GAMES FOR ACTORS AND NON-ACTORS Boal’s analysis of the art of the actor makes Games for Actors and Non-Actors compulsory reading. Plays and Players This is an inspiring and powerful book, a lucid account that will be of substantial use to people already using Theatre of the Oppressed. It should also act as an excellent introduction for those new to the system. Artscene This is a useful handbook for those who want to explore Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and as such is greatly to be welcomed. Boal’s work deserves and demands emulation. Theatre Research International Games for Actors and Non-Actorsis the classic and best-selling book by the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal. It sets out the principles and practice of Boal’s revolutionary method, showing how theatre can be used to transform and liberate everyone – actors and non-actors alike! This thoroughly updated and substantially revised edition includes: • Two new essays by Boal on major recent projects in Brazil • Boal’s description of his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company • A revised introduction and translator’s preface • A collection of photographs taken during Boal’s workshops, commissioned for this edition • New reflections on Forum Theatre • A postscript considering the effect of 11 September 2001. Augusto Boalis a theatre director, dramatist, theorist, writer and teacher. He was a Member of Parliament for Rio de Janeiro from 1993 to 1996. He is the author of The Theatre of the Oppressed, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, The Rainbow of Desire, Legislative Theatreand Hamlet and the Baker’s Son: my life in theatre and politics. Adrian Jacksonis Artistic Director of Cardboard Citizens. He has translated four books by Augusto Boal, collaborated on a number of occasions and taught Theatre of the Oppressed widely in other countries, including Namibia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Mauritius and Finland. For information about the activities of Augusto Boal and the centres of Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro (workshops, courses and conventions), please send a self-addressed envelope and two International Reply Coupons to: CTO – Rio Avenida Rio Branco 179–60andar Centro Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil Tel./Fax 00 55 21 2220 7940 Email: [email protected] www.ctorio.com.br GAMES FOR ACTORS AND NON-ACTORS Second edition Augusto Boal Translated by Adrian Jackson London and New York First published 1992 by Routledge. Reprinted eight times. Second edition published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor and 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.” © 2002 Augusto Boal © 2002 Introduction: Adrian Jackson © 2002 Translation: Routledge 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 book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-99481-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–26761–7 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–26708–0 (pbk) This book is dedicated to Adrian Jackson, for his creative translation; Helena Reckitt and Talia Rodgers, for their enthusiasm and help; Edla Van Steen and Sábato Magaldi, forever friends; Blanca Laksman and Leonardo Thumin, for having invented Cecilia! CONTENTS List of figures xxi Translator’s introduction to the first edition xxii Translator’s postscript to the second edition xxvii Preface to the second edition:The Royal Shakespeare Company, theatre in prisons and landless peasants 1 Postscript – with pride in our hearts 6 Preface to the first edition:the fable of Xua-Xua, the prehuman woman who discovered theatre 11 Postscript: actors and non-actors 17 1 THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED IN EUROPE 18 Introduction 18 The Godrano experience: my first Forum Theatre in Europe or the ultimate spect-actor/protagonist! 19 Feminism in Godrano 20 The police again 21 The oppressed and the oppressors 23 2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACTOR’S WORK 29 The primacy of emotion 29 Muscular exercises 31 Sensory exercises 31 Memory exercises 32 vii CONTENTS Imagination exercises 32 Emotion exercises 32 Rationalising emotion 35 À la recherche du temps perdu 37 The dialectical structure of the actor’s interpretation of a role 40 The will 40 The counter-will 43 The dominant will 45 Quantitative variation and qualitative variation 46 3 THE ARSENAL OF THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED 48 Introduction: a new system of exercises and games from Theatre of the Oppressed 48 Two unities 49 Five categories of game and exercise 49 I FEELING WHAT WE TOUCH (RESTRUCTURING MUSCULAR RELATIONS) 50 First series: general exercises 50 1 The cross and the circle 50 2 Colombian hypnosis 51 3 Minimum surface contact 56 4 Pushing against each other 58 5 Joe Egg (aka trust circle) 62 6 The circle of knots 62 7 The actor as ‘subject’: the Greek exercise 64 8 The actor as ‘object’ 66 9 Lifting someone out of a chair 67 10 Equilibrium of the body with an object 67 11 A balloon as an extension of the body 68 12 Racing on chairs 68 13 Rhythm with chairs 68 14 Musical chairs 69 15 Movement with over-premeditation 69 16 Difficulties 69 17 Divide up the movement 70 18 Dissociate coordinated movements 70 viii CONTENTS Second series: walks 70 1 Slow motion 71 2 At a right angle 72 3 Crab 72 4 Crossed legs (aka three-legged race) 72 5 Monkey 73 6 All fours 73 7 Camel walk 73 8 Elephant walk 73 9 Kangaroo walk 73 10 Leaning-against-each-other walk 73 11 Strapped-feet walk 74 12 Wheelbarrow 74 13 As you like it 74 14 Imitating others 74 Third series: massages 74 1 In a circle 75 2 The movement comes back 75 3 Sea waves 75 4 The rolling carpet 76 5 Back massage 77 6 The demon 77 Fourth series: integration games 77 1 Person to person, Quebec-style 77 2 The bear of Poitiers 78 3 The chair 78 4 Leapfrog 79 5 The Brueghel game 79 6 Stick in the mud 80 7 Grandmother’s footsteps 80 8 Millipede 80 9 Apple dance 81 10 Sticky paper 81 11 The wooden sword of Paris 81 12 American football (aka British bulldog) 82 13 Three Irish duels 82 14 Little packets 83 15 Cat and mouse 83 ix