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The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy

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While it is true that some of his work truly needs participation in workshops to understand, the entirety of the late Augusto Boal's vision and practice remains the most revolutionary and transformational of at least the last fifty years, if not many more. His use of Image Theatre brings a profound physicality to psychotherapeutic techniques, one which brings the whole person into a therapy process. Moreover, the approach also asks for extensive collaboraton while at the same time not putting the subject in an overly-vulnerable situation. To the contrary, the group becomes a co-creator and support network while the imaging and dialogue proceed. Boal's final exploration into linking Rainbow to Forum Theatre promises an even broader expansion of TO possibilities. The book will likely become a theatre classic, along with Boal's other texts, equaling the influence of Brecht and Stanislavsky, and perhaps even Aristotle. I urge readers who are genuinely taken by Boal's writings to find workshops led by experienced practitioners. See the PTO website for one site of possible assistance: [...]

As a citizen of a developing country -- Brazil, and as a victim of its US-supported fascist coups in 1964 and 1968, Augusto Boal returned to his country in 1986 after years in exile with more and more tools in his already remarkable theatre workbox. To understand the few fine points of Rainbow of Desire, it is best that the reader does have some familiarity with Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors, and preferably has seen some Forum or Image Theatre to witness the context of a Theatre of the Oppressed event. Rainbow was a further, revolutionary stretch of existing TO forms that Boal developed during his exile from Brazil, saying that while the cops in Brazil had been on the street, in Europe they were in the head.

Yet this is a challenge not only to theatre to raise its vision, it is also a challenge to the entire discipline of bourgeois psychology. First, Boal observed that most poor people -- the dominant population on Earth -- could in no way afford $200, or $100, or $50, or even $10 a week to "talk it out". Nor could they afford or likely even manage the growing and complex pharmacological approaches to human mental health. What was possible was communities coming together to help each other in this decidedly non-professional, community-based activity that Boal called therapeutic but not therapy.

Second, Boal always saw his work in a wide social context. He was not interested in seeing people run out of the burning building of oppression, be hosed off by a therapist, and then thrown back in the burning building. Boal always said his work, including Rainbow, was a way of transforming oppression out of the entire world. As his company -- CTO Rio -- uses as a slogan: "To end oppression everywhere." Boal's goal was no less than this.

Rainbow of Desire is Boal's description of the tools. Once the community or individual Jokers understand the basics -- which again can be helped by taking part in a Rainbow workshop, people go away with tools in their heads and hands that can be extraordinarily liberating for communities and individuals alike.

Viva, Boal!

If you enjoy theatre theories, The Rainbow of Desire is a mentally stimulating read. If you believe that theatre has the power to change lives, it is an inspiration. As a young actor/director myself working in educational theatre, Boal's techniques are an exciting departure from standard improv "games," though not having read Boal's previous books made some of the activities described sound a bit confusing. Currently I am in the process of applying these ideas in the creation of an outreach piece, ask me in a few weeks how well it worked.