Theatre of the Oppressed: Augusto Boal

Origin of Organization:

Founder: Augusto Boal

Date: Theatrical analyses and Critiques developed in the 1950s but elaborated upon on the 1950s.

Place: The theatrical forms Augusto Boal developed and formed was first introduced in Brazil and then later in Europe.

Influences:

Theatre practitioner: Augusto Boal

Educator and theorist: Paulo Freire

Spect-actors: Boal’s initiative was to promote social and political change, therefore he would refer hi spectators as “spect-actors” and have them act.

Movements:

Traditions and Rituals: This technique attempts to reveal the ideological super-structure of a society in the form of its rituals. "Rituals" in this sense describes the patterns of human relationships and the masks of behaviour that those patterns impose on the participants according to the roles that they play in society. For example: a man goes to a priest to confess his sins; despite the individual identities of the man and priest (i.e. the priest and the parishioner are landlords, the priest is a landlord and the parishioner is a peasant, and etc) the pattern of behavior will remain the same as other examples of this interaction. This will cause different scenarios to play out even though the confession is the same. Boal argues that this is an extraordinarily rich technique that has many variants: for example, its participants exchanging masks may explore the same ritual or people from different social classes may enact it.

Purpose of Organization:

Mission: Boal’s initiative was to promote social and political change through drama. The Theatre of the Oppressed, a term coined by Augusto Boal, is a series of theatrical analyses and critiques developed in the 1950s. Boal is an avid supporter of utilizing interactive techniques, especially in the context of theatre. Many of his ideas are considered as "a new media perspective", despite the relatively early birth of these ideas. Since then, these ideas have been developed more, giving them meaning in a modern-day context. The creation of the Theatre of the Oppressed is largely based on the idea of dialogue and interaction between audience and performer. Moreover, these ideas have served as a framework for the development and evolution of stronger ideas.