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INTRODUCTION Born in Penha, a northern working class district of Rio de Janeiro, in 1931, Augusto Boal went to Columbia University in New York originally to study chemical engineering, though a great deal of his time in the USA was spent studying theatre. He was invited back to Brazil to become the Artistic Director of the Arena Theatre in São Paolo and held that post from 1956 to 1971. A writer and director of such works as Lean Wife, Mean Husband (1957) Revolution in South America (1961), Arena Tells the Story of Tiradentes (1967), Boal read the educational philosophy of Paolo Freire (whose The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Continuum, 1970 was inspirational) and this work coloured his theatrical practice, leading him into agit-prop in the 1960s. Boal gradually became a little disenchanted with the limits of agit-prop, which he judged had an element of bourgeois elitism about it. He thought it remained a top-to-bottom process: the writer delivering the sermon to otherwise ignorant spectators who therefore remained passive receptacles of somebody else’s view of the world. Boal’s most recognised development, Forum Theatre, grew out of these agit-prop plays when he realised that he needed to listen to the views and ideas of the audience, making the process driven by the audience: a bottom-to-top process which Boal regards as a much more democratic, liberating method. It had been a traditional aspect of these agit-prop performances to discuss the implications of the play with the audience after the performance. The story goes that a woman in the audience was so annoyed by an actor’s inability to understand her suggestion that she came out onto the stage to show him. Thus was born Boal’s notion of the ‘Spect-Actor’. Boal’s political activities became uncomfortable for the military regime ruling Brazil, and in 1971 he was arrested, tortured and subsequently exiled. He became a wandering theatre practitioner, giving lectures, conducting workshops and mounting productions in North and South America, Europe, India and Africa. He runs two ‘Centers for the Theater of the Oppressed’, one in Paris, the other in Rio de Janeiro: CENTRE DU THEATRE DE L’OPPRIMÉ 78/80 Rue de Charolais 75012 Paris France DR AMA 1 INTRODUCTION C.T.O. – BOAL Rua Francisco Otaviano 185/41 CEP 22080, Ipanema Arpoador Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil Many other centres and theatre groups have sprung up independently to promote the practice of his Theatre of the Oppressed (TOP). Following tentative steps towards democracy with the ending of military rule in Brazil, Boal returned to Rio in 1986. In 1992 he was elected to the city council and his colleagues joined him as his council staff, setting up seventeen companies which practised ‘Legislative Theatre’ across the city. This adaptation of Forum Theatre was designed to elicit ideas for changing the laws of the city and became the spur to Boal’s fourth, and currently last, book in English. Boal was not re-elected in 1996 but has remained active – both politically and theatrically (though he would probably not make a distinction between the two!). 2 DR AMA WORKS BY BOAL SECTION 1 There are only four books by Boal published in English. They are all crucial to a study of the man and his work. Boal, Augusto, Theater of the Oppressed, trans. Charles A and Maria-Odilia Leal McBride and Emily Fryer, London: Pluto, 2000 Boal summed up his stance on theatre in 1974 in the Foreword to the first English-language edition, published in 1979. This new 2000 edition retains the Foreword and it is still the best summary one is likely to find. However, this edition also contains a new Preface in which Boal recreates the first political theatre – Thespis stepping out of the socially and politically controlled Chorus in ancient Greece and creating the Protagonist, the Character, the Mask, the Costume – the ‘Other’. This challenge to the accepted socio-political mores of a class-ridden Greek society is a clear precursor of all political theatre and a strong stimulus for Boal. It is a precursor because the tale of Thespis also includes the notions of ‘hypocrisy’, of patronage of the arts, of tax incentives and theatrical producers pulling the purse strings and initiating censorship. And yet it also introduces the use of dialogue, which by its very nature requires opposing points of views to be heard. Opposing points of view mean there is contradiction; from this one can see democratic structures emerging through the challenge made to the oppressive use of just one voice – the monologue. Under this kind of challenge truth can be (at least) sought and corruption exposed. Boal clearly sees parallels with modern Brazil (and, by extension, all capitalist states). However, Boal also sees how Aristotle’s Poetics, which laid down the blueprint for Tragedy, condemns the barely liberated players and audience to another system of social and political control – through Tragedy’s initial reliance on empathy to its eventual outcome of catharsis. Brecht, of course, took steps to reverse this tradition by reducing the empathetic relationship of both audience-and-character and actor-andcharacter. Boal, though, does not consider Brecht went far enough (even if he is a ‘friend’ of Brecht’s distancing devices – or Verfremdungseffekte). Boal thinks Brecht left a division between actor-and-audience and, more importantly, left a degree of oppression by raising (or maintaining) the status of the Poet and inculcating a power relationship in which the audience is the inferior partner. DR AMA 3 WORKS BY BOAL For Boal the next logical step was to turn the Spectator into the ‘Spect-Actor’ who would invade the stage. By this act of occupation, or ‘possession’, or ‘symbolic trespass’, the social being who is the Spect-Actor is both real and fictional, in a ‘dual reality’, ready, as Boal would see it, to transform both his oppressed self and his oppressive society. This way, Boal says, lies freedom. All of this in the Preface alone. Boal goes on to lay the theoretical framework for his practice by dismantling ‘Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy’, which he says is basically a structure designed to intimidate its audience; then by looking at Machiavelli and bourgeois values; at Hegel’s inversion by Brecht and Boal’s differences with Brecht, and then some very useful background reading of Boal’s earlier theatre practice in both Peru and in São Paolo – in which we learn of the idea, role and function of the ‘Joker’. Boal, Augusto, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, trans. A Jackson, London: Routledge, 1992 This is an invaluable book. It is the arsenal that houses all the techniques – ‘games’ – which can be used to enable Theatre of the Oppressed to take place. Jackson’s Introduction is a good explanation of Boal’s work, especially of the three major elements (also referred to as ‘games’) – Image Theatre, Invisible Theatre and Forum Theatre – and of the terms ‘Joker’ and ‘Spect-Actor’. Boal himself adds more detailed experiences and examples of these three theatre games and then, in the body of the book, devotes his time to listing and explaining nearly 300 games or exercises. These are designed to train the actor (by which he means, of course, both professional and amateur, performer and audience, that is, the ‘Spect-Actor’ – for Boal, we are all actors) and prepare for theatre which should change or transform society. A must-buy. Boal, Augusto, Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy, trans. A Jackson, London: Routledge, 1995 Encountering individual, internalised oppressions (as opposed to the wider, socio-political oppressions which had driven his work previously) encouraged Boal to adapt or seek alternative techniques in order to deal with them. Boal recounts (and this is recounted elsewhere – see Cohen-Cruz, p18 and Schutzman, p20) how his first experiences in Europe and North America were somewhat confusing: he had become less familiar with the more affluent societies outside the developing world, or those which were less immediately aggressive, than those under armed dictatorships. 4 DR AMA WORKS BY BOAL People in the western industrial capitalist societies seemed, to Boal, to be oppressed by less tangible forces: ‘emptiness’ and ‘loneliness’ rather than torture or slavery. ‘The Rainbow of Desire’ and ‘Cop in the Head’ are the major techniques developed to overcome these oppressions and form the basis for this book. Boal goes on to explain the theoretical concept of ‘aesthetic space’ (the ‘interpenetration’ of stage and auditorium) and – in ‘The Three Hypotheses of “Cop in the Head”’ – the notions of ‘osmosis’, ‘metaxis’ and ‘analogical induction’. This book reflects the more therapeutic ends to which Boal’s work has been utilised with techniques such as ‘Rashomon’ and a predominant use of Image Theatre. As such, it is possibly the most difficult aspect of his work with which to experiment (and maybe the most dangerous in untrained hands). Boal, Augusto, Legislative Theatre: Using performance to make politics, trans. A Jackson, London: Routledge, 1998 Boal entered ‘official’ politics at the Rio de Janeiro city council elections in 1992 when he won a seat for the Workers’ Party. He set about taking his theatrical practice into the city to seek ideas, strategies and justifications for changing the laws directly from the people. This latest in the canon of Boal work translated into English sets about charting the genesis of this new ‘Legislative Theatre’, analysing and explaining its theory and rationale, providing examples of it in action and offering other Boalian insights into the practice of theatre, of playwriting/dramaturgy, of ‘popular theatre’ (a very old essay), of Newspaper Theatre – all sprinkled with a liberal dose of the sort of entertaining anecdotes one will be used to from Boal’s other work. Boal also pays his respects to Paolo Freire, the educationalist who died in 1997. Above all, Boal makes it very clear to readers and practitioners who might want to follow some of these ideas that this is a work in progress – he calls it a Beta version – and, in its book form, very specific to the political climate in South America. DR AMA 5 6 DR AMA THE WORLD WIDE WEB SECTION 2 One of the dangers of the World Wide Web is that anybody can say whatever they please about anything at all. It is an unregulated mass of opinions, some wonderfully academic, some woefully shoddy and infantile. Many come, unsurprisingly, in between. It is democracy in virtual action. Websites have a habit of changing addresses, changing names, changing content or disappearing completely. This is the nature of the Internet; this bibliography offers some sites as examples of what existed at the time of going to print. Typing ‘Augusto Boal’ into your search engine can throw up many useful and interesting sites. It can also lead you to Myrtle Boal, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Belfast South in 1997; sites condemning, reporting, denying or defending Augusto Pinochet’s crimes against humanity; Boal Designs, a ‘young, dynamic’ design company; Ken Boal, a tournament croquet player from Victoria, Australia, or just about anybody named Augusto or Boal who has a website or has been referred to in a website. On the Net you must learn to be patient – because nobody can hear you scream. United States, Canadian and Australian universities and academics have a greater tendency to post their thoughts and ideas in the cybermailbox of virtual reality for all and sundry to read – whether with a genuine sense of libertarian magnanimity or through plain vanity. British academia maintains an almost eerie silence, as if to broadcast its ideas is somehow to devalue them. Much of what exists is not linked to any academic institution. This need not necessarily prove a danger, though it usually is. Look out for refereed articles (those scrutinised by other academics and given the quality-assured ‘all clear’) – though these are often in sites to which you must subscribe. Plug in your modem, dial up your provider (or ISP), ignore all the americanised spelling and punch in those website addresses (or URLs). There is a great deal of tedious nonsense out there in cyberspace, but there is also much to admire and enjoy. Strap on your codswallop detector and happy hunting. http://www.toplab.org Probably the best site you will encounter for both depth and breadth of content. TOPLAB, founded in 1990, is the ‘Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory’, a group of educators, artists and activists who have collaborated and/or trained with DR AMA 7 THE WORLD WIDE WEB Augusto Boal. This site is titled ‘TOPLAB – Interactive Theater Workshops for Social Change’ and will illustrate just how far Boal’s work has gone from the confines of traditional theatre to promoting and instigating political change. The TOPLAB workshops (like the workshops of other groups who have formed to promote social change through the ideas and practice of Boal) use the techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed (TOP) to help solve problems caused by injustice or discrimination – or oppression – in the school, community or workplace. These problems, TOPLAB states, range from being AIDS-related, to abuse, homelessness, unemployment, racism, sexism etc. – anything, fundamentally, that is perceived to be a matter of unresolved conflict due to the ‘protagonist’ suffering at the wrong end of a power relationship, i.e. at the hands of the antagonist(s). The goal of the workshops is to transform the power relationship where it is seen as exploitative and oppressive. TOPLAB will not work with or for, or accept funding from, profit-making institutions and is closely linked to the Brecht Forum and the New York Marxist School. It has given workshops across New York in schools, universities and community organisations such as the Urban Pathways/Travelers’ Hotel Women’s Shelter (to build solidarity among women), and the Foundation for Research on Sexually Transmitted Diseases; at the annual Socialist Scholars’ Conference; in Mexican communities and with Mexico City street children; in Guatemala with educators, alcoholism treatment centres and women’s rights groups. TOPLAB’s members also participated in street theatre projects opposing US aggression in Iran and the Balkans. ‘Some Discussion Points on the Politics of the Theater of the Oppressed to be Considered by TO Practitioners’ states that Boal has defined TOP as a ‘rehearsal for revolution’ though TOPLAB is at pains to point out the extent, and the limits, of this definition: that it may be revolutionary but only insofar as it is at the service of revolution and that TO practitioners reflect upon the meaning of revolution in, and the revolutionary potential of, their work. This page also makes readers aware that the techniques of TOP are not enough, in themselves, to be radical or revolutionary. In fact, it is made abundantly clear that the techniques can only serve a political ideology and, therefore, can easily be used in a reactionary fashion. The practitioners of TOPLAB are keen to promote models of democracy; they guard against their own practice becoming oppressive, and question how to 8 DR AMA THE WORLD WIDE WEB de-commodify its work and its very existence in a society (the US) that commodifies everything from burgers and the arms trade to the Presidency and the policing of the world. There are more interesting pages in the section of the site ‘What is the TOPLAB?’. ‘Augusto Boal and the Theater of the Oppressed’ is an article by Aleks Sierz originally published in the British magazine Red Pepper in February 1995 (it was originally titled ‘How to Play Boal’). Sierz’s article focuses on Boal while he was a member of the Rio de Janeiro city council, having been elected in 1992 as a member of the Workers’ Party. It was at this time that Boal was pushing his theatre work into the political arena in the most tangible fashion – by using it to help introduce legislation (and would later form the basis for his book Legislative Theatre, see p5). From this political vantage point Boal tweaked the idea of Forum Theatre and urged that solutions or ideas thrown up by the workshops be enshrined in law. Apparently, one such law has been the re-design of public telephone boxes to help the blind. Elsewhere on this extensive site one will find ‘The Theater of the Oppressed Across the Curriculum’ by Carmelina Cartei and Marie-Claire Picher, which is a rationale rather than lesson plans (though ‘Sample Image Theater Workshop’ on the Internship page contains what is almost a lesson plan!); ‘What is Theater of the Oppressed?’ by Marie-Claire Picher, which emphasises the way in which Boal highlights the difference between ‘monologue’ and ‘dialogue’ – the former being a one-way, top-to-bottom process and therefore more likely to be oppressive; the latter being a two-way process and therefore much more likely to be fruitful and liberating. Further, Picher states, TOP is a rehearsal for social action and Boal follows the principles set down in Paulo Freire’s educational methodology, i.e. observe the situation; analyse its causes; act to change it. Other pages of interest contain explanations of the techniques employed in both Forum and Image Theater; the Internship Program run by TOPLAB (a weekend course will set you back $60–75; a whole course several hundred dollars); an extensive bibliography (though all books by Boal – except the four listed in Section 1 in English translations – are in Portuguese, Spanish, French or German), and a very good links page – including other Centers for the Theater of the Oppressed in the US and Brazil; scores of radical political activist sites and the Paulo Freire Institute site (which now includes an English-language section: scroll down the left-hand frame until you see the tiny Union Jack icon and click). DR AMA 9 THE WORLD WIDE WEB TOPLAB will answer inquiries and can be contacted at: Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory 122 West 27 Street 10th Floor New York NY 10001 USA Or e-mail them at: [email protected] http://www.unomaha.edu/~pto/ The site of ‘Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed’, or PTO, ‘A Global Forum to Promote Critical Thinking and Social Justice’. It was founded out of the developments of conferences held between 1995 and 1998 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and which took the works of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal as their starting point. [Although this is an American site, it uses the English spelling of Theatre.] This site contains very good biographies, bibliographies, explanations of theories and links to other sites. One can become a member of PTO by filling out a subscription form online (current annual rate for students is $15) or by writing to: Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed P.O. Box 31623 Omaha Nebraska 68131-0623 USA Or, alternatively, email: [email protected] One can also join the PTO ‘listserv’ to ask questions, share ideas and keep in contact with others committed to the goals of PTO. The listserv – that is, a discussion list in which people post questions, remarks etc. (something quite different to a chatroom!) – is open to anyone wishing to participate. In order to join the listserv one should: • • • • 10 send an email message to: [email protected]. do NOT write anything in the subject line. in the body, write: subscribe ptolist (Note: no punctuation goes on this line). if you have an automatic signature at the end of your email, insert a hyphen (-) on the line above it. DR AMA THE WORLD WIDE WEB You will automatically receive a message indicating that you have been subscribed along with directions for unsubscribing and contacting a person if you have any questions or difficulties with the listserv. If you have problems with the listserv, e-mail Karen Mitchell ([email protected]). The listserv is housed at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The University does not monitor messages – anyone can subscribe and read your postings. http://www.unomaha.edu/~paterson/ This a slightly different site: the homepage of Doug Paterson, Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Omaha at Nebraska. Paterson has worked with Boal and this has led him to take up Forum and Image Theatre as tools for addressing issues of race, gender, class, disability, and sexual preference in education, social services, and the workplace. The Centers [sic] for the Theatre [for some reason Professor Paterson is fond of the American spelling of center but not theatre] of the Oppressed, organised out of Rio de Janeiro, have been established in half a dozen European capitals including London, Paris, Berlin and Rome; related organisations have developed in India, Africa, Puerto Rico and Canada. The Omaha CTO, founded by Paterson, was the first such centre in the US. http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/ London Bubble Theatre Company is a touring theatre company producing professional and non-professional performances, workshops and participatory projects. Among their work are outdoor promenade productions, school residencies and Forum Theatre workshops. They can be contacted at: 5 Elephant Lane London SE16 4JD One can join their mailing list or email any of the company – the current Participatory Projects Director is Trisha Lee and her email address is: [email protected] http://www.qut.edu.au/arts/acad/cia/boal3.html A Queensland University of Technology, Australia page which advertises the documentary ‘como querem beber agua’ (like wanting to drink water) by Ronaldo Morelos. Morelos is the writer, director, cameraman and producer of this 53minute video which documents five months of Boal’s work in 1994 when a city councillor (Vereador) in Rio de Janeiro. DR AMA 11 THE WORLD WIDE WEB Associate producer of the documentary (and Associate Professor at the Centre for Innovation in the Arts at QUT) Rod Wissler will take requests for the video at: [email protected] http://www.academy.qut.edu.au/works/boal/boal.html has stills from the documentary. http://www.headlinestheatre.com/mainset.htm Headlines, a community theatre group in Vancouver, Canada call their work ‘Theatre for Living’ and it is directly based on the work of Boal’s TOP. The group met Boal in 1984 and have said it totally changed their emphasis – from one of making theatre for communities to making theatre with communities. Though by no means their predominant form of workshop, Headlines also conduct workshops for businesses – an interesting divergence from the work of TOPLAB in New York, who would not entertain the idea of the ‘corporate workshop’. This site outlines all the different types of workshops Headlines run for communities – the Corporate (4 hours); Rainbow of Desire (6–8 hours); Cops in the Head (6–8 hours); Image Theatre (1–3 days); Your Wildest Dream (3 days); The Gagged Voice (3 days), and Power Play – including Forum Theatre (5–6 days). 2001 is the company’s twentieth anniversary and their site reflects this sense of longevity and celebration. Some of its productions have included: Squeegee – a Legislative Theatre experiment (1999) on the Exploitation of Youth; Corporate U (2000) – an anti-globalisation event which explored the global dominance of corporations; ¿Sanctuary? (1989), filmed for live broadcast, was a Forum Theatre event with the refugee community. ¿Sanctuary? is available on video (along with some other productions) and can be purchased from the company for CDN$20, plus CDN$5.35 shipping costs. An online order form is available, or send to: Headlines Theatre – Video Order #323–350 East 2nd Ave. Vancouver, BC V5T 4R8 Canada The company can be emailed at: [email protected] http://home.echo-on.net/~mixedco The homepage of Mixed Company, established in 1983. This company uses the technique of Forum Theatre, which gives audience members a chance to step 12 DR AMA THE WORLD WIDE WEB right inside the action of the play, to participate directly in changing negative situations into positive ones. They can be contacted at: Mixed Company 157 Carlton St Suite #201 Toronto, Ontario M5A 2K3 Canada Or, alternatively, email: [email protected] http://pages.nyu.edu/~as245/AITG/boal.html The ‘Applied & Interactive Theatre Guide’ housed by New York University gives links, names and addresses of companies who use Boal’s techniques in their work. http://www.interlog.com/~artbiz/boal1.html ArtBiz publishes performing arts related books and this is the part of their site that is concerned with the work of Boal. Other sections of the site house the Theatre Network magazine where you can read ‘Brazilian Theatre’; ‘Brazilian Theatre News’ with an account of a Boal performance, and an abbreviated history of the Arena Theatre, São Paulo, culled from O Teatro Brasileiro Moderno (Modern Brazilian Theatre) by Decio de Almeida Prado, all lovingly translated by Adriana Lessa de Miranda, a 21-year-old journalism student and English teacher. http://www.interlog.com/~artbiz/neterview1.html is de Miranda’s interview with Boal, titled ‘A Myth Between Politics and Theatre’, on the eve of the publication in Brazil of Rainbow of Desire. Worth a read, if you don’t mind deciphering the translation. Artbiz can be contacted at: 2300 Yonge Street P.O. BOX 67059 Toronto Ontario M4P 1E0 Canada Or, email at: [email protected] DR AMA 13 THE WORLD WIDE WEB http://www. wwcd.org/action/Boal.html Doug Paterson’s (see entries from University of Omaha, p11) entry on the work of Boal in ‘Webster’s World of Cultural Democracy: The World Wide Web Center of The Institute for Cultural Democracy’. http://www.northernvisions.org/index.htm Northern Visions is a media centre in Belfast. In October 1989 Boal visited Belfast to deliver a lecture and visit theatre and community groups from either side of the divide in the city. His tour of the city and an interview with him was filmed by David Hyndman and can be bought on video for £20 including postage and packaging. The full transcript of the interview is available at http://www.northernvisions.org/boal Northern Visions can be contacted at: 4 Donegall Street Place Belfast BT1 2FN Phone 028 90245495 Fax 028 90326608 email: [email protected] http://www. glastonburynetradio.co.uk/prog5.htm A 30-minute radio broadcast of varying quality titled ‘Theatre, Politics and Social Change’ given by Boal on the reopening of County Hall, London in November 1998 for a Symbolic Session of Legislative Theatre. The Debating Chamber was closed in 1986 during the reign of Margaret Thatcher and her assault upon the Greater London Council. http://www. georgetown.edu/murphy/netsearch/index.html The site ‘DBM’s Theatre NetSearch’ run by Donn B Murphy, Senior Professor of Theatre Art, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Click on ‘Participation Theatre, Theatre for Social Change, Theatre of the Oppressed, Therapeutic Theatre’ [note English spelling of ‘Theatre’]. Among several links is ‘Rehearsal For Reality: Theatre and Education’ by Rani Moorthy, which places Augusto Boal within the context of Theatre-in-Education and considers how theatre can be part of a ‘dynamic pedagogy’. Moorthy is a Lecturer in Drama and Performance, School of Arts, Nanyang Technological University. 14 DR AMA THE WORLD WIDE WEB http://www. goucher.edu/library/wilpf/boal_bio.htm Part of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 27th International Congress 1998 site. Boal gave workshops at the WILPF ’98 Congress and delegates were able to obtain background information from the biography and bibliography listed here. http://www. valleyadvocate.com/articles/pig3.html ‘What Would You Do?’, an interesting article, written by Sean Glennon for the online Massachusetts newspaper, Valley Advocate, as a prelude to Boal’s visit to a college in Vermont. A handy example of Invisible Theatre and a thoughtprovoking assessment of Boal’s work. http://www. cita.org/Xn_Drama/small.htm ‘Small Time Players and their use of Augusto Boal’s forum theatre [sic] techniques’ by Rhett Luedtke. The Small Time Players is an outreach educational group taking work to schools in Alabama, USA. This essay describes their practice and experience. http://www. pagebuilder.com.br/proscenio/proswelc.htm ‘Proscenio’ was originally intended to be a TV programme on Rio de Janeiro’s theatrical activities but has materialised as a website titled ‘Brazilian Theatre’. There are various links to sites about Brazilian Theatre History, current activities, theatres, etc. The site is still under construction. The translators are not cited in this English-language site though, judging from some of the material, I suspect Adriana Lessa de Miranda may be involved somewhere along the line. You can post questions to: [email protected] http://www. brazil.ox.ac.uk/ Oxford University’s Centre for Brazilian Studies. It has been open only since 1997. You could take a chance and contact them, should you have any queries, at: 92 Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 7ND Alternatively, email: [email protected] http://www. lusobraz.com/ ‘Luso-Brazilian Books’, an online bookshop specialising in books in Portuguese, in English translations of Brazilian and Portuguese writers and books in English about Portugal and Brazil. DR AMA 15 THE WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.brazil.org.uk/welcome.html One might expect the Brazilian Embassy (London) site – which this is – to be fairly ‘official’, i.e. sanitised and bland but, much like Brazil itself, it is pretty vibrant. It also has an introduction to the history of theatre in Brazil: follow the ‘Culture’ icon in the left frame to the Theatre icon and there it is, written by Sábato Magaldi. http://www.brazzil.com/rpdmay99.htm ‘Brazzil’ [sic] is an online magazine with items of interest. This is the May 1999 issue which includes items on Social Behaviour (women looking at pictures of naked men); Population studies (Brazilian women on the Pill); the Environment (the effect of sewage in the sea), Urban Life (building and construction in São Paolo); an obituary of well-loved playwright Dias Domes; and the Culture page which reports on a vote to find Brazil’s top scenic artists (Boal came in 16th, fairly low down the order with 11 votes – the winner, Nelson Rodrigues, won 24 votes). 16 DR AMA CRITICAL WORKS SECTION 3 Babbage, Frances (ed.), Working without Boal: Digressions and Developments in the Theatre of the Oppressed, Vol. 3, part 1, Newark, NJ: Harwood Academic Press, 1995 A collection of essays on Boal’s influence in Britain. Bentley, Eric (ed.), The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to Modern Theatre and Drama, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968 A good introduction and background to the subject of Unit 2, if not Boal. Bilder, Erica, (ed.), Theandric: Julian Beck’s Last Notebooks, Newark, NJ: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1992 Julian Beck and Judith Malina ran the Living Theatre, a veritable hothouse of experimental and radical theatre. See the sections ‘For an Anti-Aristotelian Theatre’ and ‘How can the theatre teach?’ Brandt, George W (ed.), Modern Theories of Drama: A Selection of Writings on Drama and Theatre 1840–1990, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998 This contains an extract from Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed titled ‘Poetics of the Oppressed’. Braun, Edward, The Director and the Stage, London: Methuen, 1982 An invaluable resource for the whole course and particularly this unit, regardless of which practitioner you have chosen. A broad, outstanding overview of the rise to prominence of the director since the late nineteenth century. As the nearest thing you will find to a course reader, it will introduce students to the work of Meiningen, Antoine, the Symbolists, Jarry, Stanislavski, Craig, Reinhardt, Meyerhold, Piscator, Brecht, Artaud and Grotowski – though, sadly, nothing on Boal. Brook, Peter, The Empty Space, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972 A seminal text for modern theatre workers. Burns, E Bradford, A History of Brazil, New York: Columbia University Press (rev. edn), 1993 Some consider this the best single-volume history of Brazil in English. This revised and updated edition includes new material on the role of women in Brazil’s past, race relations, social and cultural movements and the crisis of democracy of 1992. DR AMA 17 CRITICAL WORKS Cohen-Cruz, Jan (ed.), Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology, London: Routledge, 1998 Cruz has helped to document some of the hundreds of politically active street performances which have taken place all over the world – including some Invisible Theatre – with this collection of essays by activists, directors, academics and performers. Delgado, M M, and Heritage, P (eds), In Contact with the Gods?: Directors talk Theatre, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996 A very interesting look at many contemporary directors and their influences, theories and practice. Delgado and Heritage provide a good introductory biography of Boal and then the transcript of a talk Boal gave – with audience questions – in Manchester in 1995. In it Boal gives a graphic account of the dangers inherent in practising theatre in Brazil in the late 60s and early 70s (actors wore loaded revolvers in their costumes – just in case). He goes on to describe his experience of taking theatre out into public spaces (the Argentinian restaurant and the husband and wife shopping are gems of ideas for students to experiment with). From this point in the talk Boal takes us through the genesis and rationale of Forum Theatre and of his Rainbow of Desire (i.e. the form of theatre designed to deal with issues beyond the scope of Forum Theatre) and ‘the Cops in the Head’. Valuable background reading. Fausto, Boris, A Concise History of Brazil, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 Covering 500 years of Brazilian history, Fausto – a professor at the University of São Paulo – looks at the events which have shaped the formation of Brazil, from the arrival of the Portuguese to the political events that defined the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic political regime. Periods covered by this history are: Colonial Brazil; Imperial Brazil; the first republic; the Vargas state: the Democratic experiment; the military government and the transition to democracy. George, David, Flash and Crash Days: Brazilian Theater in the PostDictatorship Period, London: Routledge, 2000 Describing and analysing the developments in Brazil’s theatre during the 1980s and 90s, by reflecting on the legacy of the thriving theatre scene of which Boal was a part in the 1950s and 60s, through the difficult years of censorship and state terror in between. 18 DR AMA CRITICAL WORKS González Echevarría, Roberto (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature, Vol. 3 : Brazilian Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 An extensive collection of essays – see ‘Brazilian Theatre through 1900’ and ‘The Brazilian Theatre in the 20th Century’, both by Severino-Joao Albuquerque. Goodman, Lizbeth, and de Gay, Jane, The Routledge Reader in Politics and Performance, London: Routledge, 2000 A collection of extracts from work by leading theatre practitioners and academics, including Boal, Brook, Grotowski and Schechner. Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul (eds), Art in Theory 1900–1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford: Blackwell, 1992 A real door-stopper of a volume which contains a comprehensive collection of selected writings on art and art theory. For dipping into, of course, but it can also provide a valuable history of the ideas that shaped artistic practice during the twentieth century. Johnston, Chris, House of Games: making theatre from everyday life, London: Nick Hern Books, 1998 A very handy textbook for drama practitioners working in education or the community. Part Three: ‘Animations’ has a section titled, ‘The Sun Shines at Midnight: Models of Participatory Theatre’ which explains Johnston’s own understanding and use of some of Boal’s methods. Keck, Margaret E, The Workers’ Party and Democratization in Brazil, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992 Boal was elected to the city council of Rio de Janeiro as a member of this party – the first legal mass party of the left in Brazil’s recent history. The Workers’ Party played a crucial role in the country’s transition from military rule to democracy. Keck describes its origins and formative years. Levine, Robert M and Crocitti, John J (eds), The Brazil Reader: history, culture, politics, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999 Essays, letters, interviews, legal documents, reminiscences and scholarly analyses. These include observations by ordinary residents, both urban and rural, as well as foreign visitors and experts on Brazil. The book also looks at social behaviour, women’s lives, literature, sexuality, music and popular culture. DR AMA 19 CRITICAL WORKS Milling, Jane and Ley, Graham, Modern Theories of Performance: from Stanislavski to Boal, New York: St Martin’s Press, 2000 This explores the theoretical work – rather than the practice – of many practitioners: Stanislavski, Appia, Craig, Meyerhold, Copeau, Artaud, Grotowski and Boal. Oddey, Alison, Devising Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook, London: Routledge, 1994 There is a curious anomaly, of course, in Unit 1: Devised Drama, for which candidates must devise a presentation individually, when devised drama is widely regarded as a group collaboration. However, Oddey’s book will aid students in more than this first unit. For the purposes of the Advanced Higher’s Unit 2: Twentieth Century Theatre: Theories of Performance, Oddey describes how influenced she has been by Boal’s practical ideas (see Section 8, ‘Learning to Devise: practical ideas and suggestions’). Schutzman, Mady and Cohen-Cruz, Jan (eds), Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy and Activism, London: Routledge, 1994 Of all the works in this section, this is perhaps the most valuable and is worth buying for a study of Boal. A very wide-ranging collection of essays on all aspects of Boal’s work and influence, interviews with Boal (one a reprint from The Drama Review, see p21) and two snippets from Boal himself. One of these, ‘She Made Her Brother Smile: a three-minute forum theatre experience’, is an account of a short workshop Boal conducted with eighty 12–17-year-old street children and is an object lesson in how simple and complex Boal’s concepts are. Elsewhere in the book, Pam Schweitzer (‘Many Happy Retirements’) recounts a theatrical activity – using and adapting Boal’s methods and techniques – with elderly participants and Age Exchange, a London-based theatre company. Jan Cohen-Cruz writes about the re-birth and re-shaping of activist theatre in the USA (‘Mainstream or Margin?’). In ‘The Mask of Solidarity’, Julie Salverson discusses her own activist work in Canadian theatre and the links between the process known as ‘Naming the Moment’ (NMT) and Theatre of the Oppressed (TOP). Highly recommended. 20 DR AMA CRITICAL WORKS Styan, J L, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 1. Realism and Naturalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 — Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 2. Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 — Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 3. Expressionism and Epic Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 All three volumes of a superb series will give students of theatre and drama a solid background to work in the twentieth century. Periodicals Tulane Drama Review – later known just as The Drama Review • Fall 1990, Vol. 34 No.3 (T–127): – ‘Boal at NYU: A Workshop and its Aftermath’ by Jan Cohen-Cruz; – ‘Theatre of the Oppressed Workshops with Women’ by Mady Schutzman and Jan Cohen-Cruz; – ‘Boal in Brazil, France and the USA: An Interview with Augusto Boal’ by Michael Taussig and Richard Schechner (this interview is reprinted in Schutzman and Cohen-Cruz’s Playing Boal, p20); – ‘The Cop in the Head: Three Hypotheses’ by Augusto Boal (see The Rainbow of Desire, p4). • Fall 1994, Vol.38 No.3 (T–143): – ‘The Courage to be Happy: Augusto Boal, Legislative Theatre and the 7th International Festival of the Theatre of the Oppressed’ by Paul Heritage; – ‘A Role to Play for the Theatre of the Oppressed’ by Douglas Paterson; – ‘Activism, Therapy or Nostalgia? Theatre of the Oppressed Workshops with Women’ by Mady Schutzman; – ‘Vindicated: A Letter from Augusto Boal’. Contemporary Theatre Review Modern Drama • September 1986, Vol.29, No.3 – ‘Conflicting Signs of Violence in Augusto Boal’s Torquemada’ by Severino-Joao Albuquerque. Latin American Theatre Review • Spring 1982, Vol.15, No.2 – ‘Victims and Violators: The Structure of Violence in Torquemada’ by Judith I Bisset. DR AMA 21 CRITICAL WORKS Courses The Royal National Theatre Education and Training Department provide InService Training courses for teachers. Their 2000–2001 programme of courses included ‘Understanding and Practising Forum Theatre’ – a two-day course which cost £100. Information can be obtained by writing (with an SAE) to: Education and Training, Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London, SE1 9PX. 22 DR AMA