Augusto Boal, Legislative Theatre. Using Performance to Make Politics

Abstract

Legislative Theatre is the latest and most remarkable stage in the unique Augusto Boal project. It is an attempt to use theatre within a political system to create a truer form of democracy. It is an extraordinary experiment in the potential of theatre to affect social change. At the heart of Boal's method of Forum Theatre is the dual meaning of the verb `to act': to perform, and to take action. In this book Boal creates new, theatrical, and truly revolutionary ways of involving everyone in the democratic process. This book includes: * a full explanation of the genesis and principles of Legislative Theatre * a description of the process in operation in Rio * Boal's essays, speeches and lectures on popular theatre, Paulo Freire, cultural activism, the point of playwriting, and much else besides. Augusto Boal is a theatre director, dramatist, theorist, writer and teacher. He is the founder of the international movement `Theatre of the Oppressed' and was Vereador (Member of the Legislative Chamber) for Rio de Janeiro from 1993 to 1996. He is the author of Theatre of the Oppressed, Games for Actors and Non- Actors, and Rainbow of Desire. He lives in Rio de Janeiro. Adrian Jackson is Associate Director of the London Bubble Theatre Company, Artistic Director of Cardboard Citizens, and a freelance director and teacher.