Da resistência à desobediência: Augusto Boal e a I Feira Paulista de Opinião (1968)

Abstract

In 1968, Augusto Boal directed the I Feira Paulista de Opinião (First Paulista Fair of Opinion), in which he mobilized theater artists, musicians, poets, cinematographers, photographers, and visual artists. The event suffered prior censorship from an official government agency called Serviço de Censura de Diversões PÚblicas (SCDP), which was responsible for regulating public recreation. The SCDP implemented dozens of cuts that dramatically affected the audience's understanding of the play. Many of the Fair attendees - especially at the core of the Arena Theater of São Paulo or inspired by it - have incorporated different political strategies, actions that had wide repercussions at the national and international level (such as the civil disobedience), and the participants also proposed political and cultural resistance alternatives (lawsuits). The aesthetic and political achievements, which have occurred since the late 1950s, were not completely abolished; they have been converted into efficient policies, after the coup of 1964. This article examines the details of this artistic event, concerning its relationship with the theatrical censorship and the configuration of alternative spaces for cultural resistance.