Theatre of the Oppressed (Pluto Classics)

Boal, Augusto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0861040805 ISBN 13: 9780861040803

Publisher: Pluto Press, 1991

As illiteracy has been shown to be a weapon of the ruling class, so Augusto Boal shows theatre to be a weapon, not only of bourgeois control but of revolution. He demonstrates the ways in which theatre has come to reflect ruling-class control, drawing on the theories of Aristotle and Machiavelli. He then shows the process reversed in Brechtian/Marxist poetics. All the theory is related to his own experience of revolutionary theatre in Latin America, and illustrated with practical examples of exercises and games used in the People's Theatre of Peru. This is now a classic text on radical drama. Boal restores theatre to its proper place as a popular form of communication and expression, and points to the revolutionary potential of transforming the spectator into the actor.

Review:

'One of the most revered figures in world theatre ... the liberation theologian of theatre.' The Guardian 'Should be read by everyone in the world of theatre who has any pretensions at all to political commitment.' John Arden'So remarkable, so original and so ground-breaking that I have no hesitation in describing the book as the most important theoretical work on the theatre in modern times.' George Wellwarth

About the Author:

Augusto Boal (1931 - 2009) was a renowned dramatist and the author of several works on politics and theatre.