Games for Actors and Non-Actors

332 Pages·2005·1.97 MB·English

by  Augusto Boal

GAMES FOR ACTORS AND NON-ACTORS
Boal’s analysis of the art of the actor makes Games for Actors and Non-Actors
compulsory reading. Plays and Players
This is an inspiring and powerful book, a lucid account that will be of substantial
use to people already using Theatre of the Oppressed. It should also act as an
excellent introduction for those new to the system. Artscene
This is a useful handbook for those who want to explore Boal’s Theatre of the
Oppressed and as such is greatly to be welcomed. Boal’s work deserves and
demands emulation. Theatre Research International
Games for Actors and Non-Actorsis the classic and best-selling book by the founder
of Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal. It sets out the principles and practice
of Boal’s revolutionary method, showing how theatre can be used to transform
and liberate everyone – actors and non-actors alike!
This thoroughly updated and substantially revised edition includes:
• Two new essays by Boal on major recent projects in Brazil
• Boal’s description of his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company
• A revised introduction and translator’s preface
• A collection of photographs taken during Boal’s workshops, commissioned
for this edition
• New reflections on Forum Theatre
• A postscript considering the effect of 11 September 2001.
Augusto Boalis a theatre director, dramatist, theorist, writer and teacher. He was
a Member of Parliament for Rio de Janeiro from 1993 to 1996. He is the author of
The Theatre of the Oppressed, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, The Rainbow of Desire,
Legislative Theatreand Hamlet and the Baker’s Son: my life in theatre and politics.
Adrian Jacksonis Artistic Director of Cardboard Citizens. He has translated four
books by Augusto Boal, collaborated on a number of occasions and taught Theatre
of the Oppressed widely in other countries, including Namibia, South Africa, Hong
Kong, Mauritius and Finland.
For information about the activities of Augusto Boal and the centres of Theatre
of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro (workshops, courses and conventions), please
send a self-addressed envelope and two International Reply Coupons to:
CTO – Rio
Avenida Rio Branco 179–60andar
Centro
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
Tel./Fax [phone]
Email: [email protected]
www.ctorio.com.br
GAMES FOR ACTORS AND
NON-ACTORS
Second edition
Augusto Boal
Translated by Adrian Jackson
London and New York
First published 1992 by Routledge. Reprinted eight times.
Second edition published 2002 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2002 Augusto Boal
© 2002 Introduction: Adrian Jackson
© 2002 Translation: Routledge
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-99481-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–26761–7 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–26708–0 (pbk)
This book is dedicated to
Adrian Jackson, for his creative translation;
Helena Reckitt and Talia Rodgers, for their enthusiasm and help;
Edla Van Steen and Sábato Magaldi, forever friends;
Blanca Laksman and Leonardo Thumin, for having invented Cecilia!

CONTENTS
List of figures xxi
Translator’s introduction to the first edition xxii
Translator’s postscript to the second edition xxvii
Preface to the second edition:The Royal Shakespeare Company,
theatre in prisons and landless peasants 1
Postscript – with pride in our hearts 6
Preface to the first edition:the fable of Xua-Xua, the prehuman
woman who discovered theatre 11
Postscript: actors and non-actors 17
1 THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED IN EUROPE 18
Introduction 18
The Godrano experience: my first Forum Theatre in
Europe or the ultimate spect-actor/protagonist! 19
Feminism in Godrano 20
The police again 21
The oppressed and the oppressors 23
2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACTOR’S WORK 29
The primacy of emotion 29
Muscular exercises 31
Sensory exercises 31
Memory exercises 32
vii
CONTENTS
Imagination exercises 32
Emotion exercises 32
Rationalising emotion 35
À la recherche du temps perdu 37
The dialectical structure of the actor’s interpretation of a role 40
The will 40
The counter-will 43
The dominant will 45
Quantitative variation and qualitative variation 46
3 THE ARSENAL OF THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED 48
Introduction: a new system of exercises and games from
Theatre of the Oppressed 48
Two unities 49
Five categories of game and exercise 49
I FEELING WHAT WE TOUCH (RESTRUCTURING MUSCULAR
RELATIONS) 50
First series: general exercises 50
1 The cross and the circle 50
2 Colombian hypnosis 51
3 Minimum surface contact 56
4 Pushing against each other 58
5 Joe Egg (aka trust circle) 62
6 The circle of knots 62
7 The actor as ‘subject’: the Greek exercise 64
8 The actor as ‘object’ 66
9 Lifting someone out of a chair 67
10 Equilibrium of the body with an object 67
11 A balloon as an extension of the body 68
12 Racing on chairs 68
13 Rhythm with chairs 68
14 Musical chairs 69
15 Movement with over-premeditation 69
16 Difficulties 69
17 Divide up the movement 70
18 Dissociate coordinated movements 70
viii
CONTENTS
Second series: walks 70
1 Slow motion 71
2 At a right angle 72
3 Crab 72
4 Crossed legs (aka three-legged race) 72
5 Monkey 73
6 All fours 73
7 Camel walk 73
8 Elephant walk 73
9 Kangaroo walk 73
10 Leaning-against-each-other walk 73
11 Strapped-feet walk 74
12 Wheelbarrow 74
13 As you like it 74
14 Imitating others 74
Third series: massages 74
1 In a circle 75
2 The movement comes back 75
3 Sea waves 75
4 The rolling carpet 76
5 Back massage 77
6 The demon 77
Fourth series: integration games 77
1 Person to person, Quebec-style 77
2 The bear of Poitiers 78
3 The chair 78
4 Leapfrog 79
5 The Brueghel game 79
6 Stick in the mud 80
7 Grandmother’s footsteps 80
8 Millipede 80
9 Apple dance 81
10 Sticky paper 81
11 The wooden sword of Paris 81
12 American football (aka British bulldog) 82
13 Three Irish duels 82
14 Little packets 83
15 Cat and mouse 83
ix