
Theatre of the Oppressed
Augusto Boal(Author)
Pluto Press
Published on 20. March 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-7453-3929-0 (ISBN)
Description
Augusto Boal saw theatre as a mirror to the world, one that we can reach into to change our reality. This book, The Theatre of the Oppressed, is the foundation to 'Forum Theatre', a popular radical form practised across the world.
Boal's techniques allowed the people to reclaim theatre, providing forums through which they could imagine and enact social and political change. Rejecting the Aristotelian ethic, which he believed allowed the State to remain unchallenged, he broke down the wall between actors and audience, the two sides coming together, the audience becoming the 'spect-actors'.
Written in 1973, while in exile from the Brazilian government after the military coup-d'etat, this is a work of subversion and liberation, which shows that only the oppressed are able to free themselves.
Boal's techniques allowed the people to reclaim theatre, providing forums through which they could imagine and enact social and political change. Rejecting the Aristotelian ethic, which he believed allowed the State to remain unchallenged, he broke down the wall between actors and audience, the two sides coming together, the audience becoming the 'spect-actors'.
Written in 1973, while in exile from the Brazilian government after the military coup-d'etat, this is a work of subversion and liberation, which shows that only the oppressed are able to free themselves.
Reviews / Votes
'An affable intellectual and an effervescent teacher, [Boal] was a theatrical Johnny Appleseed who spent his later years spreading his doctrines of the theater as a land of equal opportunity for professionals and nonprofessionals alike' -- The New York Times 'Oppression, according to Augusto Boal, is when one person is dominated by the monologue of another and has no chance to reply. Boal's life is devoted to giving those who are in this one-down position the tools with which to express themselves and discover a way out of their powerlessness' -- The Harvard Gazette '[His] achievement is 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, author of Modern Drama and the Death of God 'Should be read by everyone in the world of theatre who has any pretensions at all to political commitment' -- John Arden, playwright 'Boal's terrific energy came from his faith in the creativity, spontaneity and ability of all people, however underprivileged, to change their situation' -- The GuardianMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-3929-0 (9780745339290)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

Augusto Boal
Theatre of the Oppressed
Book
08/2008
3rd Edition
Pluto Press
€41.03
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Augusto Boal (1931-2009) was a Brazilian theatre practitioner, drama theorist and political activist. He is the author of Theatre of the Oppressed (Pluto Press, 2019).
Content
Preface to 2008 edition
Preface to 2000 edition
Preface to 1974 edition
1. Aristotle's Coercive System of Tragedy
2. Machiavelli and the Poetics of Virtu
3. Hegel and Brecht: The Character as Subject or the Character as Object?
4. Poetics of the Oppressed
5. Development of the Arena Theater of Sao Paulo
Appendices
Index
Preface to 2000 edition
Preface to 1974 edition
1. Aristotle's Coercive System of Tragedy
2. Machiavelli and the Poetics of Virtu
3. Hegel and Brecht: The Character as Subject or the Character as Object?
4. Poetics of the Oppressed
5. Development of the Arena Theater of Sao Paulo
Appendices
Index