Legislative Theatre: Using Performance to Make Politics

Legislative Theatre is the latest and most remarkable stage in the unique Augusto Boal project. It is an attempt to use theatre in a political context to create a truer form of democracy--a method to engage the populace. It is an extraordinary experiment in the potential of theatre to effect social change. At the heart of Boal's method of Forum Theatre--which is already used in diverse contexts--is the dual meaning of the verb to act: to perform and take action. In Legislative Theatre he takes one stage further his concept of the spect-actor, the spectator who intervenes in an unresolved scenario on stage to try and break a depicted cycle of oppression. As a politician in his native Rio de Janeiro, Boal used Forum Theatre to involve the local populace in generating relevant legislation and social change. The book includes a full explanation of the genesis and principles of legislative theatre, and a description of the process in operation in Rio. Also included are Boal's essays, speeches and lectures on Popular Theatre, Paolo Freire, cultural activism, the point of playwrighting, and much else besides.