Theatre of the Oppressed

Details, back-story and more. Boal should be better known and celebrated, This book will reveal why.

Buy this. I know that isn't a sentence but wow. This is a life changing work. If you care the minutest bit about theatre, mankind, and the future of both (together and seperate) then feast here. Also, a side benifit is listening to Boal argue AGAINST The Poetics. Good stuff. The begining is a little slow because he begins by very carefully setting up examples and definitions before he begins to explain his actual work and theory. This is nessisary and impressive (citing some ancient Greek philosophers to whom I had never been introduced). I think this book handed me some special x-ray glasses to look through the clothing of our contemporary American theatre. Get yourself a pare.

Anyone interested in understanding how theater and, by extension, film and televison play a vital role in maintaining the status quo, should read Auguto Boal's book. Boal takes readers on a stroll through the history of drama, philosophy and politics, merging the three artforms into a powerful triumvirate. Boal then offers suggestions for a theater to counteract traditonal cultural ideological aparatuses. Theater of the Oppressed describes a theater of, for and by the oppressed to tell their own stories; a space wherein maginalized people's might reflect on their own concrete realities and contradictions; and an arena of practice in action, moving the oppressed, and those who identify with the oppressed, towards social transformation.

Had to read this book for a drama therapy class. Having zero theater experience this book was a difficult read. Had to buy on Kindle first because the shipping time was too long for my class needs.

Anyone who cares more about the theatre than they do about money, stars, star writers or directors, or the cult of personality that would have us believe that theatre is just entertainment, needs to read this book.

One of the most important questions you need to consider as an artist is the relationship between the work, and the audience. Boal provokes the question masterfully, and even if you don't agree with his thesis - that the "Aristotelian" approach, in which the audience is there to be manipulated and emotionally purged, and that theatre should rebel against this authoritarian relationship - he raises the question clearly. This is a book you should read, argue with, and discuss.

After teaching theatre for over 30 years, immersed in western theatre ideals, Boal's theories shifted my way of thinking upside down. He takes Aristotle's Poetics and makes a great argument against the politics/agenda of traditional approaches in theatre. Then shares his own "Poetics of the Oppressed"--using theatre as a weapon against the oppressions all of us face.

Very thorough and interesting good handbook for practitioners of community theatre

Thai is a masterpiece of its own kind. The Bible of alternative and people's theatre.