Augusto Boal

The initial impulse behind all of the examples drew from the work of Augusto Boal, the Brazilian theatre director and pedagogue, who has a long history of active political applications of theatre. He has developed different forms and methods of theatre now collectively called Theatre of the Oppressed. The idea behind all of his work is that communities and individuals can discover their own solutions to problems of oppression and injustice by using theatre as a tool. The action on stage creates reaction in the audience – they become spect-actors not just spectators. In the safety of the theatre, the spect-actors can choose the best solution to try out in reality. Forum Theatre is a rehearsal for real life. It offers some possibilities of changing the immediate world we live in, just a little bit.