DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND PERFORMING ARTS

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION
BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

TPA 3306
GROUP 3

QUESTION: Theatre of the Oppressed.

S/N NAMES REG. NUMBER

1. Amametu Mohammed CMM/19/TFS/00517

2. Adiat Halimah Temitope CMM/19/TFS/00515

3. Stephanie Zugwai Chindo CMM/19/TFS/00508

4. Paul Ali Puru CMM/19/TFS/00458

5. Arike Magreth Okwa CMM/19/TFS/00531

6. Isiah Praise Okpanachi CMM/19/TFS/00485

7. Nneka Obi CMM/19/TFS/00481

8. Aminat Afolabi Abiodun CMM/21/TFS/00771

9. Adedayo Deborah Jesugbemi CMM/19/TFS/00452

10. Abodunrin Oyindamola Margaret CMM/19/TFS/00504

11. Precious Ezinne Orji CMM/19/TFS/00526

12. Deborah Thompson CMM/19/TFS/00519

13. Tongakah Ritjimwah Ayuba CMM/19/TFS/00525

14. Kasham Anna Kazah

Christiana Bako.

January, 2024.
INTRODUCTION

Augusto Boal (1931-2009) was a Brazilian playwright who, after attending Columbia University

in the United States, returned to Brazil and used theater as a means to challenge his oppressive

government. When he first returned to Brazil, he did not immediately conceptualize Theater of

the theater and reading Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, however, Boal began to

realize that theatre is just another way of keeping the oppressed silent. In other words, the

theatre did not incite audience members to fight for change; rather, it entertained the

audience, keeping them ''silent'' about oppression. The heart of Theater of the Oppressed in

Boal's view was to provide a space for community members to examine and then challenge

their own realities. Because of his determination to fight for the oppressed through his art,

Augusto Boal was actually imprisoned in the early 70s. His persecution has not been worthless,

though. Today, theatres across the globe still incorporate Boal's techniques for oppressed

members in their own communities.

AUGUSTO BOAL'S THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

In the 1950s and 1960s, Augusto Boal aimed to transform traditional theatre into an active

experience, where the audience actively participated instead of being passive observers. His

goal was to create an educational platform that empowered people to confront oppression in

their lives. This vision led to the development of the Theatre of the Oppressed, a workshop

combining performance, activism, and education. In this interactive setting, audience members

address issues like oppression, inequality, sexism, racism, using theater as a tool for active

engagement rather than passive observation. Boal's concept views the theater as a rehearsal
space for real-world activism, where individuals can practice resisting oppression and

envisioning positive change.

This brings us to one of the distinctive characteristics of Theatre of the Oppressed:' it has no

conclusion. If you went to a play, and the play never wrapped up the conflict, you'd leave

feeling pretty unsatisfied. That's because the story is supposed to be over. In Theatre of the

Oppressed, you may resolve conflicts within the workshop, but the story isn't supposed to end.

Since you, the audience, are now the actors and protagonists of the story, there is no catharsis

to be had within the theatre itself. You are no longer a passive audience but an active part of

the drama, and you take the story with you when you leave. The only resolution comes from

taking action.

STRUCTURE AND ROLES

Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed gained global popularity in the 1970s, extending its reach to

numerous countries. The facilitator, often referred to as the Joker, serves as the central figure

in this approach. Unlike a comedian, the Joker's role is akin to the card game joker—outside the

main deck, overseeing but not directing. The facilitator provides structure without imposing on

how events unfold, leaving it to the audience and performers.

The other key participant is the Spect-actor, a term blending spectator and actor. Engaging both

as the audience and performers, Spect-actors hold agency in the scenes, influencing the

outcomes of games and skits. This dynamic interaction forms the essence of how Theatre of the

Oppressed operates.
METHODOLOGIES OF THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

Throughout the development of Theatre of the Oppressed, Boal collaborated with diverse

populations and experimented with various techniques. These techniques eventually formed

different theatrical styles, organized metaphorically as a tree. The roots comprised images,

sounds, and words, with the trunk representing games, Image Theatre, and Forum Theatre.

Additional techniques branched out like limbs. While minor adjustments have been made to

the placement of techniques on the limbs over time, the overall structure of the Theatre of the

Oppressed Tree has remained largely consistent.

IMAGE THEATRE

Image Theatre, a performance technique in Theatre of the Oppressed, involves a sculptor

molding individuals acting as statues using touch, avoiding the use of words or mirror-image

modeling. Boal considers this method highly stimulating due to its simplicity of enactment and

its ability to vividly portray thoughts in a concrete form, thanks to the absence of language

idiom. Words have a shared denotation but unique connotations for each individual.

Demonstrating concepts, like "revolution," through actions rather than words provides a clearer

understanding of individual interpretations and intentions, as highlighted by Boal. For example,

the word "embrace" may be physically enacted in various ways, illustrating the diversity of

interpretations beyond the common definition of clasping someone in the arms (Wardrip-Fruin,

344).

FORUM THEATRE
Forum theatre Forum Theatre was most originally developed by Boal in 1973 as part of sa

Peruvian literacy program. It is rooted in the Brazilian social movements of the 1950s and 1960s

and is based on Paolo Freire’ model of participatory education in Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Forum Theatre, also referred to as 'popular theatre' or 'participatory theatre,' is a form of

participatory art rooted in the Theater of the Oppressed method developed by Augusto Boal.

Essentially, it serves as a democratic political forum within a theatrical context. This approach

involves presenting a play mirroring the community's real-life experiences related to a chosen

issue, leading to an unresolved crisis.The play is then shared with the wider public in a

participatory format, enabling the audience to contribute their knowledge, aspirations, and

capabilities to explore viable solutions on stage.

After the initial viewing, the play is performed again, but this time, audience members are

encouraged to intervene. They can stop the play at any point, replace a character with whose

experience they resonate, and attempt to alter the dramatic course. This transformative

process turns spectators into "spect-actors," actively participating in changing the scenes they

witness rather than merely observing.

Forum Theatre operates through dialectic rather than didactic means. Its design is to "pose

good questions, but the audience must supply the answers." According to Boal, the theatre's

role is not to dictate the correct path but to provide the means for examining all possible paths.

Both actors and audience "learn together," exploring, rehearsing, and testing diverse solutions

to presented dilemmas on the stage. This approach aims to create conditions in which
marginalized communities can shed some of the "ideology of expertise" and uncover, develop,

and validate local knowledge and critical capacity.

Forum Theatre, whether a process of a 6-day workshop or many months, has three distinct

phases. The first is designed to integrate the group, familiarize participants with the vocabulary

of theatre, and increase their expressive capacity. The second introduces more issue-oriented

activities to explore various perspectives and prepare the scenes to be presented. The third is

the performance of the Forum play and facilitated interaction with the public.

Forum Theatre projects are typically derived from a community's encounter with

disempowerment, struggle, and the quest for creative solutions and capacity-building through

egalitarian methods. Some of the goals of the forum theatre include the following:

1. Trust

2. Spontaneity and creativity

3. Collaboration

4.Listening and awareness

5. Communication

6. Effective interaction

7.Confidence and Capacity

8. Information and education

9. Problem-solving

10. Incitement to change vs catharsis

11. Community development

DECISION-MAKING: LEGISLATIVE THEATRE

Though he lost his bid for re-election in the fall of 1996, while in office, Vereador Boal

developed a Forum type of theatre — which he called Legislative Theatre — to work at the

neighborhood level to identify the key problems in the city. This is an optional extension of

Forum Theatre, developed by Boal during his tenure as City Councillor of Rio de Janeiro from

(1993-96) as a way to integrate the political contributions of Forum Theatre within political

decision-making institutions: “by making theatre as politics rather than merely making political

theatre.”During Boal’s term in office, 20 laws were passed through this process; it has also been

used in Canada and the United Kingdom.

In this process, Forum Theatre is created and performed concerning proposed laws, as a means

to directly involve everyday citizens in policy-making. Once the Forum is completed, a Chamber

consisting of representatives of the affected community is created where proposals based on

spect-actors’ interventions are presented, debated and voted upon akin to official procedure.

The recommendations so approved are then collected and presented to lawmakers. Given the

nature of the particular process, workshops and projects might run from two hours to two

years.[27]

INVISIBLE THEATRE
Invisible theatre is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place where people

would not normally expect to see one—for example in the street or in a shopping centre. The

performers attempt to disguise the fact that it is a performance from those who observe and

who may choose to participate in it, encouraging the spectators (or rather, unknowing spect-

actors) to view it as a real event. The Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal & Panagiotis

Assimakopoulos developed the form during Boal's time in Argentina in the 1970s as part of his

Theatre of the Oppressed work, which focused on oppression and social issues.

NEWSPAPER THEATRE

A system of techniques devised to give the audience a way to transform daily news articles or

any non-dramatic pieces to theatrical scene. The strategies are as follows:

Simple Reading: news item read, detached from the context of the newspaper (which makes it

false or controversial).

Crossed Reading: two news item are read in alternating form, complementing or contrasting

each other in a new dimension.

Complementary Reading: information generally omitted by the ruling class is added to the

news.

Rhythmical Reading: article is read to a rhythm (musical), so it acts as a critical "filter" of the

news, revealing the true content initially concealed in the newspaper.

Parallel Action: actors mimic the actions as the news is being read. One hears the news and

watches its visual complement.

Improvisation: news is improvised on stage to exploit all its variants and possibilities.

Historical: data recurred from historical moments, events in other countries, or in social

systems are added to the news.

Reinforcement: article is read accompanied by songs, slides, or publicity materials.

Concretion of the Abstract: abstract content in news is made concrete on stage, i.e. hunger,

unemployment, etc.

Text out of Context: news is presented out of context in which it was originally published.

RAINBOW OF DESIRE

Rainbow of Desire is a key component of the Theatre of the Oppressed. This technique

specifically focuses on internal conflicts, emotions, and desires within individuals and

communities.

Rainbow of Desire is a technique and also a family of techniques explained by Boal in his book

of the same name. Rainbow techniques stem from Image theatre and tend to focus on forms of

internalized oppression played out by a protagonist in relation to an antagonist. While in his

earlier work Boal eschewed the use of Theatre of the Oppressed as "drama therapy", he later

began to espouse these more introspective techniques as a form of "theatre and therapy". In a

"Rainbow of Desire" workshop or performance, participants use masks representing various

emotions or social roles. These masks are often colorful, symbolizing the spectrum of feelings

and perspectives. Participants explore scenes or situations related to a particular issue, and

they can change masks to express different emotions or viewpoints.

The goal is to delve into the complexities of personal and societal conflicts. By embodying

different roles and emotions, participants gain insights into the dynamics at play. Boal believed

that this process could lead to increased self-awareness, empathy, and a deeper understanding

of the root causes of conflicts.

"Rainbow of Desire" encourages individuals to analyze their own desires, fears, and

motivations, fostering a more profound exploration of human behavior and relationships. The

ultimate aim is to empower participants to envision and enact positive change in their personal

lives and broader social contexts.

ANALYTICAL THEATRE

A story is told by one of the participants and immediately the actors improvise it. Afterward

each character is broken down into their social roles and the participants are asked to choose a

physical object to symbolize each role. For instance for one community the symbol for the head

of the family may be a piggy bank, since that individual is the one who controls the finances

(power). Having analysed the characters, a fresh attempt to tell the story is made, however this

time removing some of the symbols from each character, and consequently some social roles as

well. For example, the story would be perceived differently if the robber had the police uniform

and the hostage possessed a revolver. Through this method, the participants will realize that
human actions are not the exclusive and primitive result of human psychology; the individual

speaks of their class as well.

BREAKING REPRESSION

Boal says that the technique of breaking repression involves asking the participant to

remember a particular moment when they felt especially repressed, accepted it, and submitted

to act in a manner contrary to his or her own desires. It is necessary, he explains, that the

choice is a particular incident rather than a general sense of oppression. The participant

describes that incident, which is then reconstructed and re-enacted with other participants of

his choosing. This performance is repeated, except that this time the repressed is asked to fight

to impose his or her will while the others involved are invited to maintain the repression.

The conflict that results helps to measure the possibility one has to resist in situations where

one fails to do so, as well as to measure the true strength of the enemy. Having rehearsed a

resistance to oppression prepares the individual to resist effectively in similar situations that

may be encountered in the future.

Boal states that the process to be realized in doing this type of theatre is the one that ascends

from the phenomenon toward the law; from the phenomena presented in the plot toward the

social laws that govern those phenomena.

PHOTO-ROMANCE

Photo-romance is a romantic narrative illustrated with sequential photographs in the style of a

comic strip, usually published in magazines and such. The technique involves introducing to the
participants the general plot without revealing the source of the photo-romance. Then, the

participants are asked to act out the story, which is then compared to the actual story as

described in the source. The differences are discussed thereafter.

A particular story interpreted and acted out may be a predictable, pathetic one; however, at

the same time, this result serves as ideological insight. Boal argues that if they first act out the

story themselves then afterwards read the original version, the participants will no longer

assume a passive, expectant attitude, but instead a critical, comparative one. They will also be

prepared to detect the poison infiltrating the pages of those photo-stories, or the comics and

other forms of cultural and ideological domination. This technique is also useful to analyse

television programmes, a dominant source of poison directed against the people. (Wardrip-

Fruin, 349)

RITUALS AND MASKS

This technique attempts to reveal the ideological superstructure of a society in the form of its

rituals. "Rituals" in this sense describes the patterns of human relationships and the masks of

behaviour that those patterns impose on the participants according to the roles that they play

in society. For example: a man goes to a priest to confess his sins; despite the individual

identities of the man and priest (i.e. the priest and the parishioner are landlords, the priest is a

landlord and the parishioner is a peasant, etc.) the pattern of behaviour will remain the same as

other examples of this interaction. This will cause different scenarios to play out even though

the confession is the same. Boal argues that this is an extraordinarily rich technique that has
many variants: for example, the same ritual may be explored by its participants exchanging

masks or it may be enacted by people from different social classes.

PARTICIPATION IN THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

Augusto Bowl said theatre must be a place where people migrate themselves. Essentially, there

must be participation. This participation must be able to carry them along towards solving a

problem. Augusto Boal theory of participation state that all practitioners and receptors are all

involved in an effort of social progress. This participation is a revolution where each of the

oppressed think of a personal solution to the problem. He introduced the concept of this

revolution in other to carry the oppressed along with the development instead of only the

social ones in the community and every one who are spectators-participants must have a full

understanding on how and why they are being oppressed after the practice. While paulo freire

theory focuses on education which enlightening the oppressed and giving them possible

solution, Augusto Boal is rather interested in the oppressed. Them realizing what their

problems are and think or work towards the solution themselves. The essence is to arouse their

critical consciousness to how they are being mistreated in their community.

In this case, the audience are not seen as spectators but spec- actors where everyone is entitled

to share their own opinion on the problems that are been revealed to them and encourage to

suggest a solution to each of the problems. Augusto Boal said that theatre must be a space for

people to migrate themselves. Essentially, their must be participation. This participation must

be able to carry the oppressed along towards solving a problem. Theatre must be able to take

people together where they do their own dialogue, action together, where nobody surrenders
his power to act to anybody and the audience have the same power to act also to change their

situation.

CONCLUSION

Theatre of the Oppressed has had a significant impact on the way drama is taught in schools.

The method encourages students to use theatre as a way to explore social and political issues,

and to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving. The method also promotes collaboration

and teamwork, as students work together to create and perform a play. Theatre of the

Oppressed has been particularly effective in teaching drama to students from diverse

backgrounds. It has been used to help students develop empathy, self-confidence, and social

awareness. Many educators have found that Theatre of the Oppressed is an effective way to

engage students in learning and to promote critical thinking.

REFERENCES

Boal, A. (1982). The Theatre of the Oppressed. Routledge Press. New York, London

Boal, A. (1992). Games for Actors and Non-Actors. Routledge Press. New York.

Boal, A. (1998). Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics. Routledge Press.

London and New York.

Coleman, C. (2016). Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and

Performance

Midha, G. (2010).Theatre of the Oppressed: A Manual for Educators. Masters Project. University

of Massachusetts, Amher.