The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!).
Interpretation
Theatre serves as a powerful medium for both expression and observation of the human experience.
Augusto Boal's quote emphasizes that theatre is not just a performance but a profound reflection of human existence. In this context, every person plays a role, either as an actor engaging in life or as a spectator observing it. This duality highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences and the importance of both participation and reflection in understanding our world.
In practice
In a workshop on social change, one might use this quote to discuss how everyone plays a role in societal issues.
Theatre has nothing to do with buildings or other physical constructions. Theatre - or theatricality - is the capacity, this human property which allows man to observe himself in action, in activity. Man can see himself in the act of seeing, in the act of acting, in the act of feeling, the act of thinking. Feel himself feeling, think himself thinking.
The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it.
I believe in low lights and trick mirrors.
What entrepreneurs and artists have in common is that they give the world something it didn't know it was missing.
Rehearsing a scene beds a role into you. But sometimes, if you over-rehearse it without unearthing any new meaning in it, you can suddenly forget your lines. You realise that you are on a stage, not in the real world. The scene's emotional power, and your immersion in it, disappears.
We used to make patterns in the dirt, hanging our feet off the horse-drawn farm equipment. We made endless hourglass figures that I now see as the forms within forms in my crocheted wire sculptures.
If a scene is longer than three pages, it better be for a good reason.
I have no desire to prove anything by dancing. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance. I just put my feet in the air and move them around.
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