Theatre of the Oppressed

209 Pages·2008·0.91 MB·English

by  Augusto Boal

Theatre of the Oppressed
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Revolution, Black Skin,
Democracy, White Masks
Socialism Frantz Fanon
Selected Writings Forewords by
V.I. Lenin Homi K.
Bhabha and
Edited by
Ziauddin Sardar
Paul Le Blanc
9780745328485
9780745327600
Jewish History, The
Jewish Religion Communist
The Weight Manifesto
of Three
Karl Marx and
Thousand Years
Friedrich Engels
Israel Shahak
Introduction by
Forewords by
David Harvey
Pappe / Mezvinsky/
9780745328461
Said / Vidal
9780745328409
Theatre of Catching
the Oppressed History on
Augusto Boal the Wing
Race, Culture and
9780745328386
Globalisation
A. Sivanandan
Foreword by
Colin Prescod
9780745328348
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theatre
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oppressed
AUGUSTO BOAL
Translated from Spanish by
Charles A. and Maria-Odilia Leal McBride
and Emily Fryer
PLUTO PRESS
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First published 1979 and 2000 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
New edition published 2008
Originally published in 1974 as Teatro del Oprimido
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Copyright © Augusto Boal 1979, 2000, 2008
2000 Preface English translation © Emily Fryer
The right of Augusto Boal to be identifi ed as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 2839 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 2838 6 Paperback

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For
Fábian, Julián and Cecilia
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CONTENTS
Preface to the 2008 edition ix
Preface to the 2000 edition – The Unruly Protagonist x
Preface to the 1974 edition xxiii
1. Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy 1
Introduction 1
Art Imitates Nature 3
What is the Meaning of ‘Imitation’? 9
What, then, is the Purpose of Art and Science? 10
Major Arts and Minor Arts 11
What does Tragedy Imitate? 12
What is Happiness? 13
And What is Virtue? 14
Necessary Characteristics of Virtue 15
The Degrees of Virtue 18
What is Justice? 19
In What Sense can Theatre Function as an Instrument
for Purifi cation and Intimidation? 21
The Ultimate Aim of Tragedy 22
A Short Glossary of Simple Words 29
How Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy Functions 31
Different Types of Confl ict: Hamartia and Social Ethos 34
Conclusion 40
2. Machiavelli and the Poetics of Virtù 43
The Feudal Abstraction 43
The Bourgeois Concretion 49
Machiavelli and Mandragola 56
Modern Reductions of Virtù 62
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viii THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED
3. Hegel and Brecht: The Character as Subject or the
Character as Object? 70
The ‘Epic’ Concept 70
Types of Poetry in Hegel 72
Characteristics of Dramatic Poetry, Still According
to Hegel 74
Freedom of the Character-Subject 74
A Word Poorly Chosen 77
Does Thought Determine Being (or Vice Versa)? 79
Can Man be Changed? 82
Confl ict of Wills or Contradiction of Needs? 83
Empathy or What? Emotion or Reason? 84
Catharsis and Repose, or Knowledge and Action? 86
How to Interpret the New Works? 88
The Rest Does Not Count: They Are Minor Formal
Differences Between the Three Genres 90
Empathy or Osmosis 93
4. Poetics of the Oppressed 95
Experiments with the People’s Theatre in Peru 95
Conclusion: ‘Spectator’, a Bad Word! 134
5. Development of the Arena Theatre of São Paulo 136
Need for the ‘Joker’ 144
Goals of the ‘Joker’ 150
Structures of the ‘Joker’ 157
Appendices 169
Notes 173
Index 178
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PREFACE TO THE 2008 EDITION
This book was published for the fi rst time in Buenos Aires in
1973, at the beginning of 16 years of exile from my own country,
Brazil, which was at that time under a cruel and murderous civic
and military dictatorship. It has been reprinted dozens of times
in dozens of languages since then. What has changed?
In itself, nothing has changed. It is the philosophical foundation
of the whole system of Theatre of the Oppressed, so it cannot
change because I have not changed my opinions about theatre,
about history, or about the voracious political systems that prevail
in most parts of this world. I only have, I hope, coherently enriched
that vision and also my practice. I have developed other forms
of Theatre of the Oppressed which are not described here, like
the Rainbow of Desire, Legislative Theatre and the Aesthetics of
the Oppressed.
However, when I read this book today, I do so from a much
broader perspective than I did when I wrote it. At that time, I
was concerned with theatre as theatre, and about its relationship
to social human beings. Now, I am more concerned with human
beings as theatre.
I was a teacher of theatre. Now, I understand that there is no
such thing. Those, like myself, who are teachers – and students
– of theatre, in reality we are students and teachers of human
beings. This book can be read again from that perspective.
When we study Shakespeare we must be conscious that we
are not studying the history of the theatre, but learning about
the history of humanity. We are discovering ourselves. Above
all: we are discovering that we can change ourselves, and change
the world.
Nothing is going to remain the way it is. Let us, in the present,
study the past, so as to invent the future.
Augusto Boal,
March 2008
ix
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