top of page
Search

Intro: Theatre of the Oppressed in Educational Contexts

  • Writer: Corinne Thomas
    Corinne Thomas
  • Dec 3, 2017
  • 4 min read

Updated: Dec 16, 2017

"ART IS INHERENTLY POLITICAL!" - Peter

(Photo from http://blogs.diariodepernambuco.com.br/documentoboal/augusto-boal/?doing_wp_cron=1513453929.3772649765014648437500)


As a “theatre-kid” myself, I have always believed in the deeply transformational power of theatre to counter oppression and empower young people, as it did for me. However, it is only in recent years that I have been introduced to the research in this area. Below, I introduce the concept of educational liberation through the practice of theatre, focusing on Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. These 2 philosophies were born in late 20th Century Brazil and have since been popularized around the world. Going forward, they will serve as the cornerstone of this blog and will inform my further research. So, let’s jump right in!

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

First published in 1968, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a book by Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire. The text examines how popular pedagogy reproduces cycles of oppression and systems of hierarchy through the “banking-style of education.” This is the common method by which teacher and students assume stagnant roles as information givers and information receivers. As an alternative, Freire proposed an alternative, the “problem-posing education,” a pedagogy which emphasizes equality, dialogue, co-learning, and co-teaching. Since its publishing, Freire’s text has become central to the canon of peace and justice-oriented educational practices and pedagogies.

Theatre of the Oppressed

Not only has Freire’s work made its way into classrooms around the globe, but it also inspired the work of prominent theatre artist Augusto Boal. Boal is best known for his development of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), an anti-oppression theatrical philosophy popularized in 1970’s Brazil. TO is a theatrical pedagogy which seeks to model anti-oppression and help marginalized peoples tell their stories. Though TO is a conglomeration of many different practices and techniques, almost all of its forms rely on audience engagement and varied amounts of improvisation. Like the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Theatre of the Oppressed seeks to radicalize traditional structures of power and engage all participants in critical thought, ultimately unleashing freedom for all involved. The most popular technique of TO is Forum Theatre. In Forum Theatre, actors and spect-actors (Boal’s term used to explain the participatory responsibility of audiences in Forum Theatre) model real-life scenarios through scripted acting and improvisation. First, the actors model a situation in which oppression is administered. Then, a joker (or facilitator) asks the spect-actors (audience members) for suggestions as how to change the scenario in order to achieve justice. The spect-ators give suggestions and then enter into the scene, improvising their suggested edits. This process continues as the actors and spect-actors continue to work through solutions to the problem at hand, with justice being the ultimate goal. This process can be drastically different depending on its context, but serves as an effective tool for facilitating critical conversation. The Pedagogy of the Oppressed in evidently manifested in this practice which is rooted in communal participation and conversation.

TO with Children and Youth

Both Freire and Boal, however, worked almost exclusively with adults in their development of these practices and philosophies. Thus, there is little research on using techniques of TO with children. However, one 2005 case study, conducted by Johnny Saldana ad researchers from Arizona State University, and outlined in Duffy and Vettraino’s Youth and Theatre of the Oppressed, is especially interesting. In this case study, Saldana and his team worked with fourth and fifth grade students to tackle issues of bullying and stigmatization using various theatrical techniques grounded in Boal’s Forum Theatre. He worked with the class over a series of weeks building their justice-oriented vocabulary, educating them in ideas of oppression and power. After four sessions of instruction, Saldana conducted an experiment in Forum Theatre in which he took a real scenario of bullying, told to him by the classroom teacher, and used it to create a piece of forum theatre. He facilitated as adult actors portrayed the scenario and the children (spect-actors) responded and participated in working through and altering the scene portrayed. Through this experiment in Forum Theatre, Saldana gets all students participating in anti-bullying problem-solving. This experiment leaves an especially salient mark on the student who had actually experienced this type of bullying in the class, as evidenced by the students’ feedback. Additionally, in Duffy and Vettraino’s piece, Elinor Vettraino describes her TO experiments with children and teachers in Scotland. Her chapter, “Silent Screaming and the Power of Stillness” is especially impactful, as it details the use of Image Theatre (another TO technique) in fighting the inherent oppression of traditional school structures with both students and teachers. Vettraino’s work is powerful because it is rooted in the freedom-enabling power of both education and theatre, as exemplified in the following quote:

[Theatre of the Oppressed] and education can sit together and share the same aesthetic space because at the end of the day, the search for knowledge is really a search for self. (Vettraino 78)

The examples above point to one thing: TO can be powerful for children and youth by giving students space to feel, portray, and experience their worlds in a semi-controlled environment. However, while the power of TO in an educational context is evident, this post is merely an introduction to these concepts. There is still a lot of research to be conducted and explored. I have, therefore, listed resources below which highlight some of the literature available on using TO techniques with youth. Check them out if you are interested in bringing the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed to your classroom or community!


Referenced in this piece:

  • Duffy, Peter, and Elinor Vettraino. Youth and Theatre of the Oppressed. Palgrave MacMillan, 2010.

  • Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, Seabury Press, 1968.

Additional resources and research:

Comments

SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

2017. Created with Wix.com

bottom of page