Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed
The consumption of traditional theater tends to be a physically static, if emotionally dynamic, act. You sit in a plush chair and fix your gaze upon a rectangular area in front of you for an hour or two. The performance is a contained work of art, and by definition, the chair you are sitting in is not a part of this art. But all theater-makers know that the border between drama and life is not always so distinct.
Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theater practitioner, political activist, and educator, re-conceived theater as a tool for the people. In order for a theatrical group to be truly revolutionary and create a bigger impact, the art-making must not be severed from the spectators. In fact, all means of production within the theater must be transferred to the people—no longer just “the audience”—so that they themselves may utilize these tools.
He called this the “Theater of the Oppressed”. Wider in scope than just a style or genre of performance, Theater of the Oppressed can be more accurately described as an assembly of tools and techniques that can give people the power of action and agency within their own lives, as well as foster dialogue between participants. Boal referred to traditional theater with passive audiences as “bourgeois theater”, which replicates a elite, finished world onstage and pacifies the viewers.
When put in conversation with other dramatic theorists that preceded him, the revolutionary nature of Boal’s ideas becomes clearer. Aristotle proposed that the spectator delegated power to the dramatic character so that the latter may think and act on the former’s behalf. Brecht argued that while this was partially true, spectators also reserved the right to think independently of the characters, and thus could oppose a character. Meanwhile, within Boal’s framework, the spectator herself becomes the protagonist, changing the dramatic action and actively trying out different solutions. There is no complacent satisfaction of watching a conflict resolve itself onstage. One must take up the conflict in her own hands. There is no script to follow, and life, too, is not confined by fate.
So what is done on a concrete level when one practices Theater of the Oppressed? Boal spent a large part of his life leading workshops in underserved communities, facilitating dramas that unfold around real-life problems of the participants. Audience members are invited onstage to choose their own roles and explore solutions to the dilemmas presented. They leave with an increased understanding of how to use theater to create social change. Borders are beyond blurred; they are stricken down altogether.
Sources:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/12/augusto-boals-theatre-of-the-oppressed/
https://www.chiaroscuromagazine.com/critique/augusto-boal-theatre-oppressed.html
