Theatre of the Oppressed Section 4

Theatre of the Oppressed—Augusto Boal

© 1974 © 1979 English Translation

Translation by Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal McBride

Section 4: Poetics of the Oppressed

            The artistic means of expression of theater was originally developed as a celebration of all members of a community participating in the spectacle. It then became a device of the aristocracy to separate actors from spectators, and even the protagonist from the other performers. Theater became a means to communicate material the ruling class felt was important, therefore controlling, and to render the spectators passive about said information. Coercive indoctrination began.

Augusto Boal’s development of poetics of the oppressed/theatre of the oppressed sought and continues to seek the fulfillment of the origins of theater.  He suggests that the audience must once again participate and act.  The actions of the spectators are as valid and important as the actors’ work, and the passive nature of a theater audience is ended.  In this section of his work, Boal offers approaches to how the people can “reassume their protagonistic function in the theater” as well as in society (p. 119).  He points out that in Aristotelian theater, the spectator delegated power to the dramatic characters and thus found catharsis.

Brecht, meanwhile, reasoned that the audience member granted power to the character on stage who would act in his stead, but reserved the right to think on his or her own and develop critical consciousness.  For Boal’s poetics of the oppressed, the spectator entrusts power to no one but retains it in order to participate, act, and create possible plans for change.

Experiments with the People’s Theater in Peru

            In 1973, the government in Peru worked to develop a literacy program for the three to four million citizens that were illiterate or semi-illiterate. The organizers of the program, Operación Alfabetización Integral (ALFIN), recognized that many of the illiterate were not people who were unable to express themselves, but unable to do so in a particular language. With many languages being spoken in the country, not just dialects, ALFIN members began to coordinate their efforts based on the idea that by learning a new language, a “person acquires a new way of knowing reality and of passing that knowledge on to others” (p. 121). The ALFIN project developed two principal goals:

1. To teach literacy in the first language of the participant as well as the dominant language of Spanish, and
2. To teach literacy through other languages, especially artistic ones including photography, film, journalism, and theater.

Boal felt that theater in particular is a language that can be easily used by anyone, regardless of artistic talent. There were many actions taken by the members of the project to encourage the participants to find ways to discuss and dialogue about their situation. 

One artistic language that Boal describes is the use of photography. For this project, the study group participants were asked a simple question:  Where do you live?  From the use of tangible objects such as photographs, the group members could engage in dialogue regarding the images.  Some of the images were straight forward—the interior of a small dwelling.  Other images were more obscure—the bank of a river or the main street of a neighborhood.  When given the opportunity to discuss why the images were what they were, it became clear to the ALFIN organizers and others what the study group members interpreted when asked the question.  The man who had taken the picture of the river bank did so because of the danger it posed to his young son. The woman who took the photo of the main street explained that she was new to the area and instantly recognized the street as a line of demarcation between the wealthy who lived on one side and the poor who lived on the other side of the street.

Boal continues to describe the photography project as it relates to theater.  The photos helped in establishing valid symbols for the group.  Too often, theater will fail to reach the spectators because it will use images and symbols that are meaningless to the audience. Shared meaning with all participants is a crucial goal of theater.

Another critical element of theater is that of the primary tool of theatrical presentations—the human body.  Those who participate in theater must first be in complete control of their bodies.  The notion is to make the body more expressive, and therefore prepared to become a subject in the theater and transform from witness to participant.

According to Boal, in order to begin to reclaim the origins of theater, it is crucial to guide transformation of spectator to actor in theater.  He offers exercises within four stages to utilize:

First stage: Knowing the body. Create a physical understanding of one’s reality and why that reality exists.

Second stage: Making the body expressive. Tap into and explore the enormous expressive capabilities of the human body.

Third stage: The theater as language.  Recognize that theater as a language offers participants a way to experience living in the present and not display images from the past.

The first degree—simultaneous dramaturgy.  Spectators create with the actors.

The second degree—image theater.  Spectators work directly with the actors to “speak” through the images of their bodies.

The third degree—forum theater. Spectators directly intervene in the dramatic action and act.

Fourth stage: The theater as discourse.  Provide simple forms of theater for the participants to create, discuss, and rehearse actions based on certain themes.

            Newspaper theater

            Invisible theater

            Photo-romance

            Breaking of repression

            Myth theater

            Trial theater

            Masks and rituals

These stages are essential to recreating theater as an artistic tool for the people. However, since many people are not “actors”, these stages in the sequence provided will empower the spectators to engage and begin to truly dialogue as a participant in theater.

In this section, Boal goes on to describe each of the elements listed above.  He describes techniques and provides anecdotal examples of how effortless and uncomplicated each can be.  Audience members are instantly engaged in creating the theatrical “performance” and are significant to the development of the piece. This interaction isn’t meant to be cathartic as Aristotle would surmise, nor is it a call to action, as Brecht would have one proceed.  It is a process with which participants can begin to explore their world, engage in dialogue about situations, and rehearse how to change what needs to be transformed.

As Boal summarizes his poetics of the oppressed, he states that it is “essentially the poetics of liberation: the spectator no longer delegates power to the characters either to think or act in his place.  The spectator frees himself; he thinks and acts for himself!  Theater is action!” (p. 155)