Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics [Paperback]

Augusto Boal (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415182417 | ISBN-13: 978-0415182416 | Publication Date: November 12, 1998 | Edition: 1

Augusto Boal's reputation is now moving beyond the realms of theatre and drama therapy, bringing him to the attention of a wider public. Legislative Theatre is the latest and most remarkable stage in his work. 'Legislative Theatre' is an attempt to use Boal's method of 'Forum 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 his method of Forum Theatre is the dual meaning of the verb 'to act': to perform and to take action. Forum Theatre invites members of the audience to take the stage and decide the outcome, becoming an integral part of the performance. As a politician in his native Rio de Janeiro, Boal used Forum Theatre to motivate the local populace in generating relevant legislation. In Legislative Theatre 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, Paolo Freire, cultural activism, the point of playwrighting, and much else besides.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Boal is a Brazilian activist who has devoted his career to effecting social change through theater. This book is an account of his most recent efforts, especially during his term as a legislator. Growing out of his Theatre of the Oppressed, an international theater movement giving artistic and social voice to the otherwise voiceless, Legislative Theatre is an interactive dramaturgy. Working locally, Boal gets citizens to articulate their concerns by developing plays that are then presented locally and to larger audiences. The consequence of performance is a theatrical response from the audience, the re-actor. The discussion that follows can lead to proposed legislation addressing the concerns that generated the play in the first place. According to the author, this forms a social bond, causes discussion, and results in action. His book is also interactive, seeking responses from readers to help produce a finished work. This loosely organized how-to is filled out with speeches, articles, plays, and anecdotes. Recommended for theater history and theory collections.?Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

You have achieved what Brecht only dreamt of and wrote about: making a useful theatre that is entertaining, fun and instructive. It is a different kind of theatre -- a kind of social therapy... it focuses the mind, relaxes the spirit, and gives people a new handle on their situations..
–Richard Schechner on Boal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415182417
• ISBN-13: 978-0415182416
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continuing the Dialogue, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics (Paperback)

In his latest text, Boal describes his newest theatrical innovation, Legislative Theatre. The idea is new (and exciting)- why not ask the people to share their concerns about government, in order to bring about reform? Boal's method of doing this is (naturally) through theatrical forms and expression. This is a natural progression for Boal, who was himself a member of the government of Rio de Janeiro in the early nineties, and has been involved in reinventing theatre as a form of social empowerment for much longer than this. As well as describing the techniques and the (rather disturbing) context in which they were developed and trialled, Boal also invites contribution from the reader - in a sense, breaking down the 'monologue' of the printed text, inviting and continuing the dialogue begun with earlier works and techniques. An essential read in the context of Boal's achievements.

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem, June 29, 2009

By 

Amy Scheer (MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics (Paperback)

Yet another branch of the great system of Theatre of the Oppressed. In this book, Boal details his unique way of using actors to define the contents of bills to pass through the Brazilian Parliament, of which he was a legislator. The work is similar to another branch of TO--Forum--and this book focuses less on the actual making of the scenes (don't expect the plethora of acting games found in his other books) and more on navigating the political environment surrounding the bill in question, though a script for one of the plays is provided.

The book also contains various speeches or essays Boal gave in his time as vereador, notably one that references the time he was tortured as a political prisoner.

Every book by Boal is a gem, a hodge podge of English and Portugese that somehow all work together to represent this great man and his revolutionary ideas.