Valeria Appel

The Theatre of the Oppressed for beginners Valeria Appel

This book looks at the Theatre of the Oppressed and explores the possibilities of drama as an agent for social change. The critical analysis of the theory and practice of Augusto Boal's theatre demonstrates the suitability of the method to deal with social issues. The focus is on the semiotic aspect of theatre. There are a number of elements in theatre that follow codes and conventions. When conceiving theatre as a language these can be subverted in order to make particular statements. Augusto Boal's work draws from Bertolt Brecht's Marxist drama and Paulo Freire's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed'. The concept of 'Dialectics' is a key term in Brecht's work. Indeed, Boal conceives oppression as the absence of dialogue. Boal's aesthetic language developed in Brazil's military coup environment. At the time the challenge was to provide people with a system of symbols that could pair the written and spoken language. Then, Boal formulated the concept of 'spect-actor'. Some voices claim that the method has become dogmatic. At the present, Boal is no icon of oppression. A number of theatre companies specialise in tackling specific social issues that lead to isolation and social apartheid. This is supported by a social policy and funding bodies that seek social cohesion through these kind of schemes.