º1111 2 AUGUSTO BOAL 3 4 5111 6 7 8 9 10111 11 2 3111 4 5 6 Routledge Performance Practitioners is a series of introductory 7 guides to the key theatre-makers of the last century. Each volume 8111 explains the background to and the work of one of the major influences 9 on twentieth- and twenty-first-century performance. 20111 These compact, well-illustrated and clearly written books will 1 unravel the contribution of modern theatre’s most charismatic innova- 2 tors. This useful study combines: 3 • a biographical and historical overview of Boal’s career as playwright 4 and director 5 • in-depth analysis of Boal’s classic text on radical theatre, Theatre of 6 the Oppressed 7 • exploration of training and production techniques 8 • practical guidance to the Theatre of the Oppressed workshop 9 methods. 30111 1 As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial ex- 2 ploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge 3 Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today’s 4 student. 5 6 Frances Babbageis Lecturer in Theatre Studies at Leeds University. 7 She has taught and practised Boal’s methods in a range of contexts, and 8 is the editor of Working Without Boal: Digressions and Developments in the 3911 Theatre of the Oppressed (1995). ROUTLEDGE PERFORMANCE PRACTITIONERS Series editor: Franc Chamberlain, University College Northampton Routledge Performance Practitioners is an innovative series of intro- ductory handbooks on key figures in twentieth-century performance practice. Each volume focuses on a theatre-maker whose practical and theoretical work has in some way transformed the way we understand theatre and performance. The books are carefully structured to enable the reader to gain a good grasp of the fundamental elements under- pinning each practitioner’s work. They will provide an inspiring spring- board for future study, unpacking and explaining what can initially seem daunting. The main sections of each book cover: • personal biography • explanation of key writings • description of significant productions • reproduction of practical exercises. Volumes currently available in the series are: Eugenio Barbaby Jane Turner Augusto Boalby Frances Babbage Michael Chekhovby Franc Chamberlain Anna Halprinby Libby Worth and Helen Poynor Jacques Lecoqby Simon Murray Vsevolod Meyerholdby Jonathan Pitches Konstantin Stanislavskyby Bella Merlin Future volumes will include: Pina Bausch Bertolt Brecht Peter Brook Etienne Decroux Jerzy Grotowski Joan Littlewood Ariane Mnouchkine Lee Strasberg Robert Wilson AUGUSTO BOAL Frances Babbage First published 2004 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2004 Frances Babbage All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this b ook is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Babbage, Frances. Augusto Boal/Frances Helen Babbage. p. cm. – (Routledge performance practitioners) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Boal, Augusto. 2. Centre du théâtre de l’opprimé – History. I. Title. II. Series. PN2474.B63B33 2004 792.02′33′092–dc22 2004004757 ISBN 0-203-30900-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–27325–0 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–27326–9 (pbk) CONTENTS List of figures vii Acknowledgements ix 1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT 1 Context for a Theatre of the Oppressed 2 Augusto Boal: early years 4 In New York 5 At the Arena Theatre of São Paulo, 1956–71 9 In exile, 1971–86 16 The 1990s: developments in Rio 25 Theatre of the Oppressed in the twenty-first century 30 2 THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED 35 Overview 37 Key concepts 39 The thesis in detail 45 3 FORUM THEATRE IN PRODUCTION 67 Cardboard Citizens: Going ... Going ... Gone... 70 Mind the Gap and SFX Theatre Company: Never Again! 88 Conclusions 102 vi CONTENTS 4 WORKSHOP PROCESS 107 Fundamentals 108 Workshop structure 110 Preparation and games 111 Images and experience 117 Closure 138 Glossary 141 Bibliography 145 Index 151 FIGURES 3.1 Teacher comments on Jennifer’s progress, in Cardboard Citizens’ Going ... Going ... Gone ... 78 3.2 Jennifer confronts her mother 79 3.3 Jennifer tells her father she is in trouble at school 86 3.4 Augusto Boal, with Mind the Gap 90 3.5 Augusto Boal 91 3.6 The Box Office scene in Never Again!by Mind the Gap and SFX 94 3.7 Anna-Marie Heslop in Never Again! 95 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Routledge for their support in the preparation of this book, particularly Talia Rodgers, Diane Parker and Franc Chamberlain for all their help and thoughtful editorial advice. I am grateful to Cardboard Citizens and Mind the Gap for generously giving me access to their work and resources; particular thanks to Adrian Jackson and Tim Wheeler for invaluable comments on early drafts. More about these companies’ work can be found on their websites, http://www.cardboardcitizens.co.uk and http://www.mind-the-gap. org.uk. Thanks to Bridget Escolme and Jane Plastow, and especially to Marcus Nevitt for encouragement and perceptive feedback on the work in progress. F inally, of course, I want to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Augusto Boal, who has been a constant source of inspiration. NOTE In many cases I refer to theatrical exercises or practices within which the gender of the participants is irrelevant to the context. Where plural- isation has not been possible, I have referred to Boal’s ‘spect-actor’ as ‘she’; elsewhere I have tried to use ‘he’ and ‘she’ in roughly equal quantities.