place are manifestations of
culture.5 For Boal activities such as working, fighting, teaching,
studying, cooking, painting, and performing theatre are accomplished
by the human being in the society through cultural forms established
by each society in each historical moment. In the narrow sense,
culture refers to certain determined and limited sectors of human
activity; for example, "artistic culture," "scientific culture,‘I
"humanistic culture," and "sport culture."6
Boal believes that both concepts of culture have a common-
ality in that culture is produced by the society and so will reflect
clearly what kind of society it is. For example, a society which
is divided would produce a divided culture. In the case where the
society has a population divided into people and anti-people, the
culture also will be divided into "people's culture" and "anti-
people's culture.“7
When the society is divided into classes, as modern society
is, the ruling class tries to institute as "culture" its culture
and the culture of the other classes is not considered to be culture.8
Many times the culture of the people is given the status of folk-
lore--the knowledge of the people--and, according to Boal, this
demonstrates something crucial about the society which produces
these “cultures." Each society tries to universalize its culture.
Each society tries to make its culture homogeneous, imposing a
specific culture upon the individual or upon the people. This pro-

'cess of imposition is called "acculturation."9 For Boal accultura-

tion can be accomplished in two different forms: first, through a

153

dogmatic process or, second, through an educational process. The
dogmatic process is the imposition of the values of one culture

upon another or upon individuals in a mechanized manner. The educa-
tional process is a dialectical relationship in which the educator
society not only permits, but also requires that those receiving the
education act as subjects. Any one receiving the education must not
be passively assimilated by the educator society. The educator
offers his values and knowledge, not for passive acceptance, but to
transform the subject.

The vehicle or the means through which the educational pro-
cess is accomplished is language. But there are various languages.
According to Boal, language in general is a system of symbols and
signals which permits communication between human beings, animals,
and/or human beings and animals. But the simple emitting of symbols
and signals is not language. The existence of language requires the
existence of interlocutors who accept and use it. If someone invents
a language, he also needs to find a speaker or interlocutor who
accepts it. When the interlocutor or the speaker appears, then the
language appears, too.

Each language has a lexicon or vocabulary and a syntax.

For example, the lexicon of painting is its colors and its forms,
and the syntax is the style: cubism, impressionism. For a total
and complete communication between two speakers, it is necessary
that both know and utilize the same lexicon and syntax.

Boal believes that having knowledge of the lexicon is impera-

tive and fundamental to understanding reality, but only knowledge of

154

the syntax can promote its transformation. The reason is the trans-
formation of reality is the most critical element in Boal's theories
on art, communication and theatre. He places the most emphasis on
the syntax of any language. He says that the fundamental category
of the lexicon is the substantive (the noun) and the category of
the syntax is the action (the verb).10 Applying these ideas to the
theatrical arts, Boal affirms that the fundamental category of theatre
is the verb, the action. Scrutinizing all of the arts, Boal feels
that theatre is the one which best corresponds metaphorically to
the syntax. When Boal talks about theatre as language, he is talk-
ing about action. Theatre is constant action--the consistent trans-
formation of reality.

Based on these ideas, a general overview presentation of
Boal's people's theatre will facilitate a better understanding of
Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. Since his Theatre of the Oppressed
is part of the Latin American People's theatre, it is essential to

present the basic elements of this people's theatre.

C. Latin American "People's Theatre
1. Categories of People's Theatre.
This classification of the people's theatre was created by
Boal between 1970 and 1972. During his exile in Argentina, he
implemented these categories, which were published for the first
time in 1972, in Buenos Aires, under the title of Categories of

People's Theatre. Later, between 1975 and 1979, they appeared as

 

chapters in several of his books.

, 155

There are four categories of People's Theatre presented
and studied by Boal. Only three of them can be classified as real
people's theatre for they possess the perspective of the people and
not that of the anti-people. Boal wanted to demonstrate that there
can be two diverse perspectives on how to view the world and reality.
He also wanted to demonstrate that there are two different ways to
perceive the people. The first perspective reveals the world in
permanent transformation, with its contradictions and forms of
liberation, showing that human beings can change their situations.
Life and our world is always in transformation and this constant
state of motion is necessary to promote change. From this first
perspective, the people are the protagonists--the transformers.

This is the perspective which favors the people.

The second perspective shows the contrary, a world "as being
finished, a world that needs almost nothing to be completed"11 in
other words, a world that does not have to be transformed for it is
already perfected. This is the anti-people's perspective where the
people are passive beings.

With these two perspectives in mind, Boal establishes the

following category outlines:

I. Theatre of the People and for the People (First
Category)

A. Agit-Prop
B. Didatic
C. Cultural

11. Theatre of the People for the Anti-People (Second
Category)

156

A. Implicit
B. Explicit

III. Theatre of the Anti People for the People (Third
Category)

A. Explicit
B. Implicit
IV. Theatre of the People (Fourth Category)

A. Where the People take possession of the means
of producing theatre

B. Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed; for example,
Newspaper Theatre.

In the first two and the fourth categories the perspective
of the spectacle is that of the people. Only the third category
is the perspective of the anti-people. Now, let us examine each
category more precisely.

a) First Category: Theatre of the People and for the

Pe0ple.

This is the kind of theatre whose performances are generally
done for a large concentration of workers: in labor unions, the
streets, the circuses, and many other public places. Three kinds
of people's theatre can be performed under this category: agit-prop,
didatic, and cultural.

(1) Agit-Prop:
The expression "agit-prop" defines the essense
of this kind of theatre. It is theatre for agita-
tion and propaganda. It concentrates on themes

which are very specific and immediate--the most

(2)

157

important and urgent problems of the communities.
Basically, it consists of performances of short
scenes no more than ten minutes in length. It is
political propaganda through theatre. This kind
of theatre is used frequently before political
rallies. It dramatically presents themes that the
political speakers will present later. The sole
idea is to propagandize a specific ideology and/or
mobilize the pe0ple for some kind of action. The
themes presented can be international or locally
oriented. The audience may be either large or

small.

Didactic:

While the agit-prop theatre presents immediate
themes, the didactic theatre presents generalities.
This kind of theatre is not intended to mobilize

a public faced with an imminent event-~an election,
a strike vote, or a demonstration--but it intends
rather to offer practical and theoretical teaching.
Any theme, for example, justice, is selected.
Oftentimes the themes are so abstract that they
are not readily understood by the people. For this
reason the didactic theatre tries to expose the
theme selected in a concrete and sensory manner.

Then a written play which better illustrates the

158

proposed theme is sought. Various changes are made
in order to facilitate a better understanding of
the theme: changes in language, in the protago-
nists and antagonists, and in the order of the
scenes. Sometimes a character or scene can be
added or eliminated. Then the play is performed
for the people. The following example illustrates
didactic theatre.

Lope de Vega's The Best Mayor, the King was
performed by the Arena Theatre of $50 Paulo for
three months in street markets, churches, trucks,
and street corners for a public of workers,
peasants, maids, and students. In the play,
Sancho, a peasant, is in love with Elvira, another
peasant. She asks him to ask her father, Don Nufio,
to consent to their marriage. Don Nufio agrees
but asks them to inform the landowner, since he
is the traditional lawmaker. The landowner, Don
Tello, proud of having faithful servants, decides
to give them as a wedding gift cows and sheep.

Don Tello later falls in love with Elvira because

of her great beauty and sends his men to capture
Elvira and bring her to his castle. The tradi-
tional justice of the period decreed that the

bride during the first night of the wedding belonged

to the landowner. So Don Tello, assisted by the

159

law, wishes to exercise his right. The young
peasant, Sancho, goes to the King for help.

From this moment on the play was adapted as
follows. The King is immersed in warfare and
needs the support of Don Tello. Therefore, he
refuses to solve the peasant's problem. Pelayo,

a peasant friend of Sancho, decides to disguise
himself as the King, and with other peasants
arrest Don Tello. He then establishes a judicial
tribunal to reach a just and fair verdict. Argu-
ments are presented for two differing concepts of
justice: that of the peasants and the bridegroom,
and that of Don Tello and the nobility. How can
they accomplish total justice? By doing both.

The trail begins. In the first case Pelayo judges
Don Tello from the nobility's point of view.

Since the bride was raped, and the law enacted by
the nobles did not permit a man to marry a bride
if she was not a virgin, then she could not marry
Sancho. Pelayo condemns Don Tello by forcing him
to marry her even though she is a plebeian. Sexual
violation is punished by a forced marriage between
a noble and a plebeian. At this point, Boal says
that all of the performances were interrupted by

screams of disapproval from the audience.

(3)

160

Then the second case begins. Pelayo now uti-
lizes the peasant's concept of justice. Since
the noble is condemned to die, Elvira, due to the
forced marriage becomes a widow--receiving half
of the noble's possessions and regaining her honor.
The play ends with the marriage of Elvira and
Sancho. At the end of the performance the didatic
theatre discusses and analyzes the theme with their
audience to ensure a better understanding of it.
In this example, the didactic theatre fulfilled
its purpose of teaching, in this case that the
concept of justice has various interpretations
and that as long as social classes and divisions
exist among men there will always be differing

concepts of justice.

Cultural:
This kind of theatre uses the classical plays of
the past, the traditional folklore of the country,
and any other artistic and cultural manifestations
of what Boal calls a genuine popular perspective.
It is Boal's opinion that Shakespeare, Moliere,
Aristophanes, and Goldoni can serve the purposes
of the people's theatre.

The genuine popular perspective of the theatre

means that the themes presented have the perspective

161

of the people, not that of the anti-people. The
performance shows the constant transformation,
the struggle against exploitation. For Boal the
people's theatre is a matter of approach and not
just of themes. If a classic play presents the
people transforming reality for a better life, it
is people's theatre. When the contents are not
clear and many interpretations surface, the
spectacle of that play may or may not be classified
as people's theatre, dependent upon the approach
the director and/or performers use in their pre-
sentation. So the theme is not as vital as the
approach. Thus, any classic play can be trans-
formed or used from a people's perspective,
becoming then people's theatre.

b) Second Category: Theatre of the People for the Anti-

People.

In this category the spectacles present the perspective of
the people, but the audience is not really the people. Sometimes
it is the anti-people. It is the theatre that needs the support of
the ruling class, the government and the bourgeosie. Boal says
that it is a kind of theatre which presents the people's perspective

13 manner that is still intelligible to the

in a "camouflaged"
public. To this category of people's theatre belongs the Brecht

plays, Sarte's The Flies, and many others that during the Nazi

162

reign were written to reveal the need to struggle against that
fascist regime.
Under this category two kinds of productions can be presented:

implicit and explicit.

(1) Theatre of implicit content:
In this theatre the productions do not immediately
reveal their true meaning--their people's per-
spective. Examples are: The Caucasian Chalk Circle

by Bertolt Brecht; The Best Mayor, the King by

 

Lope de Vega; The Flies by Sartre, and The Inspector

 

General by Gogol.

(2) Theatre of explicit content:
In this theatre the people's perspective is obvious.
These are the plays that are performed in a theatre
hall and cause protests, censorship, and volatile
discussions among the populace who view these
performances. Due to their extreme political
radicalism, these plays authored by traditional
and sometimes classic playwrights, are rejected
by certain segments of the population.
c) Third Category: Theatre of the Anti-People for the
People.
According to Boal this is the category that is greatly sup-

ported by the ruling class and it is at the same time the only

163

category that lacks the people's perspective or perhaps merely its
appearance. There are two characteristics of this category: first,
it tries to avoid the controversial social themes of the society by
presenting all of the problems and their solutions from an indivi-
dualistic point of view; and second, it exalts the ideas or charac-
teristics which perpetuate the present status quo. Docility, good-
ness, and an aversion to violence says Boal are the values that are
held in highest esteem in this category. As with the previous cate-
gory, the message can be presented explicitly or implicitly. In the
explicit form, the people are seen clearly as enemies of goodness,
and as the cause of every misfortune and adversity, including their
own condition. In the implicit form, the people are presented as
good, but guilty of committing errors which in the end are forgiven.

This category intends to reach the people directly. The
presence of the people is very necessary in order for this category
to function smoothly. We are now in what Boal called the universal
political character of the theatre: the ruling class using the
vehicle of theatre as a political instrument for the ideological
penetration of the masses.

d) Fourth Category: Theatre of the People where the

People take possession of the theatrical means of
production.

In the previous categories, the people passively received
or viewed a finished production. The theatre was done for the
people, but not by the people themselves. In this last category,

the theatre is done by the people themselves for the people. Here

164

the people are not passive beings but rather they are active. This
is the category which includes Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed.

All the theatrical forms and techniques elaborated by Boal in his
Theatre of the Oppressed are part of this last people's theatre

category.

2. The technique of the Bible Theatre: a new theatre form.

During the years Boal lived in Argentina, he not only
developed the techniques of his Theatre of the Oppressed, but also
worked with a theatre form which, because of its relationship with
the spectator, was not classified in that theatre. This was the
Bible theatre. In it the spectacle was presented as a finished
production. Although the spectators were not totally passive, they
were still basically receivers of the theatrical message. The Bible
theatre belongs in the first category: cultural theatre--of the
people and for the people. It illustrated Bible themes from a
people's perspective and updated them with politically contemporary
themes instead of traditional religious ones. The social, economic,
and political conditions of Latin America were analyzed, discussed,
and presented through various Bible passages. One or more ten to
sixty minute scenes were produced, rehearsed, and finally performed
in a church, in a street, or in a classroom.

Bible theatre did not intend to deny what for Christians is
the most essential truth, the divinity of Jesus Christ. Bible
theatre was really a historical interpretation of the Bible. Its

purpose was to offer a historical vision of those activities in the

165

Bible which are replete with political meanings. Its purpose was
not to show a historical Christ in opposition to the divine Christ,
but rather to show a unique aspect of certain events which commonly
had not been taken into consideration. The Bible theatre forced its
audiences to think about how Jesus would act if he were alive and
among us today, and how he would react toward the injustices of the
present century. Finally Boal stated that the Bible theatre did

not impose a vision from outside, but instead, enlarged the venerable

vision that the people already possessed of Jesus.

a) Stages.
In the preparation of a Bible theatre scene the following
stages are recommended:
(1) Theme and analogy.

The group working on Bible theatre selects a Bibli-
cal theme whose relationship to current events
they wish to analyze. For example, the famous
"Render up to God what is God's and to Caesar
what is Caesar's." This phrase has been inter-
preted many times, but it can still have another
interpretation. After the theme has been discussed

and unanimously accepted, the next stage begins.

(2) Scenario of improvisation.
The story is constructed collectively. The per-

formers divide the story into stages so that each

(3)

(4)

(5)

166

stage has a complete dramatic nucleus: a conflict,
an action determined by the conflict, and a change
determined by that action. What every performer

is going to say is generally predetermined.

Improvisation of the structure.

Each scene or stage is improvised separately and
important phrases or actions are written down,
born of the improvisation, which will serve later
as the outline of the spectacle. Each scene can
be improvised either "coldly" or "warmly."14
This means that the performers say what they think
their characters would say, but without total
identification with their characters (the "cold"

method), or as if they themselves were really

living the action (the "warm" method).

Round table rehearsal.

The improvisation is studied. Everything that
is inconsistent is eliminated. The remaining
material is placed in order within the structure

of the story.

Improvisation with the Biblical text.
Although the text can change subtly each time the
scene is presented, it is important that each

character have a basic sequence of objectives.

(6)

(7)

167

This sequence should be unaltered so that every-

one in the cast can have a common outline.

Blocking.
The basic movements which best illustrate each

scene are identified and blocked in.

Presentation.

The aim of presentation is not to reach new peaks
of artistry, but rather to expose specific themes
to public view and discussion.

This form of theatre was presented during a
Catholic Mass many times. Boal affirms that
although this theatre form can be performed in
any place and for anyone, it is during the Mass
that it acquires its extraordinary power. In this
way, it is similar to the Theatre of the Oppressed.
This Bible theatre is performed by non-professionals
in front of parishioners instead of spectators,
in a church instead of a theatre, and represents
a non-play--a testimony which is an identical
theme to the Mass of the day. The idea is to use
theatre to facilitate a more complete understanding
of the Biblical test. Boal justifies this use of
theatre by saying that in the same manner that the
Mass uses the arts, for instance, the oratory of

the priest and the singing of the choir, it can

168

use the theatre as an additional art form.15

In Bible theatre, theatre does not exist as an
autonomous art, but rather serves directly as a

non-artistic manifestation.

b) An example of a Bible theatre scene.

A scene taken from the Boal play Torquemada illustrates

 

perfectly this form of theatre. Boal included this scene as the

third episode of the play he began to write while in prison. The
story narrates a Biblical event that has received little attention
and that possesses great relevancy for contemporary events. It is

the story of the Maccabees tribe which appears in the Second Book

 

of Maccabees, Chapter VII: "The glorious martyrdom of the seven
16

 

brethren and their mother."

DOMINICAN FRIAR: One day Jesus Christ called his Apostles
and narrated, as an example, the story of the seven
Maccabee brothers and their mother. The Roman impe-
rialists invade the Maccabees' house and capture the
seven brothers. All of them had struggled for the
liberation of their country. Their interrogation
begins. The officials wanted to know the whereabouts
of the leader of the Maccabeean resistance, Judas
Maccabeus, information which the seven brothers have.

SON NO. 1: We don't know it.

GENERAL: Here everybody says the truth, for which we pay
a price. Where is Judas Maccabeus? The price is
your life and we offer that price.

SON N0. 1: And the death of Judas. We don't know!

SOLDIER: My general, this old lady is the mother of the
seven brothers. We can kill her in front of them
so they will confess.

CAPTAIN: I have a better idea; we kill each one of them
in front of her. With her supplications, with her
mother's reasoning, she will know how to convince
them to confess the whereabouts of Judas Maccabeus.

MOTHER: These seven are my sons.

SOLDIER: Do you want your sons to live?

169

MOTHER: I want them living honorably.

SOLDIER: Do you want your sons to die?

MOTHER: I want to die in glory.

CAPTAIN: Allow each one to talk with his mother so that
she, with her supplications, can save the life that
she gave to them. We want Judas--just this one life.
The one who commits treason against Judas saves many
lives. Bring first the youngest son.

SON NO. 1: Mother, I have doubts. I said no, but he is
right. I know where Judas is and if I say it by
giving up Judas' life, I save seven. I save mine.

I am a prisoner and now things are different. It is
my life against his life.

MOTHER: No, I have seven sons, but the life of Judas is
more costly than the seven lives of my sons. He is
the leader. If they kill him, he will not continue
struggling nor will all that are with him. If they
kill you due to your defense of your leader, Judas
is saved and you also. With Judas a part of the
struggle lives or dies; with you a soldier lives or
dies, and perhaps treason lives. I have seven sons
and the life of Judas is more costly. If I had
seven families, the life of Judas would still be
more costly.

SOLDIER: What is your answer?

SON NO. 1: No!

SOLDIER: Second son!

SON NO. 2: Mother, I have doubts. Now that they have
arrested me I see everything more clearly. Yes,

I know that I committed a mistake by entering the
struggle. There are people who know how to fight,
who can and who like to. There are people who don't
know, who can't do it. who don't want to do it.

I entered in the struggle without knowing well what
I was doing, without understanding well what it was,
without being sure about the risks. Now, mother,
that I'm a prisoner, now I know that I committed a
mistake; I want to go back, I want my liberty to
start again. I'm not a revolutionary.

MOTHER: When you decided to enter the war of liberation,
you decided to give your life and you cannot ask
for it back. You cannot say, "Yes, I want to fight
until they arrest me and then the party is over...."
No, it is not a party. If you want to abandon the
struggle, yes, but not until after they let you go
free, or after they kill you.

SOLDIER: What is your answer?

SON NO. 2: No.

SOLDIER: Second form of torture, the dragoon chair. The
prisoner is hanged over a metal chair and under the
chair a fire is lighted. The chair gets hot. When

170

he tries to get out, he inflicts on himself an electri-
cal current and receives electrical shocks until he
dies.

SOLDIER: Third son.

SON NO. 3: Mother, I have doubts. I think that what we
are doing is terrorism as they say. And this doesn't
accomplish anything. I think sincerely that it's
necessary to end the resistance. 50 I think that I
should denounce Judas. In this way the resistance
will end rapidly and soon we can start the peace nego-
tiations with the enemy.

MOTHER: The people started the armed struggle and not you.
You went to the people, not the people to you. The
people, only the people, can say when and how the
struggle should end. You can decide to enter into
the struggle of the people, but you don't have any
right to decide that the people stop the struggle.

SOLDIER: Your answer?

SON NO. 3: No!

SOLDIER: Third form of torture, hit him every day without
much force on specified parts of the body, over many
months. Ankles, thorax, face, head...the prisoner
will die without many obvious exterior symptoms.

SOLDIER: Fourth son. He is a married man. He has a wife
and sons. Bring all of them.

SON NO. 4: Mother, I have doubts. Now, I understand my
error. Of course, I dreamed of a better life with
all of the people working for all of the people. But
I have a family-~a son to bring up. No, it was a mis-
take. I must stay quiet. If I wasn't doing anything,
nobody would have persecuted me. I won't struggle
for the life I dream of, but I will live a possible

ife.

MOTHER: And is it valuable to live the possible life?

What will that life be? Will it be to not live and
fight for a better life? Not to do the things you
think are right and not to fight for them? Is that
life for you? Die today. Fighting here--this is life.

SOLDIER: Your answer!

SON NO. 4: (To the soldier) No!

SOLDIER: (Speaking to the other soldiers). Fourth form
of torture, to torture a son and a wife in front of
the husband and father. She will be hanged from the
Percha and with an electrical apparatus attached which
destroys her vagina. The child is also hung from the
Percha and a fire is lighted beneath it. The method
of torture is called Galleto o Pollo Allo Spiedo.

SOLDIER: Fifth son.

(The tortures are always partially shown to the audience.
Each time a new torture is to be shown a drum is played,

171

and for a few seconds the rest of those tortured repeat
the demonstrations of the effects of the tortures).

SON NO. 5: Mother, I have doubts. There is something that

looks to be unjust. We are fighting to change the
system. We want to create a new one. But the person
now in power reached it honestly, inside the rules of
the game. We are the ones who want to change the rules
of the game and that is not fair. Because we are
losing because the people are hungry, we want to change
the rules of the game into rules which allow us to win.
That is selfishness and it is unjust.

MOTHER: We know that the rules of game are unjust and we

want to change them, not for us, but for all of the
generations which will come after us. Our generation
will not win anything, because when there is a change
in the rules of the game, the generation which makes
the change sacrifices the most. We are fighting for
those who will come after us.

SON NO. 5: (To the soldier) No!
SOLDIER: Fifth form of torture, combined action. A tele-

phone is used. Hit the ears hard until his ear drums
rupture. Pieces of small wood are placed under the
fingernails, striking them into place with a hammer.

SOLDIER: Sixth son.

(In each representation a sixth and seventh form of
doubt is selected and the answers of the mother are
given. Also the forms of torture are selected and
explained).

MOTHER: For the second time I gave life to my sons. Now,

they are all dead. I'm twice a mother to each one.

FRIAR: It is said that Jesus used this story to prevent

the betrayal of the popular armies which struggled
against the Romans. And it is also said that the
people were convinced by his words and that after they
heard Jesus the people didn't betray each other any-
more. It is a very beautiful story and true.

172

NOTES CHAPTER IV

1Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11 and
13, 1980. “

21bid.

3Augusto Boal, Tecnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular
Uma revolugao copernicana ao contrario ($30 Paulo: Editora Hucitec,
1979), p. 25.

41bid.

5Boal, Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular (Una
revolucién Copernicana a1 revés) (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Corregi-
for Saici Y E, 1975), p. 144.

61bid.

71bid., p. 145.

~880al, Técnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular Uma
revolppao copernicana ao contrario, p. 95.

91bid., p. 96.
"Aculturagao."

1”Ibid., p. 98.
11
13. 1980.

Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11 and

12Boal, Categorias de Teatro Popular (Buenos Aires: Ediciones
CEPE, 1972), p. 19; Tecnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro Popular
Uma revolucao copernicana ao contrario, p. 13; and Técnicas Latino-
americanas'de Teatro Popular (Una reVBlucidn Copernicana a1 revéS),
pp. 6-73.

13Boal, Categorias de Teatro Popular, p. 43.

14See Au usto Boal, Tecnicas Latino-Americanas de Teatro
Popular Uma revo_ppao copernTCana ao contrario, p. 66.

173

15See Augusto Boal, Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro
Popular (Una revolucidn Copernicana a1 revés), p. 95.

lejh§_§jplg, The Second Book of Maccabees, chapter 7, pp.
1071-72.

The Maccabees was a Jewish dynasty of patriots, high priests,
and Kings of the second and first centuries B.C. Four books were
written that narrate the story of this family. They are part of the
so called Old Testament Apocrypha. In the Protestant churches, all
four books are apocryphal; but in the Roman Catholic church the first
two are canonical.

17Boal, Torquemada, in Teatro Latinoamericano de Agitacion,
edited by Casa de las Américas (Habana: Casa de las Americas, 1972),
pp. 54-162. ’

 

CHAPTER V
BOAL'S ACTOR'S TRAINING

This chapter will discuss the basic elements of Boal's theory
related to actor's training and four aspects of that training: first,
the theory in relation to the ritual and social mask; second, the
new structure of actor interpretation, and, finally, a series of

training exercises and games.

A. The Ritual and the Social Mask Concepts

These two concepts are fundamentals in the theoretical
structure of the theatre of Augusto Boal. The concepts were briefly
presented in Chapter II, when the nucleus of his Theatre of the
Oppressed, the Joker System, was discussed. These concepts not only
are fundamental to and evident in his Theatre of the Oppressed, but
also are a principal part of the actor's training. Perhaps, it is
here that these concepts acquire their greatest relevancy because
of the number of exercises developed around them and inasmuch as
actors are the instrument through which the theatrical language is
processed. The word "actor" refers to those who accomplish the
theatrical spectacle. It is synonymous with "performer," and is

in striking contrast to "spectator."

174

175

l. The Social Code, the Ritual and the Rite.

Each society establishes behavior norms, which are accepted
by all. This is necessary for the optimal functioning of the whole
society. Chaos and anarchy destroy not only the society as a
totality but also its individual members. 50, it is necessary that
each group of human beings who wish to create a society establishes
functioning and behavior norms among its members. In this manner,
all societies regulate the relationships between their members:
relationships between fathers and sons, men and women, neighbors,
citizens, co-workers, and fellow students.

In that way, A Social Code is created by the society to
dictate behavioral norms established and generally accepted by the
society. Everyone then should submit to and follow that code; not
only should everyone respect it, but practice it as well. For Boal,
a society would be non-existent without a formal social code. For
him, the social code is absolutely necessary and material.1

From the social code springs the ritual. When a social code
does not respond to the needs and wishes of the persons to whom it
is applied, and when the persons perform acts they do not wish to
perform, or are not able to accomplish those acts which they wish
to accomplish, or when they feel obliged to carry on those acts pre-
established by the social code, then the social code is transformed
into a ritual. Thus, the ritual is a kind of social code which
obliges and confines its subjects. Boal defines the concept of

ritual as follows:

176

Un ritual es todo sistema de acciones y reacciones
predeterminadas. Para cruzar la calle hay que esperar la
luz verde. Al entrar en Una iglesia uno habla en voz baja.
Las relaciones entre los seres humanos se procesan segfin
acciones y reacciones mas o menos preestablecidas por las
leyes, tradiciones, habitos, costumbres, etc.2

(A ritual is every system of pre-established actions and

reactions. To cross a street, one must wait for the green
light. Upon entering a church, one speaks in low tones.
The relations among human beings are processed according
to actions and reactions more or less pre-established by
laws, traditions, habits, customs, etc.)

According to Boal, human beings need rituals if they want
to enter into relationships with one another. An example of this
clearly illustrates how a social code is transformed into a ritual.
For example, an actor, inspired by his role of Hamlet each night
interpretes his performance with loving dedication, and enjoyment.
Everyday he repeats the same words and the same movements, as if he
readily obeys a social code which is equally obeyed by the other
actors. Then after several performances the actor becomes fatigued.
He continues with his performances, but minus the same loving dedica-
tion and interest. Each subsequent performance is repetitive--
identical words and movements--but now with a total absence of
enthusiasm and passion. The actor is now mechanized, and the spec-
tacle is truly for him a ritual which he must continue to joylessly
repeat.

According to Boal the same things occurs in our lives. How
many things do we do in obedience to a ritual? How many things do
we do because we do not want to break an established ritual? These
rituals eliminate a large number of the possible "original responses"3

in human beings. So, these concepts should be approached by the

177

actors in a dialectical way: actors should understand both that
the rituals are absolutely necessary and at the same time should
be continuously destroyed and replaced by other rituals. In this
manner, says Boal, the relationships among human beings can evolve.

Therefore, Boal affirms that the actor should begin with an
analysis of character rituals and stress them in his interpretation.
What are the rituals which accompany the character selected and
what is the social code within which the character unfolds?

A rite is a social code which has been transformed into a
ritual and which includes all the participants in an event. Rites
are ritual events which determine the structure of spectacles. For
example, the mass, a military parade, and the opening of a bank are
rites. The theatre spectacle is a rite where a division between
performers and spectators is established, too. Since actors should

> Rite) from a

 

approach this process (Social Code—————> Ritual
dialectical point of view, Boal asserts that it is a prerequisite
to understand and to study the traditional ritualized theatre and
to simultaneously break with its rituals, rites and codes in order
to create new ones. This is what Boal is doing with his Theatre of

the Oppressed.

2. The Social Mask concept.
What determines the social masks are the rituals. The
number of ritualized roles achieved by each individual in a society

4

creates a mask for him. The social mask is the totality of behav-

ioral rituals that the individual assumes and practices inside a

178

specific society. It is the totality of all the pre-established
and mechanized behavior which is imposed on individuals through
laws, customs, and the habits of a particular society. However,
there are various social masks inasmuch as not everyone performs
uniform social tasks, uniform functioning patterns, habits, or
customs. The human beings who execute similar tasks will assume
similar social masks. Students, actors, landlords, laborers, mili-
tary personnel, and teachers will each assume the masks of their
specializations.

Through rituals are made apparent what social mask a charac-
ter wears at a given moment. For example, by analyzing the ritual
of two persons greeting each other, we realize what kind of workers
they are: soldiers, students, or professors. Two university pro-
fessors would not greet each other in the same manner as two members
of an urban delinquent gang. The social mask greatly influences
the individual's way of thinking, walking, appearing, and even, says
Boal, of acting and reacting.

' To detect this mechanized behavior, these pre-established
cultural and psychological patterns, and, therefore, the social
mask, are for Boal the principal task of character analysis, the
way in which the actors have to internalize their characters to
reach the true essence of the character.

In the Arena Theatre of $30 Paulo, Boal used this method of
character analysis for many years. Each actor had to create the
diverse social masks of his character for each scene, situation,

episode, and action. Each mask had to be defined, with its own

179

rituals and rites, its social and psychological actions, and all
elements had to be clearly ordered and outlined. Diversified exer-
cises and techniques were developed by Boal to facilitate this
analysis. These will be summarily described in Section 3.

It is imperative not to confuse the concept of the social
mask with the concept of the cliche.5 According to Boal the clichés
used in theatre, especially to portray elderly characters and
drunkards, were always arbitrarily selected without any analysis or
verification of social rituals. The social mask is not arbitrary.
It is the result of a detailed investigation of the rituals that the
character performs.

For Boal, the rituals that each character performs determine
the shape of his relationships with the other characters. The
relationship can involve a human activity or feeling shared by all
of the characters--for example, loving--but the particular form in
each case is determined by the social rituals which impose a mask
upon each character.

The construction of the social mask begins by detecting what
Boal calls the nucleus of the mask. The nucleus is composed of the
social or the collective needs that the character possesses.
According to Boal persons who belong to an identical group or social
class have common characteristics which are part of the mask. All
of those individuals' actions are a function, not of their psycho-
logical characteristics, but of their social needs. The detection

of the nucleus will allow the spectators to understand that all the

180

members of a group will always act as members of that group. Regard-
less of their individual differences, there will always be something
which defines them as members of that social group. Therefore, this
is something which is universal to all individuals who are part of

a society.

After the nucleus has been defined, the actor reconstructs
the rituals and rites the character must follow in each situation.
The nucleus is the element which will show if the rituals and rites
selected correspond to the character's social mask. After the com-
plete social mask of the character is constructed, the actor can
proceed to analyze the psychological or internal behavior of the
character in relation to the social mask. For Boal, then, the
collective, social conflict of the characters is first, rather than
the individual internal or psychological conflict.

Through this method of character analysis, Boal asserts that
the actors can also begin to analyze the dramatic action, not as a
conflict of free wills as defined by Hegel, but as a "contradiction

"6 as explained by Brecht and Erwin Piscator.7

of social needs
Boal says that a character can be revealed in a universal
form. The best examples of this were the medieval theatrical char-
acters: the demons, vices, virtues, and angels. However, in con-
temporary theatre, characters can be revealed in universal form as
well: common men, peasants, dictators, beggars, and misers. In the

universal form, characters do not exhibit strong psychological and

internal forces. The unconscious personal level of character does

181

not exist and everything is quite general and abstract. The charac-
ters show that they are manipulated by outside forces; often these
forces are social needs. The individual psychology of the charac-
ters is not a determinant of the action.

But there is a second form of character revelation in a play:
the singular form. This form opposses the universal one. It is,
says Boal, the psychological theatre, the realist theatre which
dedicates itself to presenting the unique cases of specific indivi-
duals. Here, the inner feelings of the characters are the most
vital. His internal, psychic, and mental conflicts are the basis
of the actions of the character. The only elements clearly visible
in that kind of character are his psychological and individual
motivations. We see the character constantly in concrete situations.
Here, abstractions do not exist, unless as functions of the concrete
fact, or individual characteristics.

Finally, Boal maintains that characters in a play can be
revealed through a third form, "Typical-particular."8 This form is
a combination of the previous forms, including both the singular
individual and the universal characteristics applicable to him. This
final form can be presented on two dissimilar levels: the empathic-
realism, and the non-empathic. The first one reveals characters as
private individuals and also as representatives of their class. But
here their social need is presented in its psychological and indi-
vidual concretion. Boal says that the perfect examples are the plays

of Arthur Miller, particularly his Death of a Salesman. The second

182

level of non-empathic revelation presents characters who clearly
show the subjective characteristic of the social needs and the
objective characteristic of the individual will; in this instance,
Brecht's plays are excellent examples.

For Boal, this form of revelation is not only a dilemma in
playwriting but also in interpretation. Any play can be interpreted
by any one of the above two forms of typical-particular revelation.
A Brecht play can be empathically interpreted and a play by Miller
non-empathically. Everything is dependent upon the analysis and
objectives that the actor, director, and performers have in their
presentation of a play. Finally, Boal considers that the construc-
tion of the social mask of the character is nothing other than the
character interpretation through the typical-particular form.

Figure 1 shows a summary outline of these forms of interpretation.

Following this idea of the universal form, Boal establishes
‘ the difference between the social mask and the cliche. He states
that the cliche can contain just the universal essence. The social
mask contains not only the universal essence, which works as the
heart of the mask, but, additionally, other characteristics which
are not universals but circumstantial elements of character.9 For
example, the traditional ways elderly citizens or drunkards walk are
usually accepted clichés, as well as the unintelligible way in which
they speak. These are universal characteristics of elderly citizens
and drunkards, but not all of them manifest themselves uniformly.

The motivations for being a drunkard vary from one to another. Not

A

 

UNIVERSAL

 

 

GENERAL

 

 

l. Abstractions

2. Example: the char-
acters of the Middle
Ages:

Demons
Vices
Angels

3. External forces
Social needs

 

183

B

 

SINGULAR
PARTICULAR

 

 

 

 

l. Concretions

2. Example: Psychological
and realistic theatre.

3. Internal characteristics
1 Individual wills

 

 

I TYPICAL PARTICULAR
(SOCIAL MASK)

 

 

Includes the singular - particular (8) and
all the characteristics of the universal -
general (A) of that species.

Levels:

a)

b)

Empathic Realism-Example: Miller's plays.

(1) Character is at the same time him—
self and the representation of a
social class. (Death of a Salesman)

(2) Social needs are presented in their
psychological and individual reality.

 

Non-empathic - Example: Brecht's plays

(1) Spectator can see clearly the indivi-
dual will and the social need.

(2) But here social need is the subject
of the dramatic action, and the indi-
vidual will is the object.

FIGURE l.--Forms of Interpretation and/or Revelation of the Character

184

all of the elderly have led similar lives nor performed the same
work nor have had the same emotional and physical difficulties.
There are a variety of specific differences between individual
elderly persons and drunkards (to be an elderly person is something
universal, but to be a frustrated one is something particular.)
Both elements are essential in character analysis: the universal
and the typical-particular.

Boal does not reject the use of a cliche in character
analysis and its interpretation. If he did he would be rejecting
his own social mask concept. He only demands that we do not confuse
the cliche with the social mask, for the latter is something which
includes the former. It is from this point of view that Boal
recommends the use of clichés in theatre, not as a fundamental in
the interpretation, but as an aid in the construction of the char-
acter in its totality.

Boal, to facilitate construction of the social mask of a
character, developed a series of exercises and techniques which the
performers can use as tools in their development. These exercises
help the actor to discover the rituals and physical manifestations
of those rituals that are to be found in a society's members. For
Boal it is essential to discover the rituals of each society since

10

they visualize the existing oppressions inside that society. He

believes that oppression inevitably provokes visible signs that are

translated into forms and movements which leave their mark on the

11

social mask. If social oppression can be discovered through the

185

speeches made by individuals, then it can also be discovered through
the analysis of rituals that exist in society. Theatre can analyze
and demonstrate these rituals. These exercises are examples of those

developed by Boal to accomplish this goal.

3. Some techniques and exercises.

a) Techniques.

A technique often used by Boal when he works with his Image
Theatre can help the actor in working with the above concepts. ,An
actor is asked to go to center stage and there perform ritual gesture.
The rest of the actors observe him. When someone thinks he has sur-
mised what ritual the gesture belongs to, he goes to the center of
the stage and complements that gesture with another from that ritual.
After everyone has done this, the director gives a signal for every-
one to recreate a rhythm related to their positions and the gesture
they have already performed. This rhythm will increase the revela-
tion of the ritual. After this the director gives another signal
for everyone to repeat several times, just one verbal phrase, related
to the rhythm and the gesture already performed. The director then
interrupts, and everyone will say the identical phrase, but one
after the other, so everyone can hear. Then the process is analyzed
and discussed. Oftentimes, the discussion reveals that someone has
misunderstood the first ritual gesture. In that case, the group
discusses why the mistake occurred.

The process continues. At the director's signal, each parti-

cipant starts a continuous movement until the director says stop.

186

At this point, the ritual gesture has been transformed into a real
ritual: movements, actions, words, and gestures--mechanized and
pre-established.

Another technique is conmonly used by Boal. A situation is
improvised for ten to twelve minutes. It should include a conflict
and a solution. Then discussions ensue to verify the accuracy of
each character's actions and reactions. Irrelevancies are eliminated
and the scene is improvised again, but in pantomime only, and follow-
ing the rites and rituals which accompany that situation. Often-
times, this segment of the improvisation is performed like the silent
movies to detect ritual actions which are pre-mechanized and pre-
established. For example, a young man invites his girlfriend to
his apartment with the idea of convincing her to make love. The
scene unfolds (he tries to convince her, she says no, they argue),
until the conflict is resolved by either one of the two possibilities.
Then they repeat these movements which are rituals and/or rites of
that particular situation: for example, the ritual of turning the
lights off, of playing some romantic music on the stereo system, or
giving her cocktails (in some countries the rite involves discussing
certain themes, crying a little, and the girl's refusal even if she
does desire to make love).

The improvisation is repeated several times, assigning to
the scene dissimilar types of characters: youths, the aged, adoles-
cents, reticent individuals, or aggressive ones. Later on, the

group is assigned to specific social classes and professions. In

187

each improvisation discussions were generated to correct the errors
and to facilitate a more incisive analysis of the rituals.

Boal often used this type of improvisation in the rehearsals
of his plays and/or performances. A crucial aspect of his rehearsals
is to first improvise the scenes of the play only to illustrate the
dissimilar rites and rituals which are manifested in each scene.
Character analysis, voice, and reactions are not yet taken into
consideration; only ritualized movement is rehearsed.

Besides these and other techniques, Boal created in the Arena
Theatre of 580 Paulo, between 1956 and 1971, a series of exercises
invented specifically for working with the concepts of ritual and

social mask.

b) Exercises.12

(1) To follow the teacher:
In this exercise, an actor (the "teacher") starts
to speak and move naturally and the other actors
try to reproduce his mask. The actors imitate the
"teacher" but not through traditional cliches; they
try to re-create the actor's internal force. The
idea of this exercise is that the actors try to
discover the social rituals that the actor has

developed which motivate him to act in that way.

(2) To follow two teachers in metamorphosis:
This exercise follows, in general, the line of the

previous one, with the difference being that instead

(3)

(4)

188

of one teacher and one group, there are two teachers,
each with his group of followers. As the two
teachers talk, each group of followers imitates

the mask of its teacher. Later on, the two teachers
slowly exchange their roles and each group of

followers also imitates the other.

Rotation of masks:

This is a very simple exercise which is used to
help the integration of the cast by giving the
members more knowledge of each other. Five or more
actors observe each other's movements. After
several minutes the director names one of them,

and the rest imitate his mask. The exercise

continues until everyone has been imitated.

Recognition of the mask:

This is another simple exercise which helps in the
integration of the cast. The group is divided into
two parts. One groups moves and talks freely; the
other group carefully observes. After a few minutes
the observers take a piece of paper naming one of
the actors in the first group. The observers

start to imitate the mask of that actor. The actor

has to discover who is recreating his mask.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

189

Unification of masks:

In this exercise, the actors try to imitate the
mask of just one actor in the group. When this
actor realizes that he is the one everyone is

imitating, the exercise is over.

Collective creation of a mask:

Here, all the actors talk and walk naturally in

a circle, creating a wheel. The first actor adds
any way of walking or talking that he wishes to

his actions. The rest try to discover that charac-
teristic and to reproduce it. As soon as everyone
is reproducing this first characteristic, the second
actor in the wheel adds another one. This process

continues until everyone is doing the same mask.

Added masks:

The actors add one or more elements from the masks
of the others without losing the characteristics
of their own masks. Then they should each analyze
how these new elements would contradict or rein-

force the elements of their own masks.

To exaggerate and to annul the mask:
In this exercise an actor, after he is aware of his
own mask, will try to reinforce its elements through

exaggeration, carrying his mask to its most

(9)

(10)

(11)

190

excessive form. Later he will try to annul it,

adding opposite characteristics.

To follow the teacher in his own mask:

This exercise was basically used to help actors who
experienced difficulties in destroying or exaggerat-
ing their masks. The actor who has problems is
placed in the middle of the group. Four actors are
beside him. The one in the middle talks, and the
other four follow him. When the five masks are
unified, the fourth one changes the mask to its
natural opposite, and the actor in the middle follows

the actions of the rest of the actors.

Change of masks:

In this exercise, an actor moves and talks naturally.
The rest say how they see each element of the mask
and how they want to change it. They suggest each

element of the mask and the actor makes the change.

Interchange of mask:

In this exercise, a typical situation which has
traditional rituals is improvised. A good example
is the one presented in the techniques already
discussed: a young man invites his girlfriend to
his apartment, wishing to seduce her. But, here,

the improvisation does not reach conflict and

(12)

(13)

191

resolution. Instead, the purpose is to improvise
the basic rituals of that situation. The female
role imitator at first acts as the non-aggressor
and the male role imitator acts as the aggressor.
Later both masks are exchanged, but the rituals
are not. She will be the aggressor and he the
desired; but their sex roles will be the same, and
the ritual performed will still be seduction. So,
each creates a new social mask, but within the
structure of the usual ritual language involved

in seduction.

Substitution of the mask:

This exercise is nearly the same as number eleven.
But when the masks are changed, the rituals per-
formed by each actor are changed, also. Boal gives
the following example. The masks of a priest and

a parishioner in the ritual of the confessional

are substituted for the masks of a landlord and a
peasant. Therefore, the rituals will also change

to the rituals of an economic dispute.

Change of the class element in the social mask:
A situation is improvised, establishing the social
masks for each character. For example, in a family

dispute the father will have a social mask of

(14)

(15)

(16)

192

aggression and cruelty; a mother, one of docility
and oppression, and a daughter, one of rebellion.
During the improvisations each will keep the same
social mask. First, the improvisation presents a
situation about the worker or poorer social class.
Later, it presents an upper social class situation.
The differences between both improvisations are

analyzed and discussed.

Exaggerate the mask to its fullest degree:

Each actor will exaggerate the elements, character-
istics, and movements of his mask, including its
rituals, until everything is transformed into a
mechanized movement, with no human element remaining.
The actor becomes a mechanical robot without any

human feelings.

Exchange of actors inside the same ritual:

A couple begins the scene; they establish their
masks and their rituals. After a few seconds a new
actor substitutes for one of them. He will follow

the scene, keeping its same mask and rituals.

Game of the profession:
The actors write down the name of a profession or
occupation. The papers are shuffled, and each

actor chooses one. Then they begin to improvise

193

the profession but without talking about it. The
actors will try to guess the professions.

These exercises can have a great number of
variations. For example, instead of professions
the actors can improvise animals or tasks. All of
them seek to help the performer in detecting the
rituals which accompany each situation's social

mask.

8. Dialectical Structure of Inteppretation

From 1956 on, under the direction of Augusto Boal, the Arena
Theatre of $50 Paulo started to study methodically the works of
Stanislavski, and a laboratory of interpretation was created, based
on Stanislavski's works, which gave priority to emotion as a
determiner of form. Emotion became the axis of character interpre-
tation. For some time they worked diligently without any difficul-
ties. But, eventually, they were confronted with the following
dilemma: how could the emotions freely manifest themselves through
the body of the actor if that instrument is mechanized, muscularly
automated, and insensitive to ninety percent of its possibilities?
Boal understood that a newly discovered emotion ran the risk of
being channeled through the mechanized actions and reactions already

13

established in the actor. Therefore, Boal concluded that the

Arena Theatre should continue its work based on Stanislavski's ideas,

but now it was essential to begin what he called the "de-mechaniza-

14

tion" of the actor. This process would force the actor to rid

194

himself of his own mechanical responses and to assume the mechaniza-
tions of his character's interpretation. It was an absolute that

the actor feel certain emotions and sensations that he had previously
utilized but had somehow forgotten. In order to achieve that de-
mechanization process in the actor, the Arena Theatre focused all of
the Stanislavskian study on performing sensorial and memory exercises.
Everything that related to the imagination and emotion was studied
and practiced intensively.

Boal asserts that the exercises concerning emotion became
quite routine for the actors of the Arena Theatre. They practiced
them constantly: on the stage, in the office, in the street, in the
restaurants, and in their homes.15 Since the actors of the Arena
Theatre were very young at that time, they eduld easily practice all
of those exercises, using their bodies and emotions, without abandon-
ing theoretical study; so, the emotional content was very critical
to them.

However, this process of de-mechanization through emphasis
on the emotions presented a dilemma--extreme emotions forced the
actor to become, in effect, a new mechanized human being. The actors
could feel an immense number of emotions; they could change rapidly
from one state of emotion to another, profoundly feeling each emotion,
but everything occurred mechanically, without any rational under-
standing of what actually took place. It was from that point that
Boal started to stress the element of rationalization in this process.

He stated that extreme use of emotion was very dangerous if one did

195

not later make a "rational analysis of what had happened."16 Boal
stressed that the objective of those exercises on emotion was to
create understanding. Any experience must not only be felt but
understood as well: why the actor feels a particular emotion, what
is the nature of that emotion, and what are its causes.

For Boal, emotion, like any experience, is crucial, but its
meaning is even more vital. Boal has always considered theatre to
be a political activity, and, therefore, theatre people should be
familiar not only with the phenomenon, but, above all, within the
laws which rule the phenomenon. All art, according to Boal, serves
not only to demonstrate how the world is, but also why the world is
that way and how it can be transformed.17

Excessive use of emotion created another difficulty within
the Arena Theatre. An actor could become alienated from the others,
while profoundly experiencing his emotions, but in total isolation.
For Boal, this situation constituted a separation from the true-life
experiences of perilous human conflict and from the actor's creative
experience of interrelationships with others.

Thus, conflict evolved into the major focus of the Arena
Theatre--it was seen as a wonderful source of theatricality. Boal
called it the "dialectical emotion."18 This term implies that all
emotions are dynamic, not isolated, and that they depend in some
degree on relationships with other characters' emotions. Boal worked
at length on defining this concept and reached the conclusion that
the dialectical emotion is the emission of what he called a “sub-

wave."19

196

The sub-wave is one of the two levels on which communication
between two human beings occurs. One level is the wave level, the
consciousness. The sub-wave is the unconscious level of communication,
all of the communication processed without using the conscious mind.
According to Boal, human beings are capable of emitting or sending
forth many more messages than those that they think they are. In
addition, they are capable of receiving more messages than those they
consciously think they are receiving. For this reason, Boal reached
the conclusion that communication is conducted through those two
levels: wave and sub-wave.

How does this apply to characterization? Boal offers the
following example. Many times an actor portrays a uniform role in
a uniform manner in two consecutive productibns. In one of them,
the spectators can enjoyably feel themselves engrossed in the actor's
characterization. In the other, this enjoyment may not occur--the
sub-wave of the actor transmitted messages which lacked a commonality
with the messages transmitted by the wave of the actor. What the
actor was consciously sending forth contradicted what he was thinking
and sending forth unconsciously. Wave and sub-wave contradicted
each other. Boal asserts that the only element that makes the mes-
sages compatible is the actor's concentration.

However, for Boal, concentration should be rationally uti-
lized to avoid any kind of possible mechanization. The actor should
never permit a mechanization which forces him to play his role
always in an identical way, while he himself thinks and feels dif-

ferently each time. To avoid this, his concentration should be

197

rational. For Boal, the actor's experience should be a total and
complete submission of the actor to his task.

After the Arena Theatre attained this level of interpretation,
the group began to develop what Boal called the dialectical structure
of interpretation. Around 1970, the Arena Theatre had, as a struc-
ture of interpretation, the product of a process which started with
Stanislavski and integrated ideas of Bertolt Brecht's dialectical
theatre. The philosophical and theoretical basis of this structure
can be found in the Hegelian and Marxian theories of Dialectics.20
Figure 2 summarizes the functioning of this structure. It appears
on page 52 of Boals book 200 Ejercicios y Juegosppara e1 Actor y No
Actor con Ganas de Decir Algo A través del teatro.

Five elements or variables compose this structure: the Will,
the Counter-Will, the Dominant, the Quantitative Variation, and the
Qualitative Variation. The actor should analyze and develop his
characterization by following this structure.

The first concept is the Will of the character. The Will
means "to want." For Boal and the actors of the Arena Theatre, the
fundamental element in the character is not the concept of being but
the concept of wanting, the Will. The actor should not ask himself
who he is but what he (as the character) wants. For Boal to answer
the first question implies the creation of emotions in an irrational
way. The answer to the second question is more dynamic, active,
and dialectical; it is more rational. This Will is not arbitrarily

selected by the actor. It is the result of a serious study and

198

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analysis of the whole play. This Will should be something concrete,
real, and alive. The Will is not the idea; it is the translation

of the idea into something specific. For example, according to Boal,
it is not enough for Macbeth to want power and glory, in general;

he should want to murder King Duncan. To exercise the Will means

to wish something, and this something should be concrete. An actor
who goes on stage portraying abstract desires of love will not be
sufficiently convincing until his character objectively wants to
make love to or to kiss someone under specific circumstances.

The Will, to be concrete, should also possess a transcendent
meaning. This meaning comes from an idea which is discussed through-
out the entire play and which the characters' Wills make concrete.
Continuing the example of Macbeth, Boal says that the struggles
between Macbeth and his adversaries should not be reduced to psycho-
logical fights between those who want to dispute power. For Boal
Duncan symbolizes the feudal system and Macbeth the rising new ruling
class. Thus, the central idea of this Shakespearean play is the
struggle between the developing Bourgeoisie and the feudal lords;
and the characters' Wills make possible and concrete that central
idea.21

From the central idea of the play are deduced the characters'
central ideas. Thus, idea and Will are more or less one and the
same: the idea is the Will in abstract form, and the Will is the
idea in concrete form. After the central idea of the play is dis-

cussed and established, Boal recommends that everyone respect that

200

central idea when he constructs the central ideas of his characters.
This structure of ideas (of the play and of the characters) becomes
the skeleton of the play or production. The central ideas of the
characters are the ones which confront and create the conflict. So,
the central idea is a struggle between two opposing forces. In this
form, Boal presents the following equation: "Central Idea = Thesis

"22 The Thesis. according to Figure 2, 15 the

versus Antithesis.
Will, the aspect which wishes affirmation. The Antithesis is the
Counterwill, the aspect which symbolizes the negation. It is in
opposition to the Will.

For Boal and the actors of the Arena Theatre, the identity
between Idea and Will was the creator of emotion. But Boal clearly
stresses that not all ideas are theatrical. For an idea to be
theatrical it must become a Will and, thereby, be translated into
specific concrete circumstances. For example, the idea of love
and being loved has no emotional content. But, if that idea is
placed in a situation, if it is translated into Will, the emotion
can be produced. If a scene presents a man who desperately tries

to convince a woman to love him, the idea of love and being loved

can produce a profound emotion. Boal establishes the following
"23

 

relation: "Idea—————>Will >Emotion—————>Theatrical Form.
In other words, any idea can be theatrical if it is presented in
its concrete form, in specific circumstances, in terms of Will.
This Will will evoke in the actor the emotion which will discover

the valid theatrical form for the spectator.

201

Besides the Will, the other component of this dialectical
structure is the Counterwill. For each Will there exists its nega-
tion, the force which opposes it, the antithesis, inasmuch as no
emotion is pure, isolated, or complete within itself. All emotions
in human beings are dialectical; and this implies that they have
forces which affirm them and forces which oppose them. What we see
in reality, says Boal, is that contradiction of emotions: we want
and we do not, we love and we do not. Ultimately, Boal also feels
that it is crucial to clarify that the Counterwill of a character
is not a contradictory Will; rather inside each Will there is a
force against it. There are not two opposing Wills. So, Boal
believes that if an actor really wants to immerse himself in his
character and not merely illustrate it, it is an absolute necessity
that he discover the Counterwill for each of his Wills. In some
plays, this is easy to discern. For example, in Hamlet, the Prince
wants to revenge the death of his father, but at the same time he
does not want to murder his uncle. He wants to be and he does not
want to be. In other instances discovering the Counterwill is
extremely difficult. For example, Lady Macbeth seems to lack any
internal conflict, what Boal calls the "monomotivated character."24
However, this case, being an exception, does not matter. For Boal
and the actors of the Arena Theatre, the Counterwills of each charac-
ter should always be present, and analyzed by the actors through
special rehearsals. The more an actor develops his Counterwill, the

more energy will appear in his Will. This internal conflict of Will

202

and Counterwill maintains the actor's dynamic aliveness on stage,
constantly exhibiting internal movements as real characters do. If
actors do not have Counterwills, they will be static and, therefore,
non-theatrical.

The third component of the dialectical structure is called
the Dominant. The Dominant is the result of that dialectical pro-
cess between Wills and Counterwills. It is what the Dialectic's
philosophy calls Synthesis. According to Dialectical theory, all
processes or living things exist because they possess internally
two opposing forces struggling between each other (thesis and anti-
thesis). When this struggle ends, the process ends and the original
entity ceases to exist as well. This struggle is named the Law of

25 One of the fundamental principles of this law is

Contradiction.
the following: if the antithesis becomes the negation of the thesis,
the synthesis becomes the negation of the antithesis (the negation
of the negation). So, the synthesis is the confirmation of a new
thesis. It is the final result or product of that struggle between
thesis and antithesis. It is really the start of a new process,

the creation of a new idea or thesis; it is the element which domi-
nates at the end of that process.

Returning to character interpretation, from the internal
conflict of Wills and Counterwills, results a Dominant which exteri-
orizes itself. This Dominant, a final result of that conflict or
the element which dominates at the end, is identical to a new Will

which enters into conflict with the other characters. It should be

clear that the Wills and Counterwills of a character do not enter

203

into conflict with the Wills and Counterwills of other characters.
This is an internal process, an internal struggling inside each
character. What enters into conflict with other characters is the
Dominant. It is this which determines the dramatic action or con-
flict of the play. The actor should understand that the conflict
between Will and Counterwill is not as important as the conflict
between characters. Boal says that when an actor places more empha-
sis on the conflict of Wills and Counterwills than on the conflict
between the characters (between Dominants), he will present an autopsy
of his character and not a truly, living existing character.

For Boal, until the Dominants are fortified, the spectacle
will remain unstructured, for the characters on stage must live not
internally but externally. For that reason the interrelationship
is fundamental for character analysis. 50, as soon as the actor
has finished with the internal analysis of his character, through
the seeking of Wills and Counterwills, he should begin the external
study of his character, the establishing of the Dominant and its
interrelationships with the other characters. The Dominant of each
character will depend on the central idea. The central idea of a
play varies according to the interpretation that each director or
group of performers decides to give it. So, it is imperative,
stresses Boal, to keep in mind the play's central idea, when the
actors are working in the construction of the Dominant of their
characters.

Dramatic action is attained in this way. It is the conflict

between the characters or through the characters. It is the

204

struggling of the different Dominants. So, this dramatic action is
what Boal calls the movement of the internal and external conflicts.
For him, any conflict is theatrical if it is in movement, and if it
has quantitative changes and qualitative changes. According to
Dialectic theory, all processes and things possess these two types
of change in their development and in their movement. The quantita-
tive change is experienced by the process or the entity without
suffering any transformation in itself. In the quantitative change,
the entities maintain their essence; they persist as they are. The
movement is only a displacement and not a complete transformation.
Transformation implies a maximum of change, not in the quantity,
but in quality.

The qualitative change totally transforms the phenomenon.
Any phenomenon becomes new when a qualitative change occurs. In
this type of change the phenomenon is no longer what it was origi-
nally. It becomes a unique phenomenon. An excellent example is
water. When it is cold and someone heats it, it gets hot; and this
is a quantitative change. But when the water is chilled to a cer-
tain degree, then it becomes ice; or when it is heated to a certain
degree, it evaporates. A qualitative change has occurred: the
water is no longer water; it is ice or vapor. The water sustained
small quantitative changes in temperature until finally it changed
qualitatively. Boal says that the same thing occurs with the move-
ment of any dramatic action. It has quantitative and qualitative
variations or changes. When the conflict increases quantitative

change is occurring. But when the action reaches its climax, totally

205

transforming the characters and the situations, the qualitative
change occurs. The emotions of the characters also have quantitative
and qualitative changes. Boal emphasizes that the actor should
construct the emotions of his character following these types of
changes. The actor should seek the quantitative and qualitative
variations of his character by preparing the opposite of what will
happen to his character. For example, if the character of Iago, in
Othello, will eventually have the courage to lie to Othello, it is
necessary that the actor thinks of him first as a coward. This fear
was initially the Dominant. From this fear will be born courage,
and it will fortify the actor's characterization. The fear will
increase quantitatively until the qualitative variation is produced:
the transformation of this fear into courage. The Dominant becomes
not fear, but courage. The same process can occur with other types
of emotions, for instance love or hate.

This was the structure used by the actors of the Arena
Theatre for a long time. For Boal, this structure was the "motor"26
of the interpretation: the heart of the character. The elements

can be summarized as the Central Idea of the play, which determines

 

the Central Ideas of the characters, which is translated in terms

 

of Dialectical Will (Will versus Counterwill); and from the Will

 

conflict, the Dramatic Action, is born--having quantitative and

 

ultimately, qualitative variations.

206

C. Training Exercises

The exercises in this section, together with the next section
(Training Games) were systematized, between 1972 and 1975 and were
the ones used and developed by the Arena Theatre in S50 Paulo, between
1956 and 1971 for the training of actors. Boal himself affirms
that detailed study and practice of the ideas and exercises of
Stanislavski and Brecht assisted him in the creation and development
of these exercises.

When, in 1972, Boal started to work on this systematization,
he had in mind various purposes. First, he wanted to structure a
system of exercises which could be practiced by actors as well as
non-actors (including students, workers, and peasants) whether they
wish to use theatre as a legitimate form of communication or as a

27 Boal explains that he created a series

political manifestation.
of exercises which are more like collective games than traditional
laboratory exercises for actors in order to increase the interest

of a cast of non-actors in the acting task.

Boal's second purpose was to respond to the concept developed
by Jerzy Grotowski of I'poor theatre."28 Originally Boal wanted to
publish a book which summarized his theories about people's theatre
and described his exercises. The title was supposed to be "From a
Theatre of the Poor."29 The idea of this systematization of his
exercises was to recoup the artistic and expressive potentialities
of all human beings. These, of course, are the opposite of
Grotowski's investigations, which are oriented toward consecrating

the role of the actor.30

207

Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed opposes the elitist theatre
of Grotowski. The actor's task does not have a sacred character as
Grotowski proposes; it has a social character. For this reason,
Boal wants, through these exercises, to teach the actor to ignore
acting instructions which involve the use of subconscious myths.

He wants the actor to develop his capacities for speaking directly
to the conscious, demonstrating to the people the rituals that the

ruling classes use for continuing their oppression.3]

1. Warm Ups.

a) Physical warm ups.

The purpose of these series of exercises is dividing the
human body into parts so that the actor achieves mental control over
each muscle and part. It follows the traditional body composition:
thorax, head, pelvis, legs, and arms. The exercises are divided
into three groups in the following sequence (massage and relaxation,
horizontals and verticals, and circular and straight movements); one
group of exercises without sequence; and one trying to relate the

body to the exterior world.

Sequence 1: Massage and Relaxation

(1) One actor relaxes his body, and eight actors lift
him with their hands. They will try to move their
hands like the waves of the sea, up and down.

(2) An actor on the floor is slowly massaged by the
rest of the actors, with forceful and monotonous

rhythmic movements.

208

(3) The actors face each other. Each actor massages
his partner's face. First, the massage is slow
and tender, then it becomes more rapid and forceful.

(4) Breathing: On the floor the actors relax their
bodies. They put their hands on their abdomens
and expel all the air inside their lungs. They
take in air again and expel it in the same way.
Then the actors do the same with their hands on
their knees, then with their hands on their
shoulders. The actors repeat the above breathing
process, now leaning against a wall at an angle
with the feet farther away from the wall then the
rest of the body. First, they begin the process,
supporting their bodies with their hands, and then
with their elbows. Then they repeat the whole pro-
cess standing in a perfectly vertical position.
These and other similar exercises are performed
increasing tension in all the muscles of the body
when they inhale the air and relaxing them when they
expire it. Boal stresses that the breathing should

be an act of the whole body.

Sequence 2: Horizontals and Verticals

 

The actors move the different parts of their bodies
separately in horizontal motions. First, the actors keep

the whole body rigid, moving only the head forward, then

209

backward. To the head motion is then added the neck,
and the horizontal movements are repeated. Then the
movements change from back and forth to right to left,
and vice versa, always trying to keep the motion per-
fectly horizontal. The same movements are done for the
thorax; then for the pelvis, until all the different
parts of the body have performed horizontal movements.
The vertical sequence starts with the actors seated
on the floor, their arms and legs are at right angles
to the rest of the body. Each actor thinks that his body
is divided vertically into two parts: each part has a
leg, an arm, a shoulder, half of the head, and half of
the pelvis. He will try to move forward, first moving
the right side of his body and then the left side. After
a few minutes the actor should repeat the process, but
not instead of moving forward, he will move backward.
Then the actor repeats both movements (backward and
forward), but instead of being seated on the floor he
will be in a prone position, with his arms and legs
extended in straight lines, parallel to each other.
Finally, the actor repeats the process but now moving

to the sides: first to the right and then to the left.

210

Sequence 3: Straight and Circular Movements

(l)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

 

The actors move, using stiff leg, arm, and head
movements as if they were robots. These movements
should be abrupt, without defined rhythms.

Now, the actors use circular movements. The head
should circle in relation to the whole body. These
movements should be slow and rhythmical.

They alternate circular movements with straight
movements.

The left side of the body makes circular movements
as the right side makes stiff movements. After a
few minutes, the movements are repeated for the
opposite sides of the body.

The body is divided in two with the waist as the
middle point. The upper part does circular move-
ments and the lower part, straight movements. After
a few minutes the movements alternate.

The actor performs any variations he can to demon-
strate all the parts of his body that he can
separate from the rest of the body.

The actors walk, trying to completely separate all
the parts of their bodies. They will try to feel
the vertical division of the whole body. The move-
ments will be stiff. Then they slowly begin to make

their movements more circular. The body starts to

(8)

211

shrink, reuniting the differint parts, until the
movement ceases when the body reaches the form of
a ball. Again, the movement starts, but not in
reverse.

The actors perform all the previous exercises but

moving backwards.

Exercises without Sequence

 

(1)

(2)

Music and Dance:

The actors move their bodies following the rhythm
and melody of different types of music and dances.
They can move in any way they want: jumping,
walking, or running. The idea is to stimulate

the muscles of the body.

Wheel of Rhythm and Movement:

The performers form a circle. One of them goes to
the center and does any movement accompanied by a
sound and within a pre-established rhythm. The
rest of the performers will follow him, trying to
reproduce his exact movements and rhythmic sounds.
Another actor goes to the center and slowly changes
the movement, rhythm and sound of the first actor.
Everyone then follows the second performer until

everyone has reached the center of the wheel.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

212

Wheel of Animals:

The performers walk in a circle and slowly transform
themselves into different animals according to a
pre-established sequence; for example, first a
monkey, then a rabbit, and then a chicken. The
transformation should start with the legs, then the
trunk, the arms, the head, the face, and, finally,
the voice.

Rhythm:

All the actors begin a group rhythm with their
voices, arms, and legs. After a few minutes they
slowly change until a new rhythm is imposed. This
continues for a few moments.

Sound and Movement:

A group of actors makes vocal sounds and another
group creates movements compatible with the sounds.
Dance of the Backs:

The actors form couples. They link their backs and
dance. One of the couples commands the movements,
and the other follows him.

To Complete the Empty Space:

Two actors stand, one in front of the other. One
moves, and the other fills the empty space left by

the first actor.

(8)

213

The Uncoordination of Coordinated Movements:

This exercise was created because the coordination
of movements, says Boal, hardens the muscles and
determines a physical mask. The actors should
study their movements through the uncoordination of
these movements. Example: one leg moves in a
rhythm different from the other; one hand makes
gestures contrary to the gestures made by the other
hand.

Race of Legs and Hands:

Each actor, on hands and knees, starts a race for-

ward. Then the race is run backward.

Exercises to Relate with the Exterior World

(1)

(2)

Image of the Group:

Each actor, using the rest of the actors, will do
a sculpture which illustrates his opinion of the
relationships inside the group.

Half Blind:

Two lines of actors are created, one in front of
the other, the members of one line with their eyes
covered. Each blindfolded actor will try to feel
with his hands the face and the hands of the actor
in front of him. Then the actors who are not
blindfolded will change their positions in the line.

The blind actors will try to discover, touching

(3)

(5)

214

the faces and hands of each member of the other
line, who was the actor in front of them.

Blind with a Bomb:

An actor with his eyes covered imagines that a bomb
is going to explode if he keeps contact with some-
one. The rest of the actors surround him. When
he touches someone, the blindfolded actor should
move away as rapidly as he can, trying to avoid
contact with the others as much as possible.
Interrelationship of Characters:

An actor starts an action. A second actor word-
lessly enters, and through physical, visible actions,
relates to the first one according to the role he
selects. The first actor should try to discover
the role of the second actor to better establish
the interrelationship. A third actor immediately
enters and relates to the first two, then a fourth
actor and so on. The purpose of this exercise is
to develop the relationships of each actors with
the exterior group through the senses and not
through words.

To Discover the Object:

An actor with his eyes covered and his hands tied
behind him will try to discover an object in front

of him. He will use the rest of his body.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

215

Character in Transit:

One or more actors go to the center of the group
and perform a scene with actions which illustrate
where they come from, what they do, and where they
are planning to go. The rest of the actors should
discover those three things.

Observation:

One actor attentively looks at his fellows for five
minutes. Then, with his eyes blindfolded, he will
try to accurately describe them, using verbal com-
munication.

Complementary Activities:

An actor starts a movement, and the rest try to
discover what the activity is so that they can per-
form complementary activities. For example, the
first portrays a taxi driver and is complemented by
the rest portraying passengers.

To Discover the Change:

The actors form two lines, one in front of the other.
Each actor attentively observes the opposite actor.
Then they turn their backs and change some detail
of their characters. When they turn to look at
each other again, they will try to discover the

changes.

216

(10) Difficulties with the Body and the Object:
Boal believes that we are so accustomed to our
activities that we do them mechanically because
we know our bodies and the objects we use. But
what if something happens to that body and/or those
objects? For example, if an actor has one hand
tied behind him, how will be set the table for
dinner? The exercise should be performed several
times until the actor can accomplish it as quickly
and easily as possible. Variations in this exer-
cise can be how to dress himself if he has just one
leg, if he can only walk backwards, or if he does
not have fingers. For Boal, all the physical and
environmental problems provoke and immediately
increase the sensitivity of human beings to their
bodies.

(11) There Are Many Objects in One Object:
An object is given to each person; each one dis-
covers a possible use for it. For example, a
stick can be a cane, a horse, an umbrella, a bridge,

a tree, a spoon, or a violin.

b) Vocal Warm Ups.
(1) All the actors, facing a wall and separated from

each other by short distances, try to pierce the

217

wall with their voices. All should try to pro-
duce the same tone.

(2) Two groups of actors--each produce a different tone.
Both should try to force the other group to follow
its tone.

(3) All the actors lie face down on the floor and try
to project their voices through that floor.

(4) An actor lies on his back on a table, his head
hanging over the edge. He emits a loud sound. He
continues until the vibration in his nose prevents
him from continuing to make the sound and the exer-
cise becomes impossible.

(5) An actor emits a sound directed toward another actor
who is a certain distance from him. This second
actor starts to move away a little, first one meter,
then two, then five. The first one tries to adjust
his voice according to the distance, so that its
volume level always seems the same to the second
actor.

(6) The above exercise is performed using singing.

c) Emotional Warm Ups.
(1) Abstract Emotion:
This exercise will try to eliminate any concrete
motivation. The exercise starts with the actors

amiably reacting with each other. They try to see

(2)

(3)

218

pleasant characteristics in each other. To elimi-
nate any possibility of motivation the actors must
use numbers instead of words. Then they begin to
change that feeling quantitatively. They start to
love each other more, then less, until they start
to change qualitatively, from love to hate, or vice
versa. The hate is increased until it reaches the
most violent tension. Then gradually they start
to discover again the good things in each other
until they again love each other. The physical
security of the participant should not be affected.
This exercise should be done without physical
violence of any kind.

Abstract Emotion with Animals:

This is a variant of the first warmup. The actors
move away from an emotion until they reach the
contrary emotion, returning them to the first one.
But instead of using numbers they will use the
sounds of different animals.

To Follow the Teacher in Abstract Emotion:

Two actors face each other in the center. These
two will be the teachers. Each one will have four
actors who will follow him. The two teachers start
a discussion about any theme, sensible or non-

sensical. They can use words, numbers, or sounds.

219

The rest of the actors repeat the sounds, movements
of the body, movements of the face, and the tones
of their teachers. They will try to do them exactly
as their teachers do them. The teachers should
force their emotions to their extremes until even-
tually they return to the original calm of the group
with the increased and new understanding gained from
the exercise.
Animals or Vegetables in Emotional Circumstances:
Animals or vegetables are selected to do a scene
where the environment will affect their feelings.
The feelings should change from positive to negative
or destructive. For example, an actor pretends to
be a coconut tree on the beach. It is a summer day.
The weather, (performed by other actors) changes,
and a storm approaches. The happiness of summer
changes to the fear of being destroyed by the storm.
Another example could be a fish happily swimming
until he bites a fishbook.

Boal states that in these animal exercises the
sounds should be very expressive. Human beings
have words to express their emotions, but the
animals have only sounds. Yet poor human expres-

sion is poor in sensorial experience.

220

The above exercises allow the actors to rescue a great deal
of the sensorial possibilities of expressions which language has

deprived them of.

d) Ideological Warm Ups.

For Boal the theatre demonstrates images obtained from the
social life according to a specific ideology. The ideology of
either the ruling class or of the people is always present in any
given theatre.

The ideological development of the actor is part of his train-
ing. According to Boal, his theatre does not want to alienate the
actor from the social and political reality in which he lives. Actors
are human beings, integral parts of a society, and so political and
social problems affect their lives, too. Wanting to be alienated
from that situation implies an error, because for Boal actors are the
culture's workers. They are of the people, and so they have to
understand what their roles are in the society.

Boal asserts that the actor should always have in mind the
progressive mission of his work, his pedagogical character, and his
combative character32 because for Boal theatre is both an art and a
weapon.33 The following are four ways in which the actor can be

kept ideologically warmed up.

(1) Dedication:
All the rehearsals, meetings, and performances of

the cast are dedicated to someone or to some major

(2)

(3)

(4)

221

historical fact or event. The person or the event
should symbolize the ideology of the group. This
keeps the group from mentally divorcing their work
from their ideology and their mission.

Reading of Newspapers:

It is essential for actors to read and discuss the
social and political events of the day, explaining
their meanings, to assist in the cast's awareness
of the social milieu. In this way, alienation

from those social and political problems of society
is avoided. From this idea, the form of Newspaper
Theatre, already discussed, was born.

To Remember a Historical Event:

When it is possible, the cast should remember a
historical event which has parallels to the current
situation for analysis and discussion. The simi-
larities and the differences between the past and
present events should be revealed in this discussion.
This collective learning helps the cast understand
history and analyze the mistakes of the present.
Moreover, it aids them in a better analysis of
future plays as well.

A Class:

Depending on the group and its political and his-

torical knowledge, a short class on basic important

222

concepts can be set up. The group can invite an
expert to lecture on a specific subject they desire
to learn about. Or one of the members can assume
that role, sharing with the class his/her expertise

in a given area.

2. Masks and Rituals.

These exercises have already been presented in the previous

discussion of those two concepts. It should be stressed that Boal

wants these exercises not to ritualize theatre, but to help the

actor learn how to reveal the rituals of the society in order that

theatre may destroy those rituals and make possible the creation of

new ONES . 34

3. Rehearsal Training Exercises.

a) General Exercises Without Text.

(1)

Improvisation:

To avoid mechanical improvisation and to make them
constantly dynamic, the actors must use the dialec-
tical structure of interpretation. Each actor
finds a dominant will, the result of the struggle
between Will and Counterwill, which determines an
internal and subjective conflict. The dominant
will enters into conflict with the other wills to
create an external and objective conflict. And,

finally, the conflict moves quantitatively and

(2)

(3)

223

qualitatively through changes. The themes for the
improvisations should be found in the newspaper of
the day to facilitate the political and ideological
discussion.

Dark Chamber:

An actor is seated in a dark room with a tape
recorder beside him. He closes his eyes. As the
tape records the exercise, the director tells him
to imagine himself in a particular place. The
actor describes with as much detail as possible

the place he imagines, including his clothes and
the faces of the persons there. Then, as the tape
continues, the director tells him to imagine an
action. The actor should describe everything that
is happening. This is an emotional exercise. Then
the exercise finishes, and the actor listens to
everything he has said. Then he will try to recreate
a second time all of the actions and all of the
emotions he felt.

Interrogation:

An actor, in the center, is interrogated by the
whole cast about his character, about what he thinks,
about the rest of the characters, and about the
circumstances of the play. The character is placed
on trial in an imaginary way. In this way everyone

learns more about the character.

224

(4) Story Narrated by Many Actors:

(5)

(6)

An actor starts narrating a story, which is con-
tinued by a second actor, and then a third until
all of the cast has a part in narrating the story.
Another group of actors can pantomime the story.
Change of Story:

In this exercise, fantasy is of great significance.
When a play relates a story, it is narrating what
is happening. But, according to Boal, all plays
also contain in themselves the negation of what is
happening; in other words, what is not happening.
In order to give the actors the knowledge of those
things which could have occurred, but did not, it
is helpful for them to rehearse scenes which did
not occur; for example, the marriage of Hamlet and

Ophelia or how Othello forgave Desdemona.

Change of Roles:

Each scene is rehearsed several times with the
actors interpretating different characters. This
way each actor can give his version of the other
characters, as well as study the versions that the
other actions give of his character. Thus, all

of the cast can contribute in the creation of all

the characters.

225

(7) A Phrase Said by Many Actors:

Each actor will say just one word of a phrase
already selected by the cast, but will try to use
the inflections as if only one actor were speaking.
Sometimes one actor can say the whole phrase as he
wants everyone to say it. The rest will imitate

him, but say one word each.

b) Rehearsals of Motivation with Text.

(1) Commentary:

(2)

All the actors who do not speak in a scene will
speak their thoughts in a low tone while the others
say their text lines. In this way, all of the
actors will be talking at the same time, giving a
new dynamic to their acting and avoiding static
moments in their portrayals. This rehearsal helps
the actors to prepare their sub-text.

Isolated Motivation:

Each of the components of a motivation is rehearsed
in isolation, using at least three stages: first,
the Will; second, the Counterwill, and, finally,
the Dominant. This helps the actor to dominate
each component and to integrate it into the totality

of his interpretation.

226

(3) Aritifical Pause:

(4)

(5)

The actor is not permitted to talk or act on cue.
On the contrary, he should occasionally pause for
five to ten seconds in his acting. According to
Boal this makes it possible for the actor to lose
the mechanical support that the rhythm gives to
him. His senses and attention, says Boal, are
awakened. For Boal the repetition of the same words
and movements during the rehearsals tend to create
an hypnotic effect upon the actor which can mech-
anize his acting. This rehearsal can aid in avoid-
ing this mechanical delivery of text and character.
Contrary Thought:

This is an exercise similar to the previous one.
But, here, during the pause the actor thinks or
says to himself exactly the opposite of what he
says or does in the script. Thus, his text and

his action will include all of the possible varia-
tions.

Repetition of the Cue:

Here, again, an artificial pause is required before
the actor begins to speak. In this pause, the
actor thinks or speaks a summary of what his fellow
has said before him. Thus, the actor includes in
his action the actions of the others, integrating

his performance with the general structure. After

(6)

(7)

(8)

227

hearing so often the words of others, an hypnotic
effect is produced in the actor which must be broken.
The actor no longer hears or understands what the
others say. So, this rehearsal helps the actor to
avoid another kind of mechanization.

Before and After:

These are improvised rehearsals of what happens
before the actor enters and of what will happen
after his exit. This gives continuity to the action
and warms the actor up before he enters.

Mute:

This is a rehearsal to develop the sub-wave. The
actor, respecting all of the blocking, or rhythm,
intensely thinks of his text lines, trying to trans-
mit them only through the sub-wave. He cannot say
anything. This requires a high degree of concen-
tration. The use of pantomime or facial expressions
should be avoided in this rehearsal. Sometimes the
Arena Theatre performed this kind of rehearsal in
front of spectators, and the spectators were able

to discuss the play perfectly without feeling the
lack of dialogue.

Opposite Circumstances:

Each scene is rehearsed according to its opposite.
For example, when a scene normally requires violence,

it will be rehearsed without violence. The actors

(9)

(10)

228

should transmit the same violent content without

the original words and without physically expressing
violence. Actors always have a pre-knowledge of
what they are going to do and say. This pre-knowl-
edge tends to mechanize acting and sometimes the
actor does not perceive what happens on stage. This
kind of rehearsal destroys this type of mechaniza-
tion. The opposite circumstances' exercise can
also work in relation to the scenery, the movements,
and other elements besides dialogue.

Change of Genre:

This is a variation of the previous exercise. Many
rehearsals of a scene are done, each time changing
the genre and the style of the original text. For
example, a naturalistic or realistic scene should
be done as a circus spectacle, as a farce, as
melodrama, or as a tragedy.

Invisible Character:

One of the characters of a scene is removed. The
rest of the actors perform the scene as if the
character were there acting with them. This forces
the cast to visualize and listen carefully to this
invisible character. This is not a rehearsal when
an actor is absent and the stage manager or any

other person reads his lines or when they simply

(11)

(12)

229

omit his lines. Actors should have to figure out
everything which belongs to the invisible character:
his lines, tones, rhythm, movements, and reactions.
Boal believes that many actors obtain a more precise
perception of their fellows when they do not see
them.

Free Rehearsal:

The cast is permitted to do anything they want;

they can change the movements, the text, everything.
The only limitations are that they cannot move far
away from the real story of the play and they
cannot cause any physical harm to the others.
According to Boal a great part of the artistic
creation is rational, but not all. The unexpected
always occurs.

Caricature:

This can be rehearsed in either of the following
two forms: the actor can ridicule or exaggerate
his own character and interpretation, or another
actor can ridicule or exaggerate the character and
interpretation of his fellow. The caricature pro-
duces laughter because it presents an automated
behavior. If an actor can see what is automated

in his interpretation, through a caricature, he

can change and revitalize his work.

230

(13) Change of Characters:
A rehearsal is done using role-reversal, especially
for those characters involved in close relationships
in the play. For example, the husband plays the
role of the wife, the father becomes the son. They
do not have to memorize all of the lines, but only
attempt to get inside the role of the opposite
character.

(14) Rhythm of the Scenes:
A rehearsal with the real text is done where the
actors select a proper rhythm for the scene. They
try to interpret their characters inside that
rhythm. The rhythm should change when the content
of the scenes changes. The idea is not to sing the

scene; it is to perform it rhythmically.

c) Sequence of Rehearsals Named Pique-Pique.

(1) Simple Pique-Pigue:

 

All the actors are placed against the wall. The
director then says any phrase of the text and sug-
gests a manner of doing the scene (caricature,
exaggeration, etc.). Immediately all the actors
who participate in the scene where that phrase
occurs occupy the positions they have when the
phrase is said. They start the action from that

phrase in the manner suggested. After a few minutes

(2)

231

another phrase and another manner or motivation is
given, and the process continues. The whole play
is rehearsed but not as it was originally con-
structed.

Pique-Pique Taca-Taca:

 

The actors who were in the first scene and not in
the second will continue interpreting the first
one. So, both scenes are interpreted at the same
time and in the same place. If some actors from
the first scene are also in the second one, the
actors in the first scene perform the exercise of
the invisible character. The exercise uses a
maximum of five scenes. Three to five scenes are
done simultaneously in three to five different ways.
When a scene finishes the actors continue with the
next scene. If the last one finishes before the
others, they start with the first one. When a new
scene starts the actors cannot all move to the new
scene. There should be at least one actor in a
scene. The rest of the characters lost to the new
scene will be invisible in the original scene. 50,
at the end of the rehearsal there will be five
simultaneous scenes, each one with at least one

actor.

232

(3) Pique-Pique Taca-Taca PingPong:
This is a more difficult variant of the previous
rehearsal techniques. In the previous ones the
actors pass from one scene to the next and do not
return to the previous ones. Here, if the actor
does not have lines in the last scene he moves baCk
to other scenes where his character has lines and
an important physical action to accomplish. Some-
times the actor who had to move back to a previous
scene finishes his role and has to move forward or
backward to other scenes where his character has
importance. Boal says that this rehearsal is a
constant ping ponging of actors through the scenes.
The actors have the possibility of jumping between
five scenes and performing in five different manners.
These exercises are the most important illus-
trations of the actor's training that Boal and the
Arena Theatre developed and practiced during the
time of its existence. No exercises were related
to acrobatics, even though acrobatics have been
considered fundamental for actor instruction in
contemporary theatre, especially in the political
theatre. Boal answers criticism of this omission
by saying that acrobatic exercises tend to create
the mask of the athlete.35 These exercises are

intended to relax and stimulate muscles not used

233

much in the daily routine. But Boal's exercises
are intended to change the habitual circumstances
of the actors, which mechanize and ritualize the
actor's body, its movements, its senses and even
its ideas, creating rigid structures. Boal
reaffirms that the actors, through these exercises,
must destroy those structures and not substitute
them with others as acrobatic exercises would do.
In addition to exercises, Boal developed a series
of games to help the actors in their training as

collective beings.

D. Training Games

 

These games were developed by Boal, especially to help those
persons considered traditionally as non-actors, to practice and use
theatre as a legitimate vehicle of communication. The majority of
these games were created by Boal during his experience in Peru.
Later, many others were added as a result of his experiences with
the People's Theatre throughout Latin America. The following selec-
tion best illustrates Boal's purpose. The majority have already

been explained in Chapter III.

1. Integration of the Cast.
(1) Mimics
This is the traditional charade game. Two groups are
formed. One group proposes a theme to a member of the

other group. This person acts out for his group the

(2)

(3)

234

theme proposed to him. His group tries to discover the
theme within two minutes. The game ends when everyone
has participated.

Game of the Assassin:

The director secretly designates one member of the cast
who is supposed to be an "assassin." All of the parti-
cipants should try to discover who it is. Every ten
minutes the assassin can "kill" one of the members of
the cast with a pre-established signal; for example,
winking one eye or touching twice someone's shoulder.
The actors who were "killed" by the assassin should wait
a few seconds before "dying" so they will not give away
the identity of the assassin. During the process, the
cast, by majority vote, can "kill" those who are sus-
pected.

This game activates the actor's capacity for percep-
tion. The actors start to see in more detail, all of
their group, because all of them are potential assassins.
The director can select more than one assassin or even
no one. The group's search for a non-existent assassin
reinforces the tension in the game and the attention
among the participants.

Guerrillas and Policemen:
This is a variation of number two. Two groups are
created; policemen and guerillas. They will try to

discover who are enemies and who are friends. They will

235

try to "kill" the enemies with a pre-established signal.
The game ends when the members of just one group are
"alive". Observation and imagination are developed
through this game. It is important that each one creates
his own story of his identity which he can reveal to his
friends and which he can use to deceive his enemies.
In this game, small groups can be created and also inter-
rogation can be done.

(4) Phrase Completed:
Two or more phrases are selected. Each actor then will
receive, on a piece of paper, just one word of each
phrase. No one will know who belongs to his group.
Each actor asks questions in order to find who are the
actors who belong to his phrase. Also, each actor should
answer all the questions asked by the other actors, but
he will include in his answer the clue word he received
on the piece of paper. The game ends when a group of
actors discover among themselves all those who possess

a word which completes the phrase.

2. Breaking with Repression.
This game follows, along general lines, the same technique
Boal used for non-actors in his experience in Peru. An actor tries
to remember some moment in his life when he felt an intense repres-
sion. The game is done in three stages. First, the actor tries to

reproduce the exact moment, without adding or eliminating anything,

236

in great detail. Next, the protagonist does the same scene, but
without accepting the repression he suffered. Boal affirms that
repression exists because it has the support of the victim. In this
second stage, the protagonist starts to become conscious of this
reality. For Boal, this recognition begins the liberation of the
protagonist. In the third stage, the roles are changed. The pro-
agonist becomes the oppressor. The protagonist who has broken with
the repression moves toward realizing its meaning through pretending
to exercise the repression himself.

Finally, another means of breaking with repression is used,
repeating the above process again, but in a contrary form. Instead
of beginning the exercise playing the role of the one repressed,
the actor will begin as the oppressor. He thinks of a moment in his
life when he repressed someone, when he acted as an oppressor. The
process then follows the above-mentioned stages. 50, when he reaches
the third stage, he will not look at himself as his executioner,
but as his own victim.36

Both processes can have different variations depending on
the group and on the types of repressions they wish to work with.
Basically, these games are more associated with Boal's Theatre of
the Oppressed than with traditional theatre forms. The other exer-
cises were oriented not to the theatre forms developed by the Theatre
of the Oppressed, but to the more traditional theatre forms where
the wall between spectators and performers existed. This means of
actor training represented an innovation for the theatre in Brazil

and in other Latin American countries.

237

NOTES CHAPTER V

1Augusto Boal, "Sistematizagao do Teatro Imagem: exercicios,
jogos e técnicas do teatro imagem" (Paris: January 1980), p. 29.

2Boal, 200 Ejercicios y Juegos para el Actorpy_No Actor con
Ganas de Decir Algo A través del Teatro (Bueno Aires: Editorial
Crisis S.R.L., 1975), p. 20.

3

 

 

Ibid.

41bid., p. 21.

51bid., p. 17.

61bid., p. 18.

7For more information see Irwin Piscator, Teatro Politico
(Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro, 1973).

8"Particular Tipico."

For more information, see Boal, op. cit., pp. 18-19.

9Boal, op. cit., pp. 19-20.

10See Boal, "Sistematizagéo do Teatro Imagem...," p. 27.

1'Ibid.

12These exercises appear amply discussed in Augusto Boal,
200 Ejercicios yiJuegos para el Actor yiNo Actor con Ganas de Decir
[Algo A través del Teatro (Buenos Aires: Editorial Crisis S.R.L.,
975), pp. 92-102.

13

 

See Boal, 200 Ejercicios...., pp. 37-38.

 

14Ibid., p. 39.
151bid., p. 43.
16Ibid., p. 47.
171pm.

 

238

181616., p. 51.

191616.
20For more information see George Politzer, Elementary Princi-

ples of Philosophy, 2nd ed. (New York: International Publishers,
1978).

 

2‘See Augusto Boal, "A poética da 'Virta'. II," 0 Estado
de Sao Paulo, 20 de Outubro de 1962, Suplemento Literario, p. 5.

22

 

Boal, 200 Ejercicios..., p. 54.
23Ibid., p. 55.

241616.

25See Politzer, op. cit., pp. 143-153.
26BoaT, 200 Ejercicios..., p. 60.

 

27Ibid., p. 9.

28See Jerzy Grotowski, Toward a Poor Theatre. Preface by
Peter Brook (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968), pp. 15-25.

29"Desde un teatro de los pobres."

3OSee Roberto Jacoby, "Para Boal, hay que borrar las fron-
teras entre actores y publico," La_9piniép (Buenos Aires), 11 de
Octubre de 1972, p. 23.

3IBoal, op. cit., p. 16; Boal thinks that the technique
developed by Grotowski is one oriented toward the sub-conscious pro-
cesses of human beings. And this can have good application in coun-
tries like Poland, but not in underdeveloped countries of the Third
World such as those in Latin America. In underdeveloped countries,
the oppression is not in the sub-conscious; it is in the conscious-
ness; it is in reality. 50 theatre should help liberate the human
being from that reality which oppressed them, and not from sub-
conscious myths which also are oppressive.

321bid., p. 86.

33Ibid.

341616., p. 16.

35See note on page 85 of Boal's book 200 Ejercicios...

239

36The last experiment done by Boal, using this technique of
Breaking with Repression, was for three months in Paris during 1980.
In his Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed, he prepared a work-
shop-course for non-actors, entitled: "The Policeman in Your Head"
(Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11 and 13, 1980).
In it he used all the theatre techniques employed to help actors to
accomplish their characters, for assisting the non-actors to accom-
plish the character they would want to be in their real life. To
enter this course it was necessary that a person have the desire of
doing something to liberate himself from an oppression which he
suffered (Letter from Augusto Boal to the author dated October 15,
1979, Paris-France). With this experiment, his technique started to
drive his Theatre of the Oppressed toward a theatre characterized by

a cathartic process.

CHAPTER VI
BOAL AS A DIRECTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT

Two important aspects of Augusto Boal's theatre are his work
as a director and playwright. From the beginning of his professional
career, in 1956, his plays have always been closely related to his
development as a director. Not only does Boal direct most of his
plays himself, but even those which were collectively written were
products of an intensive collective laboratory with the Arena Theatre
under his direction. Some of his plays, such as his musicals, fpgggg
Narrates..., were directorial experiments which he accomplished with
members of the Arena Theatre. Thus, Boal's playwriting is closely
linked with his ideas on the task of theatre direction.

A brief description of Boal's artistic career indicates a
parallel between the development of his playwriting and his develop-
ment as a director.1 For investigatory purposes this chapter will
place more emphasis on those plays which have been performed, while
at the same time it will use as its basis the theatre criticisms

which appeared in the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de sac Paulo.

A. His Years as a Student: (From 1950 to 1956)
As a student Boal's interest in theatre was expressed pri-
marily through acting. However, playwriting became his principal

interest after 1950, when he wrote The Horse and the Saint.2 Although

240

241

it was never performed, Boal was satisfied with this first attempt,
and continued writing one-act plays centered on the same theme: the
life of the fishermen from the "Penha" region. Unfortunately, all
of these manuscripts have disappeared, and thus it is impossible to
extract any ideas concerning the structure, content, and language,
to help delineate the beginning of Boal's development as a playwright.
However, Boal's recollections relate the basic plots of all
of these plasy. In general, the author was preoccupied with the
problem of alcoholism; this problem and how it affected living
conditions was reflected in his principal characters. Although the
plays presented personal aspects of these characters' lives, the
problem received a more social treatment. Boal says that with
those plays he attempted to demonstrate the economic and social
roots of alcoholism. According to Boal, his characters' misfortunes
rather than alcoholism were the cause of their economic conditions.
To present these economic problems in the lives of the Penha
fishermen was Boal's motivation for writing those one-act plays.
The language was simple, using concise phrases rather than whole
sentences, in keeping with the personality and situation of the
characters. The action of the plays was centered around two charac-
ters whose dialogues developed the plot. In this sense the first
two of Boal's plays were similar: colloquial and rapid speech
little action, and a great deal of discussion between two persons.
Three years later, in 1953, Boal decided to travel to the
United States to complete his graduate studies in Chemistry and

his undergraduate theatrical studies at Columbia University. There

 

 

 

242

he encountered such prominent people as Langston Hughes, Maurice
Valency, John Gassner, and Norris Houghton. He was given an oppor-
tunity to demonstrate his directorial capabilities.

With two one-act plays, in the same genre as he had written

earlier, Martin the Fisherman and The House Across the Street,3

 

Boal's first attempt as a theatre director was at the Malin Theatre
in New York, in 1955. However, his effort, dedication, and work
ended in disappointment. For reasons beyond his control, the plays
were cancelled a few days before opening night. Nonetheless, this
experience convinced him to continue working as a director when he
returned to Brazil. Boal considers this experience as very enlighten-
ing. He understood that as a director his task was to unify all of
the production elements: text, interpretation, actors' characteri-
zations, scenery, lighting, costume and color.

Discipline and attention to the message of the spectacle were
the two pillars of his work as a director. Boal has said that disci-
pline is fundamental to attaining any artistic goal. For the direc-
tor, whose taks is also to coordinate and control, discipline becomes
a necessity. Boal felt that all spectacles depended primarily upon
the content of the text. His views as a playwright dominated his
views as a director, principal importance given to the text--for
him content was more vital than form.

After this experience, in 1955, he became more involved in
playwriting, joining the Brooklyn Writers Group and studying play-

writing under John Gassner.

243

Then, in 1956, after completing his studies in the United
States and returning to Brazil, there was a temporary suspension in
his life as a playwright and director, while working as a translator
of mystery novels for six months. He rejoined the theatrical realm
when the Arena Theatre of S50 Paulo offered him the artistic direc-
tion of the group. Once again Boal had the opportunity to develop
as a theatre director.

B. The Beginning of his Professional Career; First Successes and
Failures: (From 1956 to 1960)

 

Boal began his professional career with notable success,

directing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men for the Arena Theatre.

 

During the days which preceded the opening night, the public of

$50 Paulo and the theatre critics voice many expectations about

the possible production problems and Boal's directorial capabili-
ties.4 Finally, on September 26, 1956, the public of $30 Paulo,
filling the Arena hall to its capacity, welcomed with warm enthusiasm
the new theatre director named Augusto Boal. Most of the critics
focused their attention on criticizing Boal's directorial expertise.
In the October 5, 1956, newspaper edition of the newspaper O Estado
de sac Paulo, its theatre critique begins by saying that the debut

 

of Augusto Boal as a director was very good--good because of its

artistic value as well as its meaning....5
The article analyzes Boal's directorial work by comparing

his style with one of Brazil's most famous theatre directors, José

Renato. It says that Boal's style is more "...calm...less vibrant,"6

that he uses pauses effectively, leaving the actors to repose in

244

 

their positions. The author of the article understood that this
style created the psychological tension and rhythm of the play and
that Boal is an expert at this.

In this play, Boal gave special attention to the characters'
and actors' presentations. The emphasis was placed upon the actor's
work and not the message of the text. Boal appeared to view himself
as both teacher and as the group's director. With this first
experience, Boal demonstrated his exceptional expertise with an
emotionally powerful play. Many critics agreed that the play's
success rested upon the "excellent representation done by Boal"7
and not upon the text itself. Due to this impressive success, Boal
was awarded "Best New DireCtor of the Year,"8 by the $50 Paulo
Association of Theatre Critics.9

Immediately after this momentous event, the Arena Theatre
decided to organize the first playwriting seminar in the city of
$50 Paulo. Boal was selected to direct and coordinate it. For
several months, the members of the Arena Theatre worked on one of
the most critical aspects of theatre activity: playwriting. This
seminar has been considered by various analysts of Brazilian dramatic
literature as a significant moment in the development of contemporary
Brazilian dramatic literature.10 This seminar catapulted many
influential and controversial Brazilian playwrights into the theatri-
cal limelight, during the fifties and sixties: Gianfrancesco

Guarnieri, Henrique Pongetti, Rui Barbosa, Oduvaldo Vianna Filho, and

Boal himself. The theatre magazines, periodicals, and newspapers

245

of those years show that these authors were the most often repre-
sented on the Brazilian stage.

From that seminar, Boal emerged with much more control over
his playwriting technique, especially comedy writing. For several
years he had wanted to write a different kind of play. Instead of
continuing with short one-acts, he wrote a lengthy social satire on
the urban life of contemporary Brazilians. His first three-act

comedy was, SkinnypHusband, Boring Wife.]]

 

The play, directed first by Boal, was performed on January 5,
1957, at the Arena Theatre. It attempted to capture the social
psychology of Brazilian youth, satirized by Boal as "Coca Cola

Kids."12

It takes place in the Copacabana area, where the middle
and upper-middle class of Brazil live, near a beautiful beach with
the same name. Only two characters (the skinny husband and the
boring wife) perform practically the entire dialogue. The play
maintains the colloquial tone established in Boal's first one-act
dramas. He uses short phrases as in his first plays, but with more
explanations, resulting in lengthier dialogue. The comic situations
and discussion held between the two young characters move the action
at an accelerated pace. The female character is more well-developed.
She embodies the meaning of the play and is the nucleus of all of
the dialogue and action. The male character is involved in a depen-
dent relationship with the female; he merely reacts to the stimuli
which she offers.

The text of the script indicates that Boal knows what quali-

ties transform a text into a play. Each line is accompanied by short

246

descriptions of the required vocal inflexion, facial expression or
body movement. Therefore, each phrase was carefully constructed to
obtain a particular effect. Boal's clear notation on gestures and
movements allows the reader to experience the illusion of seeing

the play performed on stage. Thus, the comedy possesses two values.
One is social--what the play teaches about the Copacabana area, the
Brazilian middle class, and young Brazilians. The second is visual--
the total piece exhibits the scenic functioning that any text by a
good playwright can reach.

This aspect of the comedy was very favorably received by the
critics. The newspaper O Estado de 550 Paulo stated that the author
demonstrated "the perfect dominion of the comedy technique,"13
because of the scenic value that the play possessed. For other
critics, the real theme of the comedy was not really the "Coca Cola"
youth of Copacabana, but the theatre itself, because of that scenic
quality.

Besides the favorable reviews on Boal's script, his direction
was also very favorably critiqued. One review characterized his work
as "splendid" saying that without his direction the play would risk
obscurity. Boal's psychological development of characters was
described by critics as excellent. The theatricality of the produc-
tion was reinforced by a great deal of movement on stage, creating
a farcial atmosphere, in perfect relationship to the play's style.
These directorial descriptions indicated a change in Boal's direction
concepts--a greater emphasis on form rather than content. He was now

a more technical and less literary director.

247

Because of Boal's phenomenal success as a director, the

14 and,

National Library named him the "Best Young Director of 1956;"
in addition, he was invited to direct with the National Theatre
Company of Brazil.15 From this point, Augusto Boal gained national
notoriety. He was invited by several companies and associations

to direct or collaborate on various productions, and one of these
was the renowned Black Experimental Theatre of Brazil. Nevertheless,
Boal, wanting a remain a member and director of the Arena Theatre,
rejected other opportunities. His next two directing experiences

were with the Arena Theatre's production of Sean O'Casey's Juno and

the Paycock, and Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted. These

 

marked the first failures of his professional career. They were
disappointments to him but, in retrospect, helped him to analyze
his faults for continuing self-improvement.

Boal's work with Juno and the Paycock illustrates some of

 

his difficulties. Boal was enthusiastic about the play and its
production. For practically two months he rehearsed the play meticu-
lously. Boal was extremely careful with the play's interpretation
because of its unusual complexity. He felt that this complexity was
essential to the text, and that any director should take it into
consideration when faced with the problems of text interpretation.
The play moves from drama to melodrama, and from comedy to farce.
What is absolutely vital in the play is its extreme diversity: poetry
combined with vulgarity, and suffering with ridicule.

Boal apparently erred in this production because he did not

know how to preserve all of the text's rich ambiquity and

248

ambivalence.16 Neither the seriously tragic scenes nor the absurdly
funny scenes convinced the critics that they had been well-articulated

and efficiently performed. Many of those criticisms concerned the

..17 18

"traditional ways in which Boal approached the comic situations.
However, the production was considered successful in its
excellent use of scenic apparatus: good balance on the acting
levels. very well coordinated lighting, scenery, and movements.
Boal had achieved the technical unity needed to transform the pro-
duction into a fine spectacle. In the perspective of the text--
the content of the spectacle--he was not successful. Unfortunately,
this omission incurred the strongest criticisms of Boal's directing
technique.19
Boal's next directing experience was They Knew What They
.Wantgg in January of 1958. If the production of Juno and the Pay-
gogk_was the first partial failure of Boal's as a director, the
production of Sidney Howard's play was his first total failure.
Regrettably, adverse conditions existed when Boal directed Howard's
play. Although with Juno and the Paycock he had had some success in
spite of negative reviews, in this experience failure was a cer-
tainty for several reasons. First, the Arena Theatre hall was being
used for two productions. Second, most of the more experienced
actors of the Arena Theatre were performing outside of S30 Paulo.
Third, the remaining members of the group lacked the experience to
rehearse a production such as this in less than a month. These

conditions led Boal to disagree with the choice of Sidney Howard's

play; additionally, the group faced numerous financial problems.

249

With so many disadvantages, the result was what everyone expected

a poor production.20

Juno and the Paycock played for one and a half months, but

 

this production lasted only three and a half weeks. This production
was unsuccessful both artistically and as popular entertainment--
the audience was too apathetic. Although this play had won the
Pulitzer Prize, in 1925, to the Brazilian public thirty years later,
the piece held little interest. According to the critics, Boal
erred by stressing the melodramatic elements, which were unaccept-

2] An additional problem

able to the Brazilian public of that era.
occurred within the production organization. During this year the
Arena Theatre faced a crisis in the composition and ideology of its
members. Its prestige and acceptance began to decline. Other
failures moved the group to change its orientation. To focus its
attention on Brazilian national writers, the group began an untried
stage called Brazilian National Realism.

In spite of the above disappointments Boal continued to
direct. After the failure of Sidney Howard's play in January of

1958, Boal assumed directing responsibility within ten days over

Society in a Baby Doll22 by the Brazilian writer, Henrique Pongetti,

 

one of the authors who had participated in Boal's playwriting semi-
nar. This risky effort again won Boal the admiration and respect
of $30 Paulo's critics. In fact, Boal's attitude won laudable
comments from the critics. He had assumed complete responsibility

for the production, and the results, though not totally successful,

250

were very rewarding and encouraging. With this piece, Boal demon-
strated his ability to use caricature, to communicate the message
of the play, a capability which was subsequently noted by the critics.
All of the exaggerated movements, gestures, and interpretations were
controlled so that the play's credibility was maintained. Boal
himself says that caricature itself is an exaggeration of some
detail, but without the loss of credibility. At the moment that it
loses its credibility, caricature transforms itself into something
grotesque. Boal's directing in this respect was congruent with
what he proposed: to caricaturize the play's situations without
becoming grotesque or improbable.23 For him, theatrical comedy and/
or satire fulfills its social function only if presented as some-
thing probable and credible; and, according to the critics, Boal
succeeded in this with Henrique Pongetti's Society in a Baby Doll.
With this production Boal regained his stellar reputation
with the $30 Paulo public and the theatre critics. In addition,
the Arena Theatre was revitalized with the performances of plays
by authors who had participated in Boal's playwriting seminar. A
nationalistic mood in those years was very evident in theatrical
activity, and the Arena Theatre played a major role in sustaining
this mood. Meanwhile, Boal continued working enthusiastically as
director both for the Arena Theatre plays of national playwrights
and for international authors outside of the Arena Theatre, achieving

tremendous success.

 

251
C. The Climax of a Director's Career and the Artistic Maturity of
a Playwright: (From 1960 to 1965)

The first half of the sixties were significant years in the
artistic life of Augusto Boal. He was named Best Actor, in 1960,
and given the Saci award by the newspaper O Estado de 550 Paulo.

In the same year, he became a professor of playwriting at the School
of Dramatic Art of Brazil. All of the plays under Boal's direction
received very positive reviews. In 1963, he was once again named
Best Director of the Year for his production of Machiavelli's Ihg

Mandragola. His play, Revolution in South America, had a monumental

 

impact on Brazil's theatrical activity. For more than a year, it
was performed in $86 Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and many other notable
cities with unusual success. As Sébato Magaldi has said, with this
play Boal became the most controversial and renowned Brazilian
playwright of that period.24

In 1962, the Arena Theatre entered into a new phase, The
Nationalization of the Classics, which artistically transformed the
theatrical activity of $30 Paulo. Many classical texts were adapted
to the political and social reality of contemporary Brazil. A
laboratory of interpretation was created under Boal's direction.
The plays of the authors that took part in Boal's playwriting semi-
nar became famous, tanks to his works as artistic director of the
Arena Theatre of $30 Paulo.

A chronological evaluation explains these results. In 1960,

Boal successfully directed Benedito Rui Barbosa's play, "Cold Fire."25

The play, the author's first, was a realistic drama portraying the

252

social and economic conditions of the coffee zone in northern Brazil.
The whole play was exemplified by a strong emotional content, sad-
ness and happiness intermingled, to characterize the Brazilian
peasant's psychology in this area. The play was very well-constructed
and it received significant support from the public of $30 Paulo.

The criticism of this play demonstrated the importance that
the directing talents of Augusto Boal had in its success. 0 Estado

de 350 Paulo, in its edition of April 27 (p. 10), says that Boal's

 

technical direction was a lesson in how to transform an amateur's
text into a highlevel professional production. According to this
review, Boal balanced the different moods presented throughout the
text, to effectively preserve the play's realism. In some scenes,
Boal had to accentuate the comedic intent of the text to counter-
balance the sad scenes. An excellent example of this was the rela-
tionships between the characters, Anita and Zuza, whose scenes were
full of liveliness, happiness and comedy.

Boal also diligently delineated the psychological aspects of
the characters. The aforementioned review also points out that the
strongest unity in the characterizations occurred where the hand of
the director was evident. The acting styles and levels were aimed
at attaining the unity required for a realistic play. Here, again,
the critics recognized the value of Boal's directing. The spectacle
was well-constructed with Boal lending a sense of cohesion to the
whole production, resulting in high appreciation from the reviewer.

With this production Boal had already inspired respect from

the theatre critics. His name as a first-rate director had spread

253

throughout Brazil, and his stature with the professional theatre of

Brazil was increasing. However, it was through his play, Revolution

 

in South America, that he gained fame. Sabato Magaldi commented in

 

his Panorama do Teatro Brasileiro, that Boal up to this point had

 

not produced a text capable of placing him among the most talented

writers of his time. But Revolution in South America claimed that
26

 

position for the author. In general, the play brought to $50
Paulo and Brazil a political and artistic controversy. There were
numerous positive and negative criticisms regarding its content,
form, political thought, and dramatic value. This play revolution-
ized the total theatre activity of sap Paulo. One single incident
demonstrates the impact the play had.

One of the major theatrical critics of $50 Paulo wrote on
September 16, 1960, the day after the opening, a review that praised
the author and the play for its social and political content. He
talked superficially about the structure, dialogue, and action of
the play, but he focused his attention on the political thesis.

He described the emotional impact he felt on opening night and how
it affected the spectators. His last words were: "Soon we shall
speak again about the piece and about the spectacle with more
serenity and calm."27 One September 25, he wrote another review of
the play. Now, he stated that he intended to analyze the play from
the dramatic point of view. After a long analysis of the principal
character's development, he astonished his readers with many meri-

torious comments. In order that the readers would believe that he

254

was being objective, he touched upon the play's negative elements
as well, and ended by criticizing Boal for an excessive need to
politicize, but, nonetheless, praising Boal as a playwright.

Two days later, he wrote another review on an area he had
not touched upon previously: the spectacle performed by the Arena
Theatre. This review was very positive, too, emphasizing that such
an artistic creation had never been seen before by $50 Paulo's

28

public. The same thing occurred in many other theatrical periodi-

cals, e.g., Revista Brasiliense, which contained lengthy articles

 

analyzing and criticizing Revolution in South America. Apparently,
the play had such an enormous impact that the critics needed time

to absorb it and analyze its relevancy to Brazilian life. What were
the reasons for that controversy? What kind of play produced such
an impact?

The play cannot be classified as either comedic, farcical,
satirical, musical or even as a circus spectacle-~it is all of these
and more. It is documentary theatre about the Brazil of that era.
It is a protest drama, too, denouncing the political leaders and
conditions that existed in Brazil during that period. The play is
divided into two acts, with a prologue and an introduction. It has
fifteen scenes--with music, songs, dance, and dialogue sections--
and more than thirty characters, as well as choruses and extras.

It is a simple story. It concerns the life of an impoverished
worker, José da Silva, in the last days before his death, as he
tries to improve his pathetic economic condition. He loses his job

for requesting a pay raise. He is convinced by Zequinha Tapioca

255

to foment a true revolution, although Tapioca later betrays him
by joining the opposition forces. In addition, he is deceived by
the political leaders who revived him when they needed his vote
and then abandoned him until he died.

José does nothing to improve his situation; instead he
complains and maintains faith that better days will come. He
rejects the idea of politicizing himself. He embodies all of the
negative qualities of the working class. He only exerts himself
in an effort to get a better lunch, and that is enough for him.

He never contemplates the causes of his situation. He is a charac-
ter easily manipulated by others: his wife, who convinces him to
ask for the raise which results in his dismissal; his friend, who
deceives him, and the workers' leaders, who feed lies to him.
Finally, he dies of starvation. But, as many theorists have said,
the hunger of Jose da Silva is a political symbol. It is represen-
tative of the hunger experienced by human beings who confront the
political interests that control their country.

Since the play has no sympathetic character, several indi-
viduals disagreed with the content and the message that was presented.
Boal, later answering that argument, stated that such a character
was not necessary. He wanted to present a "disaster," and the
"disaster" was a sufficient warning.29 He pointed out: "I just
wanted to photograph the disaster."30

At the beginning of the play the spectator and the reader
are very perplexed. The first act appears chaotic. The apparent

lack of structure is only an illusion; however, in the second act,

 

256

the organic whole of the play, its unity and cohesiveness, becomes
apparent. The unity is established through the protagonist. His
story is the heart of the complex plot.

What was the purpose of this choas and complexity? Boal
explained that "the original version was based on a circus spectacle

"31 The objec-

where all of the characters were performed by clowns.
tive was to write a piece which presented the unique social and
psychological characteristics of the society. He wished to write a
play that would not analyze a character faced with a specific prob-
lem, and for that reason he used technical elements from the cinema,
the epic, and the circus. As he indicated, "I tried a panoramic
vision of the society....Although the play is not in itself realis-
tic, reality was in all cases the starting point."32
Each scene in the play has its own title, plot and style.
For this reason there was some controversy among the critics con-
cerning the epic procedure employed by Boal. For example, to José
de Oliveira Santos, the play was an exact copy of Brecht's style.33
Santos believes that Boal succeeded in finding a common denominator
between the epic form and the Brazilian stage. Other critics felt
that Revolution in South America was a frustrated attempt to imitate
the epic theatre forms and the play lacked any dramatic merit,
while having spectacle value, such as a circus review. For others,
the fact that the principal character was the unifying element,

reminded them of Mother Courage walking, without stopping and look-

ing, for a way to survive. The worker, Jose da Silva, basically

257

performs identical actions, going to several different places, try-
ing to find his lunch.

Besides these similarities to a Brechtian play, there is
another similarity in the didacticism in several of the songs which
ended some of the scenes. Even though for some critics those songs
were supplementary to the spectacle, rather than an organic part
of it, the didactic element of the Brecht-epic theatre was con-
stantly present in Boal's play.

Other analysis, sabato Magaldi for one, believe that the

roots of Revolution in South America are not in epic theatre, but
"34

 

in the "spirit of Aristophanes' comedy. Identical to the come-
dies of this Greek author, Boal's piece is against everything: it
is only in favor of the protagonist who is dying of hunger. More-
over, Boal's exaggeration of reality had the same goal that Aristo-
phanes had with his comedies: to achieve the profound essence of
that reality. Both authors also transform their characters into
types such as circus clowns.35
As comedy, Magaldi affirms that Revolution in South America
is gross, coarse, rough, plain, and without sublety, keeping all
of the joyful and attractive vitality of the primitive comedy. Like
most of the characters in Aristophanes' plays, José da Silva pos-
sesses all of the characteristics of the types he represents.36
He is not a real model but rather the ideal model; according to Boal,
he is the negative ideal model. In other words, all of the nega-

tive characteristics of the characters José da Silva portrays were

258

representative in one person--this was typical of the primitive
comedy, too.

Not only in structure, form, and content, but also in
language and dialogue, the play presents many shades of meaning.
All of the phrases, word-games, and use of ambiguities were care-
fully developed to provoke laughter and an easy understanding of
the language. Prologues, circus-like scenes, songs, pantomimes,
and music were all used as components of one central idea which
consistently threads its way through the spectacle.

Of the faults attributed to the play, there are two upon
which all critics agree: the redundancy of certain jokes and the
lengthiness of the second act (double the first one).

The critics were very laudable concerning the form of the
piece. As Oliveira Santos stated, it was "almost perfect."37
First, the form was perfectly adapted to Brazilian tastes. Second,
it clearly presented the author's thesis. Third, it was not diluted
by any sentimentalism. Finally, it prevented the spectator from
being absorbed in the action on stage.38

Revolution in South America shows a playwright in the pro-
cess of maturity. A style was established which can be categorized
as "circus-like" and which would become a constant in the rest of
his plays. His dramaturgy began to have more defined characteristics:
heavy, spectacular, gross, rich in variety, and over all very

Brazilian, definitely due to the use of Brazilian dance and music

(an idiosyncratic part of the spirit of the Brazilian people).

259

After this experience, Boal continued accumulating triumphs
as a director, especially with the plays directed by young Brazilian
writers from his playwriting seminar. His next experience as a
playwright was, in 1962, with the comedy Joseph from Birth to the

39

Grave, a continuation of Revolution in South America. José da

 

Silva again is the central character, and it continues in the same
style as the previous one. However, here, the general picture was
more ambitious, specifically in its political content. Boal wanted
to show the deterioration of the system through the destruction of
the protagonist, who tried absolutely to follow the precepts and
principles of that system.40 This play concerns a family's financial
woes. Through it, Boal exposes capitalist principles: respect for
lawful order and religion, the cult of individual initiative and
free enterprise, and respect for private property and the philosophy
of individualism. José da Silva follows those precepts and the plot
exhibits his defeat.

This play had a more political focus. Boal wished to write
a play that characterized the mechanics of the class struggle while
simultaneously attacking the present society's organizational struc-
ture. The critics said that it had a brilliant creative outline,
but its dramatic value was inadequate.41

The criticisms of Joseph from Birth...were generally uncom-

 

plimentary because of Boal's adherence to Marxist doctrine. Appar-
ently, the clear emphasis on political analysis turned the play into
a political pamphlet. For many critics, the play was only a simple

application of the "A B C's of Marxism."42

 

260

Identical to Revolution in South America, this play's unifi-

 

cation was also through the principal character, but, as Décio de
Almeida Prado indicated in his critique, "without achieving the

level of spontaneity which characterized the representations of the
Arena Theatre, which are freer from the theoretical point of view."43

Another area that was greatly criticized was the play's
strong reliance on the Brechtian formula. The circus-like spectacu-
lar element, highly developed in Revolution in South America, was
insignificant in Joseph..., there was more unemotional dialogue.
There was less adaptation of the Brechtian form to Brazilian tastes.
The experience was closer to German theatre than to Brazilian,
except in its content.

The text is practically a repetition of Revolution in South
America, with the exception of the too-obvious political ideology.
The first part presents the theme: religion is the opium of the
people. The second part demonstrates that in the capitalist coun-
tries the profit goes to the bosses and not to the workers. Finally,
the third part shows that a man in that society turns into an object,
losing his human.

Apparently, the play's difficulty lies in the faulty balance
of content and form. The techniques of the circus revues, the
cinema, and the epic used in Revolution in South America this time
could not successfully combine with the heavy political content of

Joseph from Birth to the Grave.

 

The comedic quality of this play approaches the bizarre

losing its credibility. For example, in one of the scenes, a

261

few-months old child is learning her first words. Her mother first
wants her to learn the word "mother";44 to convince her, she shows
her a piece of fruit saying that its name is “mother." Her grand-
mother first wants the child to learn the word "grandma,”45 and
follows the same procedure as the mother's. Finally, the child
screams the words "workers of the world, unite."46
The spectator was surprised into laughter by such a farce;
and, as Décio de Almeida Prado says, by the total triumph of the
circus-like comedy.47 But believability and the true meaning of

the words were lost, as well as the political message. As farce,

Joseph from Birth to the Grave is excessively didactic. As a poli-

 

tical play, the farcical elements forced the political message to
be distorted and unacceptable.

Not all of Boal's works were negative experiences. In this
same year, of 1962, Boal expanded his career as a director with
classical dramatic productions adapted to Brazilian reality, speci-

fically the production of Machiavelli's The Mandragola. As was

 

mentioned before, the Arena Theatre had initiated an untried stage
called Nationalization of the Classics, in which plays by Lope de
Vega, Moliere, Shakespeare, Gogol, and Ben Johnson were adapted to
Brazilian political reality. Boal was the person behind this change
of orientation, from 1962 to 1965, in the Arena Theatre, and justi-
fiably received the Saci aware as Best Director of 1962 because of
hiw work with The Mandragola.

The spectacle was well-received by the critics as one of the

best in the history of the Brazilian theatre. As an adaptor, Boal

 

262

was showered with accolades--as a director Boal was considered as

the best, the most innovative, the most controversial, and the most
valiant--a risky speculator. A survey of the newspaper O Estado de
530 Paulo, from September to November of 1962, indicates Boal's

value as a director. It was during that year, as a result of that
production, that he wrote the first articles about the "Bourgeois
Poetic of Virtu,"48 articles that were later included in his greatest

work, The Theater of the Oppressed.

 

For the adaptation of The Mandragola, to clarify its politi-

 

cal meaning, Boal added scenes and included songs and phrases, many
of which were from other works by Machiavelli, particularly The
.EEIEES- By doing this, Boal placed greater emphasis on the comedy's
social and human criticism, thereby making the piece easier to under-
stand for the Brazilian public. According to the critics, this

risky undertaking resulted in an astonishing victory. The produc-
tion was performed, from 1962 to 1963, in $30 Paulo, and later
continued on tour throughout the country.

Boal's work as a director was classified as one of "high
delicacy and intelligence,"49 "delicacy" for his dedication and care
in the adaptation and preparation of the spectacle and his careful
directing of each detail of the whole production. According to
the critics, he demonstrated a deep knowledge of the author, the
historical period in which the play was created, and notably of

50 In fact, the critics emphasized

Machiavelli's political thought.
that the directing seemed to actually be that of Machiavelli himself;

instead of the direct attack, Boal preferred "an insidious line,

 

263

"51 This approach was effective because the spectator was

oblique.
totally involved.52 Other critics stressed that Boal's direction
presented everything without ambiguity, and that his ability to com-
municate the play's message could be classified as "truly Machia-
vellian."53
The critics also elaborated on Boal's excellent working
relationship with his actors. No one actor was exceptional; thus,
this was indicative of a very successful and collective work style.
All of the acting was unified by Boal. The cast had a very clear
understanding of the script. Boal succeeded in achieving an
unobstrusive stylization and simple elegance, as well as revealing
the heretofore undiscovered humor in some of the scenes.54
From this directorial work, Boal developed his own method,
which he used for many years. It was based on the idea that both
the written text and the spectacle have their own autonomy--that
the text, in particular, does not impose any pre-conceived direction
on a spectacle. Each performance should be considered only in rela-
tion to the cast or group circumstances, the potentialities and
needs of the cast, and in its political and social context. So, if
there are needed changes in the scenes, styles, or phrases of the
text, this should be done. The text is merely the raw material and
the spectacle should not be subjugated to it. So, any piece, written
according to romantic or neoclassic standards, could be presented
realistically, romantically, or follow any other theatrical style.

Until 1965, Boal successfully continued as a director using

this method. His many play adaptations brought him heavy support

 

264

from the Brazilian public as he travelled throughout the country's
interior presenting these adaptations. For example, the adaptation
of Lope de Vega's The Best Mayor, the King to the Brazilian peasant's
reality was a huge success, as well as Shakespeare's Coriolanus,
Moliere's Tartuffe, and a few Brazilian classics. Then, in 1965,

the Arena Theatre inaugurated a new stage, The Musicals. For it,

an innovative performance system was created, The Joker System,

which has been previously discussed. This system's foundation was
rooted in the directorial method employed by Boal in those adapta-
tions.

D. Boal as the Director of His Own Plays; The Musicals: (From
1965 to 1970)

 

The years from 1965 to 1970 marked a complete transformation
of theatrical activity in Brazil. The coup d'etat of April, 1964,
greatly reduced the number of public performances, notably those
considered by the critics as innovative or radical. Many were can-
celled because of fear of repression, and many theatre halls were
closed by order of the state. This situation affected artistic
conceptions concerning the function and aesthetic value of the
theatre. If there had been a preoccupation with integrating the
artistic quality of a performance with its political content, now
the principal preoccupation was with protest alone, and this was
what the spectacle Opinion55 came to be: a protest against what
Veiga Fialho classified as "Cultural Terrorism."56

In this production, prepared and directed by Boal, three

singers and two popular composers sang their own songs and dramatized

265

the actions and scenes described in their melodies. In addition to
singing, they discussed and criticized their own lives, censuring
Brazil's current social injustices. The effect Boal wanted to
achieve was a musical and verbal picture of Brazilian society. The
general text was written by him in conjunction with other writers:
Vianna Filho, Armando Costas, and Paulo Pontes.

Boal understood that Opinion could be a curious experiment
in playwriting, one in which the song lyrics represented the textual
outline of a possible drama. Unfortunately, the critics placed no
emphasis whatsoever on the dramatic value of the show. It still
was a triumph in terms of the public's reaction and reception. Some
critics pointed out that its success should be attributed to the
Brazilian public, as a symbolic "cry of protest."57 The show's
political comments, anecdotes, and caricatures gave it a very simplis-
tic, but clear and precise, dramatic form.

The show was categorized as "conformist"58 even though it
was clearly a protest against governor Carlos Lacerda, it still
implied the idea that the ghetto's poor conform to their environ-
ment, an attitude which can hardly be considered progressive.
According to Paulo Francis, no one could feel offended by the spec-
tacle, except certain representatives of the "lunatic fringe"59--
the right wing. To this critic, its major flaw was that it lacked
the kind of content which could compel the public to political action.

At this time in Brazil, any artistic endeavor could have

' made an impact if it had value as a political event. According to

266

some critics, Opinion was not really a political event; it was just
a cry of protest by the sentimentalist Brazilian left wing.60 As
political theatre, it was further criticized for its lack of agres-
siveness, and its high level of sentimentality. The misfortunes of
the oppressed were maudlinly portrayed in an idealized form. The
text of the show failed to show the oppressed as being as truly com-
plex as they actually were.

The performance itself and Boal's work were more positively
critiqued. According to the critics, the spectacle succeeded in
achieving a "good dialogue with the present spectators."61 This
represents a change in Boal's directing objectives; he had become
more preoccupied with the communication between spectators and per-
formers. According to Boal, the majority of the spectacles and
performances of the Brazilian theatre before this year were charac-
terized by a total lack of communication: "The theatre here, the
public there."62 He wanted to correct this fault with Opinion.
Apparently, he accomplished this, according to the reviews, published
during this period. It was because of this unique communication
that the spectacle was considered a "work of art."63

The show's objective was to work from a realistic perspective,
in the sense of working with current situations. According to the
reviews, Opinion demonstrated that the inclusion of reality in any
artistic work was necessary, for the reason that the Brazilian spec-

tators of that era "demanded the concrete and the specific, and not

' abstractions or universalizations."64 Thus, the reviewers believed

 

267

Boal's direction to be perfect; it achieved the level of communica-
tion with the spectators that it was looking for.

With Opinion, the Arena Theatre began an innovative stage in
its development, The Musicals. This stage was the result of the
skills learned in the prior stages being applied to present condi-
tions. In it, two principles were combined: "universality and
specificity."65 The photographic realistic theatre was combined
with the technique of adaptation to Brazilian reality.

Finally, Boal impressed the critics for the considerable
value that his direction gave to the work of the performers. Up to
this point, the Brazilian theatre had placed more emphasis on the
authors of plays than on the performers or interpreters of plays.
This was an intellectual approach said the critics, which had voided
the creative power of the Brazilian interpreters, and was yet another
cause of the lack of communication between audience and performer.
According to the critics, Boal was capable of preparing a spectacle
for the Brazilian theatre performers and not just for the Brazilian
playwright. Opinion was created with that catalyst, using other non-
dramatic aspects of the theatre, such as the compositions and the
musical talents of famous singers, Maria Bethania, Zé Kéti, and Joao
do Valle.

Boal had become a director preoccupied with the spectators,
especially in their relations, not with the text itself, but with
the interpreters of that text. This experiment in directing moved

the Arena Theatre to the creation of a system of performing named

268

The Joker System, already discussed. Boal followed the style of
work initiated with Opinion in collectively producing a new musical

spectacle entitled Arena Narrates Zumbi. In it, Boal combined his

 

talent as a playwright with his talent as a director. The impact
created by this musical was so immense that it was performed for

a year and a half (between 1965 and 1966) in $50 Paulo. When the
analysts of Brazilian theatre history discussed those years, they
isolated this spectacle as the event which revolutionized the Bra-
ilian theatre during the sixties.66

Boal has said that with that musical the Arena Theatre

accomplished the creation of a national form of theatre expression,
a new form which corresponded to the needs of the Brazilian public

and at the same time sought its inspiration within Brazilian reality.

Arena Narrates Zumbi proposed a fable of universal character taken

 

from Brazilian history and was collectively prepared. The play has

an entertainment element because of the inclusion of popular Brazilian
music. But, at the same time, it is very polemical, for in its
folklore and politics are inexorably intertwined. This was a vital
factor in the group's avoidance of censorship.

The play is characterized by a long narration, the story of
the last king of Palmares (a Black republic founded by African slaves
in the interior of northeast Brazil in 1605 and destroyed in 1696).

It presents with music, songs, dialogues in verse form, verse and
prose narrations, and dances the heroic struggle of those slaves led

' by Zumbi and his last descendants against the armies of the Portuguese

269

Empire. The first act, with fourteen episodes, narrates the history
of the slave trade during the sixteenth century, the first flight

of slaves from their owners, the struggle for survival in the Bra-
zilian jungles, the construction of Palmares and its development,

the commercial traffic between Palmares and the white slave traders,
the death of the first leader, Gongoba, and the birth of Ganga Zumba-
Zumbi. The second act, with five episodes, narrates the process
involved in the republic's destruction. The first four episodes pre-
sent the preparations made by the Portuguese Empire to destory
Palmares while Ganga Zumba, the new leader, seizes the leadership
from Zumbi. Finally, the last episode presents the destruction of
the republic, and the musical ends with a pulsating speech about
continuing the struggle at the present time.

This short summary cannot truly depict the richness that
the spectacle possesses. Its scenes of violence, inspired directly
by the actual occurrences of the 19605 (specifically the torture
scenes in the first act), alternated with comic episodes, with
moments of high lyricism, with songs of love, of victory, of mourn-
ing, all of them inspired by the popular tradition of Afro-Brazilian
music and songs.

The structure of the play is simple: two acts, one very
protracted, which develops the plot until the crisis point (the
destruction of Palmares), and then a final, shorter one, which is
the historical result of the first one. Each episode has its own

autonomy in style and form, and narrates one part of the story-fable.

270

To facilitate a better understanding of the relationship between
Brazil's history and the political reality of the 19605, the episodes
are not arranged chronologically. What was essential in the play
was not the chronology of the historical event, but its meaning for
modern Brazil and its similarities to the present political situa-
tion.

Numerous characters, many taken from history and Brazilian
Black mythology, appear in each episode. Again, through the use
of multitudes, the play appears to be a circus spectacle. Each of
the actors represented all of the characters of the play. 50, to
these successive interpretations, the examination of the psychology
of the characters was not essential. To portray the social, his-
torical, and political aspects of all of the characters was estab-
lished as the most necessary element. This is reminiscent of the
Brechtian theory about the objectivity of the characters. Boal
reached that objectivity in this play but from a different perspec-
tive.

With this experience, Boal started to polish his concepts
about playwriting and theatre itself. He thought that the theatre
"always tries to present images from real life. But always the
images are very static..., the traditional theatre tends to paralyze
changeable realities. Playwriting has hardly tried to translate
into the language of art the concept of change and transformation."67
For this reason, continues Boal, the modern process of analysis

uses antiquated forms from other realities, and this is the limitation

271

of the theatre today. With this musical, Boal and the Arena Theatre
ignored traditional definitions of theatre. They simply wanted to
narrate a story from their own perspective. In this form, fresh
techniques of playwriting were born which were linked with the con-
cept of the spectacle's directing: characters completely isolated
from the actors, fragmented narrations without chronology, important
events mixed with insignificant facts, dramatic scenes tied together
with documentary facts, events lost in time, news from the most
recent newspapers, and the most varied anacronisms.

Boal, as director and playwright, had held onto a taste for
variety. This can be seen in the content and form of the play.

The style he created with Revolution in South America was maintained

 

in this musical with a few slight variations: more lyricism, more
poetry, and less satire. Again, the unity of the whole play was
created through one element. Before, it had been through the prota-
gonist; here it was through the character who symbolized the central
idea, liberty. This was the central idea contained in the text, in
the spectacle, and in the performance.

In the previous musical (Opinion), Boal presented the con-
cept of liberty in a more concrete form. As he says, the reality
was singularized; the concrete event was simplified. With Apppp

Narrates Zumbi, he tried to use the concrete event, reality, with

 

more profundity while being aware of the necessity of universalizing
it. This is the reason for using verse, poetry, lyric music, and

the legends of Zumbi, the principal character.

272

This spectacle was the greatest triumph of all for Boal
and the Arena Theatre. It was a double triumph according to Boal,
from the artistic point of view as well as the public point of view
on account of its polemical character. The production initiated
discussions again on a major episode from Brazilian history, using
it for what Boal called "a modern vision."68 The production also
glorified the slaves' struggle to gain their freedom, transforming
it into a model for contemporary struggles.

From the artistic point of view, Arena Narrates Zumbi repre-
sented a revolt against theatre traditions and conventions which,
according to Boal, persisted as "mechanical aesthetic limitations in
creative liberty."69 As 2pmpi fights out this aesthetic struggle,
many of its innovations can be seen as foreshadowing the Joker System
which Boal fully developed as the organizing force in Arena Narrates

Tiradentes.

 

In terms of Arena Narrates Zumbi's structure as a text, the

 

general contours of the Joker System emerge in the opening episode
with a song by the entire cast dedicating the spectacle, and in the
closing episode which again places all the actors on stage and ends
with a brief moral observation. Zumbi's structure as cast contains
the Protagonist, Chorus and Orchestra functions. However, instead

of a Joker who interviews and assumes the point of view of the spec-
tators, a more traditional cast function is operated by narrators

who explain aspects of the story and spectacle. These narrators

are therefore limited, in ways that the Joker is not, to the universe

of the performers and the narration.

273

Reviewers admired Boal's direction of Eggpi. His success
reflected the possibility of unifying the fragmented text structure
of a play at the level of cast through the activity of narrators.

It was if Boal's direction of 2pmpi tested the relationship of text
to cast at the breaking point where the structure of cast threatened
to dissolve the text structure into itself. Given the experiment of
mehj, one would expect Boal's next play to present a more fragmented
text even further subordinated to the cast structure. However, with

Arena Narrates Tiradentes, Boal restores a unity to the text through

 

a less fragmented story which is centered in a traditional protagonist.

The story of Tiradentes narrates events of Brazilian history

 

around 1792 when a group of revolutionaries organized the first
uprising against their colonial masters. The narration begins with
the trial of Tiradentes, who is accused of treason. The story then
moves chronologically backwards and explains the actions leading to
the treason trial. The text finally returns to the scene in which
Tiradentes is condemned to death. Thus, the structure of text
appears more solid and coordinated, and less ambiguous and fragmented
than in ZEEEi°

The characterization in the text structure is also more tradi-

tional than in Zumbi. While Zumbi presents many mythological char-

 

acters, Tiradentes chooses its characters from Brazilian history.
Tiradentes represents Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, the leader of
the revolutionaries of 1792. Replacing myth with history serves to
' concretize the nature of characterization and to unify the structure

of the text along the traditional lines of realism. This drift

274

towards a more realistic unity also evidences as Tiradentes presents
less music and song than Zumbi, and utilizes more dialogue and less
narration.

However, while the structure of the text in Tiradentes

 

became more realistic than 2pmp1, the structure of the cast became
much more radical. The commenting narrators of mehi were replaced
by the interviewing Joker, thus diminishing the distance between
spectacle and spectators by extending the performer's universe to
the audience. Except for Tiradentes, each character in the play
was in turn performed by every member of the cast. Each actor was
given the freedom to interpret each role he performed according to
his own perspective and taste. This multiple representation of

"70 which

character was tempered by "identical exterior elements,
avoided confusion in the audience by allowing them to recognize
objects or colors which consistently signified a particular character.
An excellent example of this is the character of Tomas Antonio
Gonzaga, a young romantic revolutionary intellectual who always
appeared on stage with a flower in his hand. When scenes occurred
rapidly and on a crowded stage, the "identical exterior elements"
were added to the costume of the characters. This seemingly simple
resource lent theatricality to the text and created a circus-like
atmosphere.
With Arena Narrates Tiradentes, Boal achieved a double struc-
tural unity of text and cast. The protagonist and semi-realistic

story presented a traditional unity of text which was played against

a radical cast structure unified by the Joker. Tiradentes was

275

enthusiastically received by authors, directors and theatre critics.
And, in spite of the political repression and unstable conditions

in Brazil during 1967, the public filled the Arena Theatre hall to
capacity during the evening performances.

The following years were marked by increased political repres-
sion in Brazil. The Arena Theatre faced not only stricter censor-
ship but also a fear-ridden public which significantly reduced the
size of the audiences. The Theatre responded to these conditions

with weekly Ferias de Qpiniéo, which was a ten minute musical show

 

in which artists were invited to present their opinions about Brazil.
Boal directed these musicals, but they were presented only sporadi-
cally and never attained the kind of influence exerted by his pre-
vious works. The Arena Theatre eventually moved out of Brazil and
presented productions throughout Latin America and Europe. Boal
continued experimenting and seeking new theatre techniques which

could be adapted to the current conditions.

E. The Dramas of Boal's Exile (From 1970 to 1980)

 

The seventies were very significant for the development of
the theories, techniques, and theatre forms of Boal's Theatre of
the Oppressed, previously discussed in the beginning chapters. In
1970, Boal created, inside the Arena Theatre of $50 Paulo, the group
"Nucleus" to experiment with his ideas about People's Theatre,
especially street theatre. This group developed the techniques of
Newspaper Theatre. This Nucleus group existed until 1972, when it
occupied the $30 Pedro theatre hall, becoming an independent company

until 1974.

276

With this group, Boal prepared short spectacles, characterized
by a didactic and simple tone, and by collective work. The purpose
of these spectacles, Boal tells us, was to force the public to think
about certain realities from a specific point of view. Boal stressed
that the importance of these spectacles was not “to gratify the
public aesthetically, but to provoke them to reflect on their own
reality."72 The earlier Arena Theatre productions had been equally
concerned with aesthetic values, but not the message was the most
crucial element because Nucleus was developing an innovative theatre
aesthetic. Boal called it "the aesthetic of the street or the
truck,"73 because it was performed in the street, on trucks or some-
where outside a traditional theatre hall.

As well as street theatre, Boal continued presenting the
spectacles of the Arena Theatre throughout Latin America and in
Europe. During 1970, his work centered around the development of
his theories regarding People's Theatre. In 1971, Boal wrote his

next play, Torquemada. He began it while in a Brazilian prison and

 

completed it in Argentina. Torquemada is a social-political drama

 

based on Boal's experiences as a political prisoner. The inhumane
conditions under which the political prisoner lives and the torture
he suffers are the core around which the story is constructed.

The drama is divided into three episodes, composed of one
prologue and thirteen scenes. Boal says that he wanted to use the
technique of a theatre inside the theatre. The action occurs in a

barracks-like prison cell, where a group of political prisoners will

 

.1 XI...— .:.x w‘ .—

277

perform a play about Father Tomas de Torquemada, a famous Spanish
Inquisitor, who developed a torture system used by the Inquisition
Tribunal. The scenes about these historical events are intertwined
with scenes of the daily life of the contemporary prisoners. Poli-
tical discussion, analysis of their successes and failures, and
stories of their experiences are presented through these scenes.
To relate the past (the scenes of Father Torquemada) to the present
political situations under which the prisoners are living, there are
a few explanatory scenes where the actors, stepping out of their
roles, discuss and analyze the political issues of the moment and
make the connection between both periods of time.

The play includes scenes which use the techniques of the
Newspaper Theatre to present and analyze the news. An example of
this is the first scene of the second episode, where the technique

"74 is used. The prisoners interrupt the action

of "crossed reading
to clarify a point, to add something else or to discuss a particu-
lar point. Only the scenes where the prisoners actually discuss
their own problems are realistic; the others vary in style. For
example, the scenes of torture are very expressionistic, almost
surreal. Others are very symbolic, particularly those where Torque-
mada discusses with the liberal Bourgeoisie the uses of torture and
the concept of humanity. The language in this scene mixes modern

75 explaining present conditions

concepts with medieval arguments,
in light of past history.
The whole drama moves on two levels: the realistic, where

the prisoners act, enclosed in their own cells, and the non-realistic

278

level of the narration, Torquemada and his story. This final level
can also be categorized as the fantasy level for the prisoner char-
acters because they play the characters of this Torquemada story.
Some of the characters become actors to represent a past story that
has a relationship to their own lives and their present situations.

Thus, two stories are presented to the audience: one about
Torquemada and his victory at imposing a system of torture on the
Bourgeois liberals who desired to rule and maintain their political
power in Europe and another about the political prisoners, revolu-
tionaries from Brazil or any other Latin American country, who were
imprisoned after a fascist coup d'etat.

The story of the prisoners is Boal's autobiography. It
presents Boal's real experiences when he was arrested in 1971. He

1.76 as a testament to his days

 

wrote a long novel, Miracle in Brazi

in prison; and the contemporary scenes in Torquemada are also part

 

of that testament, dramatically written through very well-constructed
dialogue.

With this play, Boal abandoned the satire, spectacular ele-
ments, and music and songs of his earlier plays, and limited himself
to writing a powerful drama characterized by an atmosphere of vio-
lence. It is documentary theatre: where the dialogue is weighty,
with long sentences, few short phrases, many political and philoso-
phical discussion, and a great deal of statistical data. Again, the
didacticism of previous plays is obvious. Boal's political thesis

is presented at the very beginning of the action: lack of unity

279

drives people to defeat. The political content of the play is
profound, presenting a large number of ideological views regarding
the struggle for liberation. All of the possible political posi-
tions that existed in the revolutionary movements of Latin America
are represented in the prisoners, each offering clear and convincing
arguments for his beliefs.

The dialogue is very well-developed to clearly delineate
these political positions, keeping the tense discussions alive. In
fact, the whole play keeps the spectators on edge from beginning to
end. Even the explanatory scenes that break the action of the
stories maintain this level of lively tension, since they present
a new perspective of the violence. As a result, the end of the
play is striking: all of the prisoners screaming (each time more
desperately and loudly) the words "I am alive."77

This drama is among those most often performed in Latin
America. Three qualities make it the most attractive of Boal's
plays to the politically radical groups of Latin America. First,
it is documentary theatre, which agitates, and it is propagandist.
Second, it possesses a strong, clear political content without becom-
ing just a tract. Third, it depicts very clearly an integral com-
ponent of Latin American politics: torture and violence.

Torquemada was presented for the first time in Buenos Aires

 

in June of 1972, in the Teatro del Centro with such huge success
that on October 12, 1972, it was performed again at Planeta Hall. It

I has been performed in other countries as well. The theatre at New

280

York University translated the play and performed it in 1972. It
was performed in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador and in Lisbon,
Berlin, Paris, and other cities in Europe. It was vigorously
acclaimed.

This drama is perhaps one of Boal's better pieces written
thus far. His previous works were more objective in content, touch-
ing upon themes far from his reality. In Torqpemada he began to
work with events closer to his own experiences. In his next drama,
written in exile, this subjectivity becomes even more evident.

Between 1971 and 1978, Boal while in exile, concentrated on
developing his theories about the Theatre of the Oppressed and
allotted little time to playwriting. He wrote various adaptations78
and one or two comedies--these were not significant to the develop-
ment of his playwriting. It is with the drama The Fist Upon the

79

Knife's Point that Boal demonstrated his improved playwriting

 

skills. Boal was again a playwright whose theatre was not only
presented for enjoyment, but for struggle and change, too, with a
historical vision of reality. With The Fist Upon the Knife's Point.
Boal continued using his theme of exile; and, as the critic
Gianfrancesco Guarnieri says, "It is the piece which most transmits
the authentic, the real Boal."80
This drama was very similar to Torquemada. It is based
on actual experiences of Boal's. The drama, full of emotional con-
tent, moves away from the previous pieces, where irony, rational

humor, and mordancy were predominate. The psychological elements

in the characters are strong, creating a very simplistic drama

281

without any circus-like influence. The dialogue is of major impor-
tance. The only music is a few songs sung by the actors as part of
the dramatic action. There are no epic elements, statistics, docu-
mentary scenes, nor explanations to break the development of the
action. Nothing is fragmented; everything follows chronologically.
The play is an excellent exposé on the conditions of exile:
the horror of persecution, and the promiscuity of some refugees.
The six characters are very well-developed; they are both typical
and universal. Each of them possesses a distinct personality,
developed through dialogue. But they are also exiled, and this
commonality gives unity, cohesion, and a sense of identity to them.
Each represents a different type of exile. Paulo is the poet, the
composer, and the idealist who struggles constantly against reality.
For this reason, he is the strongest one, the one who maintains the
group's unity and refuses to allow himself to be defeated by the
situations of exile. His wife, Maria, reflects in her personality
the marks of her physical suffering, and her moral mutilation. She
is the exile who cannot survive. This exile has driven her insane:
her macabre obsession with blood drives her to commit suicide in
the end. Doutor represents the intellectual who tries to find a
rational explanation for everything. His wife, Marga, is a Brazilian
Bourgeois, placed into a situation she is unsuited for. A conflict-
ridden character, she is the disassociated element in the group, not
fitting into the group and not suited for exile either. Barra is a

sailor who, as a former political prisoner, is familiar with prisons

282

and their tortures. Foguinho, his girlfriend, is a politicized
woman with experience as a political militant.

The play was performed for the first time in sap Paulo on
October 4, 1978. The play's dramatic value was very positively
critiqued. Its universal quality was vigorously acclaimed inasmuch
as its characters can be found in any contemporary city, facing an
eternal nostalgia for their land, wishing to return, and confronting
the universal problem of losing their identity.81

Although the drama tries to demonstrate the total insecurity
in which the exile lives and how he loses his sense of identity,
it is not a defeatist drama. At the end of the play, when Maria
dies and Paulo stays alone, he proclaims: "I am alive. Listen,
listen. I am not silent. I am not silent. Listen."82

With this drama, Boal demonstrated that he knew well the
situation of the protagonists. This forced nomadism, these human
beings racked by the fear of further persecution, represent a part
of Boal's own experiences as an exile. The action begins in any
Latin American country a few minutes before the fascists accomplish
a coup d'état. The play continues days later in Argentina, the
first country of exile selected, and ends in a city in Europe, pro-
bably Paris. This pattern of exile was followed by Boal in reality.
Even though each character is not specifically an aspect of Boal's
personality, together they represent what he has lived, what he has
seen, and what he has known.

Due to his personal experiences, Boal could construct his

characters with ease. All of them live with their own conflicts in

 

283

diverse ways. There is no ambiguity: each one resolves his conflict
in a unique manner. For some, the results are very tragic, and,
for others, they are not. But each character is affected by the
theme of exile. In this, Boal demonstrated an unusual dominance--
over his form of expression. In this drama, Boal is a mature play-
wright, with more control over his dramatic techniques. This play
is evidence not only of the influences of both his exile and his
Theatre of the Oppressed, but also of the techniques of the Image
Theatre. As Boal says:
This is the last play I wrote. It is the produce of my

experience here in Europe....(0ne new element) is the influx

of the Image Theatre.... For example, all the scenes depend

on the use of suitcases. Sometimes they become walls in the

embassy; later they are islands; other times they are furni-

ture. I can say that everything is related to images. The

actors also are constantly giving images. An example is

when they reach Paris, and everyone throws down their suit-

cases and acts on top of them....33

The influence of Image Theatre has affected Boal's directing

style as well. I closely observed his work as director of a produc-
tion in French. When I visited him in Paris in January of 1980, I
went to the last general rehearsals and saw the production twice,
including the opening night. I saw a director who is a perfectionist,
working attentively on even the most minute details, consistently
resolving and eliminating any possibility of error. For example,
what I saw in the general rehearsal, before opening night, was not
what I saw the night after. There were various distinct changes in

the directorial conception. For example, at the beginning of the

play, in the middle of the stage, there was a box used as a table,

 

284

with a cross inside it, covered with a blanket. The color of the

blanket, the position of the box, the cross (and this affected the
general blocking) were changed for the opening night. When I saw

the performance for the third time, he was still changing certain

details.

Not all performances are the same; each one is special. The
character interpretations of actors are not always the same; each
time new surprises occur on stage. But there are always certain
fixed elements, particularly in the directing--the general movements,
the color of the scenery, and costumes.

When I approached Boal, inquiring about those changes and
the reasons for them, he informed me that this play has been per-
formed a few months earlier in Paris; then it had toured in some
French provinces and presently they were performing it again in
Paris. Boal said that many changes were instituted in that process,
and that the changes would continue, inasmuch as the theatre is
dynamic and when he, as director, is dissatisfied with something,
he changes it. Sometimes in a rehearsal he is satisfied with one
movement or color (as was the case I observed with the box, the cross,
and the blanket), so he leaves it alone. However, if later, in one
of the performances he feels that it is necessary to change those
elements, he does not hesitate to institute the changes. The
audience is not always static, nor does it react to identical images
in the same manner. It is imperative to study the audience to be
aware of how it will react toward certain signs and stimuli. This

is the reason for that perfectionist attitude in Boal's directorial

285

conception. This is original with Boal and it is obviously a product
of the Image Theatre's influence.

I also noticed a serenity in his style. The discussion at
the end of the rehearsals, his advice, and explanations were given
by a calm, poised director, a man with a great deal of self-confidence.
He explained, analyzed, and discussed each minute detail he had
observed in the rehearsal. Although this was a traditional perfor-
mance and his task as director was conventional, he gave the actors
the liberty of developing through their own creativity. In spite
of his high degree of perfectionism, he is not a dictator or a
tyrannical director, but rather a coordinator with a high sense of
responsibility and discipline.

This experience, The Fist Upon the Knife's Point, shows a
playwright and theatre director greatly affected by his exile.
Serenity and calm totally transform his approach. As a playwright,
this serenity is presented through the play's high level of emotional
development, by slowly building these emotions to a climax, where
the characters calmly face, with a kind of stoicism, all of their
misfortunes.

All of the characters of the play struggle to control their
internal emotions. In this is shown the huge influence of the
Theatre of the Oppressed. For Boal and his theatre, internal and
external struggles are part and parcel of the performance outline.84
The characters should struggle, both with themselves, inside them-

selves, and in their relations with others. The Fist Upon the Knife's

 

286

Point represents an original treatment of emotional development

through the internal and external struggles of the exiles.

287

NOTES CHAPTER VI

1See Appendix B of this dissertation.

2O Cavalo e 0 Santa.
3

 

Martin Pescador and Do Outro Lado da Rua.

 

 

4See the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo during the month
of September 1956.

 

5For more information see Palcos e Circos, "Ratos e Homens,"
O Estado de 530 Paulo, 5 de outubro de 1956, p. 6.

6

 

Ibid.

71bid.

8"Revelagao do Diretor de Ano."

9"Associasfio Paulista de Criticos de Teatro."

10See S6bato Magaldi, Panorama do Teatro Brasileiro ($50
Paulo: Difusfio Europeia do Livro, 1962); and Joel Pontes, "Drama-

turgia contemporanea no Brasil," Luso Brazilian Review, 3, no. 2
(December 1966), 25-42.

11

 

 

Marido Magro, Mulher Chata.
12Juventude "Coca Cola".

13Palcos e Circos, "Marido Magro, Mulher Chata," 0 Estado
de 550 Paulo, 9 de janeiro de 1957, p. 6.

14For more information see "Entrega dos Premios aos Melhores,"
O Estado de Sao Paulo, 9 de Abril de 1957, Teatro, p. 8.

 

 

15"Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia" (T-B-C-)

16Palcos e Circos, "Juno e o PavSo," O Estado de 550 Paulo,
9 de junho de 1957, p. 12.
17161a.

181616.

 

288

191616.

20Palcos e Circos, "A Mulher do Outro," O Estado de sac
Paulo, 18 de janeiro de 1958, p. 6.

211614.

22Palcos e Circos, "Society em Baby Doll," 0 Estado de sac
Paulo 21 de Janeiro de 1958, p. 7.

23Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

24See Magaldi, op. cit., pp. 250-253.

25Fogo Frio.

6Magaldi, op. cit., pp. 250-251.

27D. 6., "Revolusao na América do Sul," O Estado de 550
Paulo, 16 de setembro de 1960, p. 7.

280.6., "0 Espetaculo de Arena," 0 Estado de 530 Paulo, 27
de setembro de 1960, p. 8.

2

29Augusto Boal, Revolugéo na América do Sul ($50 Paulo:
Massao Ohno Editora, 1960), p.v7.

30"Eu quis apenas fotografar o desastre."
3IInterview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11

and 13, 1980.

321bid.

~33For more information, see José de Oliveira Santos, "A
Revolu ao na America do Sul' de Augusto Baol," Revista Brasiliense,
num. 3 (nov./dez. 1960), p. 158.

34Magéldi, op. cit., p. 251.

35See 0. G., "A Pega do Teatro Arena," 0 Estado de 550 Paulo,
25 de setembro de 1960, Teatro, p. 10.

36Magaldi, op. cit., p. 252.

37"Quase perfeita." See José de Oliveira Santos, op. cit.,
p. 163.

 

289

38For more information, see 0 Estado de sac Paulo from
September 15 to 27, 1960.

39

 

José, do Parto a Sepultura.

 

4OSee Magéldi, op. cit., pp. 252-253.

411618.

42See Décio de~Almeida Prado, Teatro Em Progresso. Cthica
Teatralp(1955-1964) (Sao Paulo: Livraria Martins EditOra, 1964),
p. 225.

43

 

 

Ibid.

44"Mamie."

45"Vov6."

46"Operérios de todo o mundo Uni-vos."
47See Prado, op. cit., p. 230.

48See 0 Estado de 550 Paulo-Suplemento Literario from October
to November 1962.

 

49"Muita finura e inteligencia." for more information, see
"'A Mandrégora' pelo elenco do Arena,” 0 Estado de Sao Paulo, 14
de setembro de 1962. Teatro, p. 8.

50See Augusto Boal, "Maquiavel e a Mandragora," O Estado
de 330 Paulo, 27 de outubro de 1962. Suplemento Literaria-Teatro,
p. 5; and Maurice Capovilla, "Terapéutica Teatral," O Estado de
530 Paulo, 10 de novembro de 1962, Suplemento Literaria-Teatro,
p. 3.

 

 

51"Uma linha insidiosa, obliqua." for more information, see
"'A Mandragora' pelo elenco do Arena," 0 Estado de sac Paulo, 14 de
setembro de 1962, Teatro, p. 8.

52161d.

53See Capovilla, loc. cit.

54"'A Mandragora' pelo elenco do Arena," loc. cit.
550pini50.

56A. Veigp Fialho, "Teatro no Brasil: Balango de 1964,"
Revista Civilizagao Brasileira, I, num. l (margo, de 1965), 215.

 

290

57Ibid., pp. 218-221.

58See Paulo Francis, "Novo Rumo para Autores," Revista
Civilizagao Brasileira, I, num. i (marso de 1965), 215.

 

591bid.
60

61See "Nova Peca no Teatro R. Escobar," O Estado de Sao
Paulo, 13 de abril de 1965, p. 15.

Ibid.

62"0 Teatro ca, 0 publico la," for more information, see
"Nova Pesa no Teatro R. Escobar," O Estado de 550 Paulo, 13 de abril
de 1965, p. 15.

63

 

Ibid.
641616.

65Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

66See Barbara Heliodora, "A influéncia estrangeira no teatro
Brasileiro," Cultura, I, ham. 1 (janeiro a mango de 1971), 42-51;
Casa de las AmEricas, Teatro Latinoamericano de Aglpacion (Havana:
Casa de las Americas, 1972); and the volUmes XLII to XLIV of the
Brazilian periodical Viséo.

67Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

68Augusto Boal, "Teatro Arena de S. Paulo," Primer Acto,
num. 135 (agosto de 1971), p. 72.

691bid.

70"Elementos exteriores idénticos." For more information
see "'Tiradentes', a estréia de hoje," O Estado de 550 Paulo, 21
de abril de 1967, p. 7.

71See Appendix A of this dissertation; where Boal narrates
an experience he had with the censor when he was presenting the
musical Arena Narrates Bahia.

72Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

73See Boal, Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular
(una revolucion Copernicana a1 revés) (Buenos Aires: Ediciones
Corregidor,l975), p.10.

291

74See chapter 111 of this dissertation.

75See the discussion about industrial development at the
episode two, scene four of Torquemada.

76Milagre no Brasil.

 

77See Boal, "Torquemada," in Teatro Latinoamericano de
A itacién published by Casa de las Americas (Havana: Casa de las
Americas), p. 176.

78See Boal, Duas Pegas: A Tempestade. As Mulheres de
Atenas (Lisboa: Plétano Editora S.A.R.L., 1979).

79Murro em Ponta de Faca.

 

80See Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, "Prefécio,'l in Augusto Boal,
Murro em Ponta de Faca (Sao Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 1978), p. VIII.

 

81For more information see "0 drama de exilio na pega de
Augusto Boal," O Estado de 550 Paulo, 4 de outubro de 1978, p. 12.

 

82"Eu estou vivo. Escutem. Eu nao me calo. Eu nao me
calo. Escutem."

For more information, see Augusto Boal, Murro em Ponta de
Faca ($50 Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 1978), p. 93.

83Interview with Augusto Boal, Paris, France, January 11
and 13, 1980.

84See the "Dialectical Structure of Interpretation," in
chapter V of this dissertation.

SUMMARY

The fundamental idea behind the work of Augusto Boal is
that theatre, in itself, can be a liberating force in society.
Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed aims to return the means of theatri-
cal production to its origins in the masses of society. This goal
is based upon Boal's firm belief that theatre can be a collective
tool through which people can not only understand society, but can
also liberate their own powers to change it. That is, theatre can
teach people to act.

This summary section describes how two major influences on
Boal's early ideas, the Brazilian circus and the epic theatre of
Bertolt Brecht, are transformed by this theme of action into the
functions for a Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal's class analysis
of the history of theatre is then outlined as a demonstration of
Boal's argument that if the means of theatrical production are kept
from the masses, then theatre becomes a hegemonic tool teaching
people not to act. The closing pages of the summary briefly indi-
cate how Boal goes about returning theatre to its origins by
re-opening the power of theatre to the masses of society.

Nearly all of Boal's spectacles take on the appearance of
circus reviews. Scenes are presented in many different styles with
action that is heavy, violent, and gross. The number of characters,
along with the music, dance and song combine to create a circus-like

292

293

atmosphere. However, the diversity of a circus show becomes in
Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed a technique of objective expres-
sionism which attempts to transform the perception of reality from
an individual to a social point of view. The norms of realism based
on individual points of view explode into social perceptions of
reality based upon social points of view. Thus, Boal uses the
circus-like atmosphere to destroy elements of realism which lull
audiences into the false security of passive individuals observing

a safe, organized and ultimately untouchable reality.

This notion of objective expressionism and many other theo-
retical principles behind Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed are rooted
in Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre, which sought to engage audiences
in an active analysis of the theatre spectacle. Brecht sought to
transform the role of spectator from the passivity of viewing to
the activity of reflection. Boal extends Brecht's transformation
of spectators still further. With the Theatre of the Oppressed,
spectators move not only from passive reception to active reflection,
but to action itself. In Forum Theatre, Invisible Theatre and Image
Theatre, the spectator actually transforms the dramatic action of
the spectacle, and this dramatic action leads to the spectator's
realization of the power to act politically--to act in the world to
change the conditions of social existence.

Boal has developed a class analysis of the history of the
theatre which views the origin of theatre in the collective experi-

ence of dithyrambic song. These original theatrical performances,

294

"created by and for the people," served as a means of social com-
munication through which the people, as participants, came to under-
stand the conditions of their social existence. Boal conjectures
that this communal experience of theatre broke up with the advent
of a ruling class which used theatre as a political tool to perpet-
uate their hegemeny over the population. Thus the changes in the
theatre reflected, and were used to legitimate, class divisions
within society. As the aristocracy distanced themselves from the
masses, barriers were set up distancing the people from the means
of theatrical production.

According to Boal, the first barrier separated the masses
from the spectacle. Actors faced the audience with the moral that
some people were meant to act while most others were meant to watch.
A second barrier distanced the masses further by incorporating their
roles as spectators within the actual performances. Actors, them-
selves, now symbolized the masses in the body of a chorus, while
the aristocracy maintained the dominating voices of the protagonists.
As the ruling class developed, walls were extended still further.
The protagonist separated from the rest of the characters, and the
tragic hero emerged as the therapeutic tool by which the aristocracy
treated anti-social tendencies in the spectators.

Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed aims to eliminate these
barriers that have placed people outside theatrical performances.

He recognizes theatre as an instrument of social communication and

uses it to reverse the indoctrination of the masses. The primary

295

objective of the Theatre of the Oppressed is to cast the people,
themselves, as the protagonist; to cast the spectators as the active
subject of the dramatic action; to return theatre to its origins

in a collective, communal experience.

The social conditions in Brazil both called for and muted
Boal's labors to realize a Theatre of the Oppressed. The repressive
dictactorship ensuing from the fascist coup d'etat of 1964 levied a
strict censorship across the country. Boal responded by developing
the technique of Newspaper Theatre which gave the means of theatre
production to readers, by teaching them how to use theatre techni-
ques for themselves.

During these years Boal and the Arena Theatre worked to
attract wider audiences by attempting to reflect the living condi-
tions of Brazilian people in the very form of theatrical performances.
Musicals were staged which were created and performed by the entire
group. To facilitate their production Boal designed a training
system for actors and non-actors. This later developed into Boal's
Joker System which aimed to abolish characterization as the private
property of a single actor.

In this Joker System, each character in the play is performed
by every member of the cast, and each actor is granted the freedom
to interpret and represent the character according to his own
perspective. This multiple representation of character eliminates
characterization as private property by demonstrating the collective
production of a character's masks, and by demonstrating the process

through which social motivation takes physical form.

296

As Boal's general project for a Theatre of the Oppressed
tore away at the barriers historically erected by ruling classes,
he naturally collided with the political dictatorship in Brazil.
While exiled to Argentina, Boal continued his deconstruction of the
walls separating spectators and spectacle and formulated his notion
of Invisible Theatre. According to Boal, when theatre is visible,
an audience is conscious of viewing a representation. They lose
their internal cohesion as a unique group, and assume passive roles
as atomistic spectators, each lost within an individual emotional
response. With Invisible Theatre, on the other hand, spectators
become active subjects, not passive objects. They are not viewers,
but actors participating in the performance. They are not an
aggregate of individuals lost in separate emotions, out rather, they
become a social group, self-consciously sharing a collective
emotional experience.

From 1973 to 1974, the Puruvian government gave Boal the
freedom to actualize a Theatre of the Oppressed while contributing
to its National Literacy Campaign. In this atmosphere of encourage-
ment and cooperation, Boal was able to materialize his alternative
to bourgeois theatre. He developed new exercises for actors and
non-actors which approached theatre not merely as an instrument of
social communication, but as an essential vehicle of actual social
change. Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, and other theatre forms
emerged through which the spectators became protagonists, actualizing
changes in their conceptions of themselves, and in the conditions

of their social existence.

297

Today, Boal lives in Paris, France, where he operates a
Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed. This people's theatre
explores novel techniques, acting exercises, and theatre forms
which both reflect and generate new theoretical concepts for the

contemporary theatre.

APPENDICES

298

299

APPENDIX A

EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH
AUGUSTO BOAL '

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APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW WITH AUGUSTO BOAL

What is theatre for you; how do you define it?

Theatre, as are all arts, is a production of images of the
world. It is the production of ordered images of the world.
Now there is a way of ordering the world which shows the world
as being finished, a world that needs almost nothing to be
completed. This is the kind of ordering of the ruling class,
who want to present a perfected world. But there is a second
kind of ordering which is the image of a world in perpetual
change, in transition.

Many times, you have talked about theatre as a legitimate
communication means among men. How are we to connect this
with what you have said about what theatre is?

Here we would have to talk about the concept known as Aesthetic.
This concept has been too mystified. We have heard that aesthe-
tics is beauty, that which produces pleasure when we see it,
prettiness, that which is beautiful, etc. It isn't. Aesthetics
is...communication which proceeds through the senses; and
theatre is one of the aesthetic forms through which you can

know reality. Theatre is the supreme aesthetic because it

uses all the senses and all of the rest of the arts.

Why do you call your theatre "Theatre of the Oppressed"? Is
it because of some political motivation.

For that, it is necessary to understand what the Theatre of the
Oppressed is. Theatre of the Oppressed, as far as I understand
it, is not the "proletarian theatre." The Theatre of the
Oppressed is the theatre of the oppressed classes and of all
those who are oppressed within those classes. It is not the
theatre of the oppressor classes, although there you can find
oppressed people. It is not of the oppressed who are essen-
tially oppressors; but of the oppressors who essentially
oppressed.

(Here Boal explains this idea by giving the following examples:
The wife of a bourgeois man could feel oppressed by her husband;

301

she is an example of the oppressed who is essentially an oppres-
sor. On the other hand we have the wife of a worker who could
also feel oppressed by her husband; her husband is an oppressor
who is essentially oppressed.)

Let us look at the case of the Algerian Revolution. There, man's
oppression of woman existed; it always existed. In that Revolu-
tion, women were convinced that first they should solve the
problem of France's oppression over Algeria, and then later

they would solve the problem of woman's oppression. In that
way, women took an active part in the National Liberation of
Alberia. Rightly, the French aggression was solved; but women
continued to be oppressed. I think that her liberation is
(should be) simultaneous with national liberation. With this,
what I want to say is that in the working class there is also
oppression; and Theatre of the Oppressed is for oppressed

people within the oppressed class. If you take the hierarchies
of a worker area, within them elements of oppression are present.
But although there are oppressors (there), its (the area's)
fundamental character is that of the oppressed. And it is for
them that the Theatre of the Oppressed exists.

So, the Theatre of the Oppressed, as I understand it, is for
those whose fundamental character is that of being oppressed?

Correct, inside of an oppressed class. Because it (my theatre)
could be used by the Bourgeoisie, for example in the case of
the wife of the bourgeois man. But I'm not concerned with her.

Let us clear up some points related to your Theatre of the
Oppressed, especially the concept of "Popular Theatre," because
this has been extensively discussed and many people affirm

that all theatre done to satisfy the pleasure of the population
is popular.

I once spoke about the difference between the words people and
population, when I talked about the Popular Theatre. For this

I refer you to my book Catggorias de Teatro Popular (Categories
of Popular Theatre). We cannot confuse people with population.
”People" are those who sell their labor power: peasants,
workers, etc. The "Population" is everybody. The Bourgeoisie
is part of the population but not part of the people. So there
are categories of popular theatre. (Here, Boal discusses his
book Categories of Popular Theatre, emphasizing that the essence
of Popular Theatre is the idea of change.)

The popular perspective is one of transformation, of change, of
improvement of the social class.

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In your book Theater of the Oppressed, you observe the fact
that theatre was always an instrument of politics used by the
ruling class...

Always. Because theatre possesses a great strength...

But while the ruling class used theatre for their own political
purposes, did the oppressed people use it for their liberation?

Yes, of course; this was always so. It was the same during

the Middle Ages as during the Greek Era. Popular Theatre
always existed. For example, I have read a play from the
Middle Ages where the virginity of Mary was questioned. Maybe
today this wouldn't have much impact or importance. But, think
of it, that in that moment such a play (and I believe there
were many) destroyed all the dogma of the sacred theatre. So
beside the religious theatre, there was, yes, a theatre of the
people which questioned and ridiculed the established order.

And the intention, of course, was to liberate them from an
established order which oppressed them?

Right. Popular Theatre existed always, because the people
always existed. Theatre is a language. The people always
expressed themselves through that language. The thing is that
there was not the means to project (the existence of) that
theatre outside in a powerful way.

Regarding the influences on your ideas, which types of theatre
have been the most significant.

In relations to my theories: Brecht.

And in relation to your plays?

Brecht again, and the Circo do Brasil (Brazilian circus).

In what manner did Brecht influence you?

Brecht was very revealing for me. He was, with his points on
which we agree, and even more importantly on those which we
disagree. It was very significant for me to study Brecht after
I studied Stanislavsky.

And the influence of the Circo do Brasil? Brazilian circus

 

Many of Brecht's ideas are present in the circus' acting.
Especially the alienation, the game with the spectators, etc.

But in relation to your plays...

 

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For example, Revolugfio na América do Sul (Revolution in South
America) is a circu§spectacle. It is gross, violent, strong,
heavy. The same is true of A Tempestade. And that is the
style I like.

 

How do you classify your style?

Circensial (circus-like). When I write, I don't think of style,
but of communicating something. But at some point, I wish a
scene to be realistic or symbolic...it depends.

You have worked with many groups which could be defined as being
inside the Latin American movement of "Collective Creation."

In fact, much of your work with these groups was on collective
creation productions, such as the techniques of the Newspaper
Theatre, Forum Theatre, etc. From this perspective, how do

you see the individual playwright?

I don't reject the individual playwright. The majority of my
plays were written individually. I wrote others in conjunction
with other persons. But I think the important thing here is
that any kind of theatre, it doesn't matter if its collective
of not, must show a problem and try to effect identification of
the spectator with that problem. The spectator should identify
with the problem, not by identity, but by analogy.

Could you explain more fully how they should identify by
analogy?

That spectator says: "It seems much like my reality," and not
"It is my reality."

50 we can establish that the process of identification has two
relations: "identity relations," where the spectator says
that his problem is the same as the problem presented in the
scene; and secondly, "analogy relation," where the spectator
understands that the problem presented is similar to but not
the same as his reality. How do you relate this to your
"Theatre of the Oppressed"?

In the Theatre of the Oppressed, the process of identification
must be through analogy. If the relation with the spectator

is not of identification, in other words, it is of solidarity,
then it is not the Theatre of the Oppressed. It is not because
the process of identification was not produced.

If spectators identify totally with what has been presented
on stage, they say "It is my truth“. The identification here
is given through identity, and this is theatre of osmosis, of
immersion, of empathy, which transforms the spectator into a
passive being.

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If that identification is through analogy, then the spectator
says "It seems to...", then the spectator is activated; he
thinks; and this is really the Theatre of the Oppressed.

If the reaction is not any of those previously mentioned, the
spectator doesn't identify with the problem, he only demon-
strates solidarity, saying "I, must agree, although it doesn't
seem to be my reality". This is not Threatre of the Oppressed.

For example, when we participate in a spectacle against the
Viet Nam war, we agree with what the show presents against the
war, but that reality is completely different to ours. Not
only is it clear that it is not our reality, but also that it
isn't similar to our reality. So, what we could do here was
only to feel solidarity with the problem. Here, identification
doesn't exist.

I understand that here is where your differences with Bertolt
Brecht occur. Brecht tends more toward solidarity. But where
then do we situate the Theatre of the Oppressed? Near reality
or not? For example, your Invisible Theatre where the specta-
tors should not know that what they are looking at is theatre.
So I ask, is it reality or not?

In the Invisible Theatre, for example, actors bring with them
the fictitious, which is the scene they are going to perform.
They come with a model already rehearsed and prepared. But

when they reach the spectators and perform the scene, this
fiction becomes reality for the spectators. For them, the

scene and its problem are real. So the Theatre of the Oppressed
is exactly on the limit between fiction and reality; this is

the explosion of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Why, here in Europe, have you developed more greatly the techni-
ques of Forum Theatre, Invisible Theatre, and Image Theatre?
Why not, for example, the Newspaper Theatre Technique?

Newspaper theatre demands more time, work and duty. More
patience. Really, it's because there is not enough time.
Invisible Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Image Theatre - the people
produce more and it is more contagious, more immediate. How-
ever, here in Europe I could develop the Image Theatre more.

In fact, my next book will be about Image Theatre, Techniques
and Games of the Image Theatre. There are twelve exercises of
the mirror including the transition from one exercise to the
other. It is interesting to note that here in Europe the Image
Theatre has developed more. There are eight techniques of
Image Theatre, inclusively.

Let's talk a little about your next book.

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The outline is the following. The first part has five chapters.
The first chapter talks about the Theatre of the Oppressed in
Europe. The second chapter is a report of eighteen Invisible
Theatres done in Europe. The third one is titled "Forum Theatre
and Psychodrama". The fourth chapter is a systematization of
the Image Theatre. I try here to explain the difference between
”looking at" or "seeing" and "looking into" (To look vs. To see).
There are exercises of the image, trying to show the forms
developed from it. It is not to help show how to look at (some-
thing), but to help us to see what we are looking at. It is a
question of the capacity to see.

The fifth chapter is a discussion of theatre as language and
theatre as a craft. In this chapter, I want to make clear that
the language of theatre doesn't need the craft. For example, to
deliver a letter it is not necessary to be a mailman. But there
is the profession of mailman, a mailman's craft. Craft means
specialization. In other words, to do theatre, theatre for
communication of something, theatre as language, it is not
necessary to be an actor. But the profession, the actor's

craft exists. The craft implies a hypertrophy of some parts

of the body, and at the same time an atrophy of the rest of the
body. For example, the one who specializes in playing the

piano hypertrophies some parts, if not all, of his body in

order to play the piano. But at the same time, he is atrophying
other possibilities, such as being able to carry the piano. The
same occurs with the guy who moves pianos: he hypertrophies his
body for that task but atrophies his possibility of playing the
p1ano.

The second part of the book is the construction of the Forum
Theatre model. In this is included the play-writing rules of
the Forum Theatre, an explanation of how to rehearse Forum
Theatre (mise en scene), and an explanation of how the spectacle
is created. I will try here to define more the "Joker". I have
found that the function of the "Joker" varies. In the two weeks
of Theatre of the Oppressed that recently took place in France,
and where groups from all over Europe took part, there were
"Jokers" who were very aggressive, others who were passive,
rhythmic, etc.

We have talked about Invisible Theatre, when we used it as an
example to clarify the concept of identification through analogy,
etc. Let's begin now to talk about the technique of Forum
Theatre. You said that the third chapter of your book will be
Forum Theatre and Psychodrama. I understand that with this,

you want to clarify some doubts. Is it true that the Forum
Theatre has been confused with psychodrama?

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Yes. In psychodrama, the psychological part is more important
rather than the political and sociological elements. It is
not this way with the Forum Theatre, rather to the contrary.

What, then, makes it possible for Forum Theatre to be different
from psychodrama?

Two things: that the oppression scene multiplies, that the
problem was that of everybody...

And not of one person? Could you give an example?

(Boal explains a situation where all the proposals for doing
Forum Theatre were very individualistic, and no one was in
agreement with any proposal. He explains that it is always
important that all the spectators should agree, not with whether
to present a given proposal, but that the proposal should be

an oppression suffered by everybody).

The second thing is that in the Forum Theatre must be the desire
to solve the problem; in other words, that the action must be
present.

The Forum Theatre has also awakened great interest because of
the three elements: first, that the communication runs from
the base upward toward the direction, and not in reverse; this
is the democratic character of the Theatre of the Oppressed.
Second, implicit in the first element is that it is a democratic
weapon. And third, that it corresponds to a defense against
authoritarianism.

Because you have had contact directly with the theatre in Latin
America, North America and Europe, would you tell us what dif-
ferences you have found?

Here in European countries, I notice some constants. They pay
a lot; there are many subsidies given to the theatre; but they
determine the content. The Bourgeoisie is very rich. The
German Federal Republic, for example, allocates 500 million
dollars annually to the development of opera, ballet and
theatre. It doesn't depend on the ticket office. They are
factories of spectacles. But they have an ideology. I note

in Europe a double tendency: number one, a factory of spec-
tacles with a tendency toward Aestheticism. For example, now
in Paris there is a spectacle about Arrabal done by the Comédie
Fran aise. It is beautiful, both technically and artistically?
Ligh s, scenery, costumes, etc. Everything very well done. In
other words, all the money is spent for the "beauty genre".
Second, parallel to this aesthetic approach is the popular
theatre which is not subsidized. But that is really a living
movement.

 

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As regards the theatre in U.S., what I note is something like
the "manager empire" satisfying the tastes of the spectator.
There are, more or less, the spectacles of television, the
movies; neither aesthetical.

In Latin America, I observe a kind of popular theatre didactic,
but in the bad sense of the word. They reproduce the relation-
ship: artist who knows everything - and spectator who comes

to learn. But there is great proliferation of popular theatre.
For example, in sap Paulo, Brasil, I was awakened to the fact
that there are around 130 groups doing popular theatre. But
the official theatre follows the model of the U.S.: no sub-
sidies; enterprising characters satisfying the tastes of the
spectator.

How was your last experience of November, 1979, in Brazil?

Traumatic. Friends have changed. Nine years of exile and
dictatorship produce in me great impact. Many things were
destroyed. It was a great emotional shock. In July and August
of this year, I will return with all my family to try to see

if we want to return home. We have to think of our children,
who in Brasil will be exiles. (Boal speaks to the fact that
France and not Brasil is now perceived by the children as being
their home.)

In the theatre, I saw that it did not have before the deep
division that exists today. Today popular theatre is more
alienated from the "theatrical world." It is not like before
where a professional actor worked doing popular theatre. Now
the popular theatre is closer to the people; the good thing
is that now the popular theatre is in the people.

What projects do you have in mind for the future?

By now, only to develop the Center of the Theatre of the
Oppressed, and the publishing of the book on Image Theatre.

What immediate objectives does the Center have now?

To extend and make better known the techniques of the Theatre

of the Oppressed, especially Invisible Theatre, Forum Theatre
and Image Theatre.

In particular, what projects will you do?

I will do a Forum Theatre session where the ritual and the social

mask are shown. I also plan to present my play As Mulheres de
Atenas (The Women of Athens) which is an answer to Aristophanes.

I have in mind an idea to start three months of workshops

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entitled "The Policeman In Your Head." The idea is to use
acting techniques in the development of characterization, to
help non-actors to liberate themselves from an oppression.
That they, the non-actors, can create the characters they
always wanted to but never could before. It will be working
with the person as if he/she were an actor or actress.

As I told you before, the importance of the Theatre of the
Oppressed is that it works on the limits between fiction and
truth, and what happens after. Forum Theatre is cathartic.
You do something that you never do in real life.

Do you think that there is a universal quality in theatre
that we can talk about?

No. Art is language which needs two interlocutors to accept
it. Because there is no universalization of speakers, there
is no universalization of aesthetic values. What the people
of Tibet do is not the same as what the people of Rio de Janeiro
do. The quality and the art of each is not universal. You
have the same aesthetic values of only one culture. Culture
is production that is done inside of people. The capacity to
understand cultures different from your own is Erudition.
Erudition is knowledge you have about other cultures. Each
culture produces its own art, which is a part of the concep-
tion of the world that the culture has. So it is impossible
to talk about a universal quality.

(Paris: January 11 and 13, 1980)

Why was the "Joker" system created?

The "Joker" system came from an economic reality. The Arena
Theatre of sec Paulo had a capacity for only 160 spectators.
This forced us to have a small cast no matter what type of play
was to be performed.

But how is it that the Joker character works?

We presented the play, or rather the scene. Immediately, we
interrupted it, the Joker interrupted the action. We discussed
the scene with the Public and then we returned to the scene and
the action continued.

15 it in that interruption where the function, the power of the
Joker is realized?

The power of the Joker, we could visualize it in the following:
Its power was in the rupture of the spectacle universe and its
movement toward the universe of the spectator. In that manner,

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we made contacts with the public on egalitarian terms. In
other words, it was like placing two speakers on the same level.
We did this, first, by writing our own plays: Arena Narrates
Zumbi, Arena Narrates Tiradentes, etc. Later it was true in
the case of Arturo Ui. In both cases, the power of the Joker
was to create egalitarian conditions with the spectator.

 

This was perhaps the prelude of the Theatre of the Oppressed.
It was its nucleus.

What differences were there between one production and the
other, between Arena Narrates Zumbi and Arena Narrates
Tiradentes?

 

 

 

With Arena Narrates Zumbi the Joker was more intuitive. It was
the beginning of a new technique. Zumbi was a text which
possessed too much fantasy; although the character was real,

he himself was too full of legends. With Tiradentes the expla-
nations of the Joker were more rational; the division into
chapters was more solid than in Zumbi. Tiradentes, also, was

a more concrete character; we had more information and docu-
ments following a clearer outline. But, like Zumbi, there was
a great number of historical characters.

 

 

 

Which one was more effective?

Zumbi; and maybe it was because it had many more musical ele-
ments, many more songs, dances, etc. It appealed more to the
Brazilian spirit. More than Tiradentes.

 

How long was it in performance?
From 1965 to 1966. Almost a year and a half.

And Tiradentes?

 

From 7 to 8 months, in 1967.
After Arena Narrates Tiradentes, what followed?

The musicals: Arena Narrates Bahia and Arena Narrates Bolivar.
In 1971, after Bolivar, we produced Arturo Ui.

 

Tell me about Arena Narrates Bahia.

 

Bahia was the capital of Brazil during one part of the colonial
period. Bahia was not really a play; in it there wasn't any
dialogue; everything was music. There were 6 singers who came
from Bahia, and who narrated the story of the northeastern
"Retirante" (the man who emigrates from the arid region of the

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northeastern part of Brazil to the southern part in order to
escape the drought). All the problems that he faces in the

south are eXposed: unemployment, health, malnutrition, etc.
Finally, he decides to return to the northeast.

The interesting point about Bahia was that although there wasn't
any dialogue and everything was sung, the music was sung as
though it were dialogue. The singers sang as characters, not

as singers. The censor cut many songs and at the end we had

to forget it, and not continue.

 

(As an aside, Boal relates an experience he had with the man
who was the censor. When the censor came to see the spectacle,
the performers told the audience that the play was changed

by the censor and they pointed him out and explained what parts
were cut. At one point, Boal threatened the censor, telling
him that if he cut more, they would sing two songs ridiculing
him. "What two songs?", the censor asked. Boal answered,
"Happy Birthday and God Save The Queen." The censor relented
but went to the police station and an order for the arrest of
the entire cast was issued. The cast decided to perform the
play but also to tell the spectators what had happened.)

The play was performed for one month only.

Augusto, how do you see your own exile? What impressions do you
have about it after years of experience outside of your home-
land?

Exile is the most immoral penalty, because it goes beyond the
limits of the accused. In exile, not only is the accused
affected, but also his wife, sons, relatives, etc., who don't
know or understand what is going on.

In the case of Tiradentes, not only was he condemned but also
three more generations of his family.

Are there constants in the plays that you have written?

First, a distance, an escape from Realism. Because I think
that Realism, when it proposes a world which pretends to be
objective, is not true. Because what really happens is that
Realism proposes a world according to the author's perceptions,
in which case there isn't an objective world. Because of that,
there is always a deformation. I prefer instead to hide these
deformations in order to reveal them.

Secondly, I find in all my plays the influence of the "Circo do
Brasil" (Brazilian circus). All my plays tend to have a heavy
element. It is a type of acting and more notably a type of

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playwriting. For example, the drunken in A Tempestade (The
Tempest), the manner he uses in speaking, etc. There are
ample, large, extensive, violent and open discussions. Another
example is the scene of the escape to the embassy together with
the use of the chest to symbolize a burial in play Coup de
Poing sur la Pointe du Couteau (The Fist Upon t e Knife 5

 

 

Point). But this last play is something different.
What is the difference?

This is the last play I wrote. It is the product of my experi-
ences here in Europe. There are two new elements in it that
are not in the other plays.

First is the influx of the Image Theatre, which was greatly
developed here. For example, all the scenes depend on the

use of the luggage. Sometimes they become walls in the embassy;
later they are islands; other times they are furniture, etc.

I can say that there is much involved in image. The actors
also are constantly giving images. An example is when they
reach Paris and everyone throws down their luggage and acts on
top of it.

Secondly, never before have I written things that are so close
to me; nor so psychological, such as in the obsession that the
character of Maria has toward blood. Before, I wrote about
other things. It is not that I represent the characters, but
that they represent what I have lived.

What differences do you see in the plays written following the
"Joker" system, in both the musicals and those which weren't
musicals?

Well, you could see that with the "Joker" the plays are always
updated, because the "Joker" discusses the news and events
which are currently taking place. In that way the "Joker"
changes the scenes, introduces new explanations according to
contemporary events.

This would not occur with the other type of play?

No. I will give you an example from my play Revolution in South
America. When I wrote it, the protagonist Jose da Silva repre-

sented a guy from a working class which was different from the

working class of today. In that moment, he was a great example
of that class. He symbolized the great number of workers who
followed and really believed in the traitorous leaders of the
day. Today the same working class has evolved; it is different
and more organized. When I was in Brazil in November of 1979,
this play was being performed; and I suggested to them that

312

since it wasn't the same working class, why didn't they make
the spectators change and correct the character of José da
Silva? In that manner, the representation was updated.

With the "Joker", this wouldn't have been necessary. With the
"Joker" the performances are always up to date.

(Paris: January 15 and 17, 1980)

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APPENDIX B ‘
CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY OF AUGUSTO BOAL

1931 -
1950 -

1952 —

1953
1955

1956
to -
1958

314

APPENDIX B

CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY OF AUGUSTO BOAL

March 16, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Writes 0 Cavalo e o Santo (The Horse And The Saint) about
black workers.

 

He graduates in Chemical Engineering from the National School
of Chemistry at the University of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.

1. Period defined by him as "Culturalist"; works with the
Black Experimental Theatre.

2. Investigates and writes about similarities and differences
between Greek mythology and the mythologies of some
Brazilian black religions. Ex. NagO mythology.

3. Writes a few one-act plays about the life of the fisher-
men from the poorest Brazilian region known as "Penha".

Goes to U.S. to do his graduate studies in Chemistry; Indus-
trial Chemistry, specializing in Plastics at the Columbia
University in New York. There, he studies theatre with John
Gassner, Maurice Valency, Norris Houghton, Langston Hughes,
and others.

In 1954, writes Martim Pescador (Martin The Fisherman), which
won the first prize of the Calumbia University Literary
Exchange in 1955.

 

Member of the "Brooklyn Writers Group".

His first experience as director with his plays: Martim
Pescador and Do Outro_ Lado da Rua (The House Across the
Street) at the Malin Theatre.

Arena Theatre begins its period known as Brazilian Realism
with foreign plays.

Boal returns to Brazil.

Works as a translator of mystery novels for 6 months.

Assumes the artistic direction of the Arena Theatre directing
John Steinbeck's play Mice and Men. Receives the diploma

 

1958 -

1960 -

315

"Revelagéo de diretor do ano" from the Asocia ao Paulista de
Criticos de Teatro because of his success wit Mice andFMen.

 

In 1957, writes and directs Marido Magro, Mulher Chata (Skinny
Husband, Boring Wife) at the Arena Theatre.

The director of the National Theatre Company named "Teatro
Brasileiro de Comédia" invites him to direct a spectacle
with the company.

Directs Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock. Receives the
award of "Best Young Director of 1956" from the National
Library.

 

Directs Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted.
Directs the first playwriting seminar.

Tours with his play Marido Magro... throu hout the interior
of Brazil: Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Bahia, etc.

 

Directs Ternura for the Black Experimental Theatre.

His play 00 Outro Lado da Rua is performed at the Experimental
Theatre of the National Theatre Company.

 

The "Sociedade Brasileira de Autores Teatrais" (Brazilian
Society of Playwriters) publishes Boal's Marido Magro.

Arena Theatre begins its period known as Brazilian National
Realism.

Directs exclusively young Brazilian writers: Society em Baby
Doll by Henrique Pongetti; Fogo Frio (Cold Fire) by Benedito
Rui Barbosa; Eles Nao Usam Black Tie (They Don't Wear Tuxedos)
by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri.

 

 

Writes Laio se Matou (Laio Killed Himself), performed by the
Black Experimental Theatre.

 

Directs the first laboratory of interpretation.
Professor of playwriting at the School of Dramatic Art.

Arena Theatre performs his play Revolution in South America;
a musical satire.

Receives the SACI award as the best actor of the year, given
by the newspaper O Estado de sac Paulo.

 

 

Directs A Engrenagem by Sartre.

1961 -

1962 -

1963 -

1964
to -
1965

1967 -

1968 -

1969 -

Novicio by Martins Pena.

316

Directs O Testamento do Capgaceiro (The Bandit' s Testament)
by Francisco de Assis.

 

Arena produces Boal's José, do Parto a Sepultura (Joseph From
Birth to the Grave).

 

Arena Theatre begins its period known as Nationalization of
the Classics.

Directs Moliere' 5 plays, Lope de Vega' 5 plays, The Mandragola
by Machiavelli, The Inspector General by Gogol, etc. Trans-
lates Coriolanus by Shakespeare.

 

 

Writes the first texts of The Bourgeoisie Poetic of Virta.

Receives the SACI Award as the best director of 1962, because
of his work directing Machiavelli's Mandragola. Directs Q

 

Directs Tartuffe by Moliere.

Arena Theatre begins its period known as The Musicals, where
it combines two principles: the principle of the photographic
realistic theatre, and the principle of the classic theatre
applied to Brazilian reality (the universality with the parti-
cularity).

Directs Opinion, a spectacle with music where three singers
narrate and sing what happens to their particular lives.

Directs the spectacle Arena Narrates Zumbi, initiating the
creation of a system of performing called "The Joker System."

 

Writes and directs Arena Narrates Tiradentes, where the "Joker
System" is consolidated.

 

Starts the "Férias de Opiniéo" where artists are invited to
present their opinions about Brazil.

Small shows of ten to twelve minutes: songs, plastic arts
are included.

He resigns from the School of Dramatic Art because of the
political situation.

Because of the repression, he goes on tour in foreign coun-
tries with spectacles such as Arena Narrates Zumbi and Arena
Narrates Bolivar (Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, France,
U. S. , etc.)

The "Joker System" is developed also as a kind of interpreta-
tion system for actor's character analysis.

1970 -

1971 -

1972 -

1973 -

1974 -

317

Repression prevents the performances of popular theatre
spectacles in popular places such as streets, schools,
worker's unions, etc. Boal develops his techniques of News-
paper Theatre with the spectacle Newspaper Theatre, First
Edition.

Arena Theatre in France at the Nancy Festival performs experi-
ments with Boal's Newspaper Theatre and the spectacle Arena
Narrates Zumbi.

 

Boal is arrested on Feb. 2. On Feb. 8 he is tortured, and
in May is released.

Starts to write while in prison his drama Torquemada.
Goes into exile in Argentina, where he directs his play Tio

Patinhas e a Pilula (Uncle Sam And The Pill), an attempt—t5
destroy fascism in Brazil.

 

Works doing theatre in the churches using the life of Christ
to discuss the political problems of Argentina (Bible Theatre).

Travels throughout Latin American countries expressing his
ideas about People's Theatre.

Starts to write the first manuscripts of his Theater of the
Oppressed.

Directs Arturo Ui by Brecht using the "Joker System." Starts
working with his Invisible Theatre techniques.

Participates in various Latin American and International
Theatre Festivals, as lecturer, organizer of workshops, etc.

Publishes his first book entitled Categorias de Teatro Popular
(Categories of Popular Theatre).

Invited by the Peruvian government to participate in the
National Literacy Program called Operacidn Alfabetizacidn
Inte ral. This experience was the basis for the development
of his Theatre of the Oppressed.

Exiled in Argentina, he dedicates all his time to writing.
Writes for many periodicals and newspapers. Publishes his
second and most important book, which includes all his
theories regarding the Theatre of the Oppressed: Teatro del
Oprimido y otras Poéticas Politicas (Theatre of the Oppressed
and other Political Poetics).

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1975 - The Arena Theatre is condemed.

1977 -

1978 -

Publishes: 200 ejercicios y juegos para el Actor y No-actor
conyganas de decir algo a través del teatro;

 

Teatro do Oprimido e Outras Poéticas Politicas;
Técnicas Latinoamericanas de Teatro Popular;

Tres Obras: Torggemada; Tio Patilhudo, e Revolugao
na America do Sul. ‘5

 

Goes into exile in Portugal.
Conventional theatre work.
Few experiments on the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Performs a big spectacle of Forum Theatre at the city of
Oporto for 1,000 persons.

Writes columns and articles for the weekly Opcao.

Directs the threatre grouo La Barraca.

 

Travels throughout Europe.
Publishes: CrOnicas de nuestra America;

A deliciosa e sangrenta aventura latina de Jane
Spitfire, espie e mulher sensuall

 

Le theatre de l[opprimé.

 

200 exercicios e jogosypara a ator e n80 ator
com vontade de dizer algo através do teatro.

Moves to France, and creates the Center for the Theatre of the
Oppressed.

His writings are translated into French, Italian, English,
and other European languages.

The Theatre of the Oppressed is known throughout Europe:
Paris, Nancy, Dijon, Strasbourg, sevres, Grenoble, Lurs,
Avignon, etc. in France; Norrkfipping and Goethebfirg in
Switzerland; Hambourg and Berlin in Germany; Palermo in Italy;
Liege in Belgium; Godrano in Sicily; Stocholm, Skeppsholm in
Sweden; Denmark; and Finalnd.

319
Publishes Murro em Punta de Faca (The Fist Upon the Knife's
Point), a play about the exile.
1979 - Publishes: Duas pecas: A Tempestade. As Mulheres de Atenas;
Jeux pour acteurs;

Milagre no Brasil (Romance)

 

Pratique du théatre de l'opprimé;
Técnicas Latino-americanas de Teatro Popular;

Theater of the Oppressed.

 

1980 - Continues working with his Center for the Theatre of the
Oppressed.

Has in plan the publication of a book about the Image Theatre,
the translation into English of his book 200 ejercicios...,
and his returning to Brazil.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

320

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works by Boal

 

Boal, Augusto. "El arte y las masas (En torno a1 teatro popular)."
Primer Acto, nam. 146-147 (julio-agosto 1972), pp. 45-55.

 

. Categorias de teatro popular. Buenos Aires: Ediciones
C.E.P.E.,*l972.

 

. "Categorias de teatro popular." Conjunto, num. 14 (sept.-
dic. 1972), pp. 14-33.

. CrOnicas de nuestra America. Rio de Janeiro: Editora
Codecri, 1977.

 

A deliciosa e sangrenta aventura latjpade Jane Spitfire
espifi e mulher sensual. Lisboa: Moraes Editores, 1977.

 

200 ejercicios y juegospara e1 actor y para el no-actor
con ganas de decir algo a través del teatro. Buenos Aires:
Ediciones Crisis, 1975.

200 exercicios e jogos para o ator e néo-ator com vontade
de dizer aTgoyatravés do teatro. Rio de Janeiro: Editora
Civilizagéo Brasileira, 1977.

 

. Duas pegas: A Tempestade. As Mulheres de Atenas. Lisboa:
Platano Editora S.A.R.L., 1979.

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