Breaking the Cycle of
Violence in Theatre:
Taking back the theatre
with Theatre of Liberation
by
Simon De Abreu, McMaster University
The theatre at one time was
primarily people singing freely in the open and it was a celebration in which
all could participate without restraint. Ancient
theatrical performances were created by the people and for the people, in a
spirit that was more community oriented. These
performances were centered on a collected effort that had a more communal
sensibility.
The plays seen in the large
theatres in
Toronto
and
New York
are most times filled with passive audiences living vicariously through an
actor’s violent actions on stage. The
same thing can be said about film as well. When
the spectators empathize with a character on the stage, the spectator loves and
hates whenever the character on stage loves and hates.
The desired effect is to have the audience feeling as if they were acting
right along with the actors – even though they never left the soft seat of the
theatre they were sitting in. Now,
many love the fact that they can feel such a range of emotions with never ever
having to leave their soft seat – do not get me wrong, I too, ever so often,
desire that as well.
However, I am apart of a growing number of citizens who want to be more
creatively engaged and want to see more artistic representations of nonviolent
community based solutions in Hamilton. I
believe this requires a more actively involved citizenry that have the have the
opportunity to get there own stories told. Many
times, I want to actively change the outcomes of the violent stories that I am
presented in various theatre and film productions.
I and many others have been looking to effect positive nonviolent change
in the theatre production through Theatre of Liberation (Liberation Theatre)
a.k.a. Theatre of the Oppressed – because many in Hamilton believe that we as
concerned citizens can engage are own personal creativity and use the power of
the theatre to effect social change, by using the stories that out lives and the
experiences garnered in that personal process.
Isn’t the personal, political?
Countless commercial
artistic events serve to channel the energies of the populace in a direction
that distracts them from the socio-economic state of the country and their
community. This is not to say that
having a pleasant distraction from one’s painful socio-economic plight is an
appalling occurrence; on the contrary, psychologically, it is most beneficial.
However, it becomes a serious issue when the pacifying effects of the
entertaining distractions – be they plays or films – lead to impoverished
citizens accepting their poverty-stricken position and the violence that comes
with that all because they feel they can not or must not change the unjust
socio-economic system that has such an oppressive affect on their lives and the
lives of their families.
Celebratory and highly
participatory community theatre can serve as a creative alternative to the
coercive, commercial process that is used to create theatre for the masses.
In
the last two years, here in
Hamilton
, a small theatre movement Theatre of Liberation – Theatre for the People, by
the People began. It is an interestingly Fun approach to community building that
brings people together like very few fun community events can.
The Theatre of Liberation (Liberation Theatre) works to have citizens
empowering themselves with the use of Theatre techniques of the Brazilian
playwright Augusto Boal. His
approach is being used to foster a better sense of democracy in
Hamilton
. Do get involved!
The German dramatist and poet, Bertolt Brecht
and Augusto Boal, counter Aristotle and take a more open-minded approach to Art.
Boal, who was influenced by Brecht’s work, agrees with Brecht, who
thought that theatrical productions must not pacify spectators and have them
delegating their power of thought to the characters on the stage.
In most commercial theatre “the dramatic action is a substitute for real
(nonviolent) action.” (Boal 55) Theatrical
forms must also inspire thought and encourage spectators to think for
themselves. Brecht wanted the
audience to seriously question the action on stage.
He challenged the audience to question their own values and his intent
was to motivate citizens to think about how they would and must act in the
world, to change the world. In
Brecht’s theatrical presentation Mother
Courage, the dramatic action throws light upon real action and that
theatrical presentation is a preparation for real action outside the theatre. (Boal
155) Brecht contended that the
well-liked artist must leave the swanky stages in the large downtown urban
centres and go to the neighbourhoods because only there will the actor find
people who are truly concerned in transforming the social order.
(Brecht 274 - 275)
It is in the families found
in the neighbourhoods of the working poor that are the most interested in seeing
changes to the social order that has them fighting to survive.
Brecht would tell actors they must go to neighbourhoods of the working
poor and show their images of the transformation of social life.
I want the theatrical spectacle to be the beginning of social
change/social action. I like Boal
and Brecht want the social justice equilibrium to be sought through empowered
citizens working for the transformation of society and “not by purging the
individual of their Just demands and needs." (Boal 106)
In Brecht's view, the artist’s duty is one that consists not in
presenting things as true, but in informing people on how true things are. (Boal
112) Boal, in the Brechtian
tradition, gets citizens/actors to reveal how they are really living their
lives. We are all essential actors
and have stories that need to be told.
Most recently some
Hamiltonians who wanted to have fun and share some laughs while looking to
change their communities for the better started a small theatre movement
entitled, Theatre of Liberation – Theatre for the People, by the People
project has begun. It is an
interestingly Fun approach to community building that brings people together to
have what I call serious fun and it sure can strengthen community bold.
The Theatre of Liberation (Liberation Theatre) works to have citizens
empowering themselves with the use of Augusto Boal’s community theatre
techniques with the intent is to foster a better sense of community, so as to
inspire community action and political change.
Many around the world have witnessed Augusto Boal’s theatrical
methodology in action. A growing
number here in
Hamilton
are becoming aware of how Theatre of Liberation (Liberation Theatre) – a.k.a.
Theatre of the Oppressed – can create an environment, whereby, concerned
citizens can reach out to other community members who want to effect positive
non-violent change in an effort to find solutions to the shared socio-economic
issues. Theatre of Liberation
creates an opportunity to rehearse real life change in
Hamilton
. If Augusto Boal can do this in
Brazil, then we here in Hamilton can use Theatre of Liberation to empower
ourselves to be participants in a creative collective act; an act that presents
our everyday world in a way that provides hope for the positive transformation
of our collectively shared present and a more social Just future. Theatre
of Liberation – Theatre for the People, by the People.
For more info please contact citizensimon@yahoo.ca
Reference: Augusto Boal’s Book 'Theatre of the
Oppressed'
Simon
C. De Abreu
Hamilton
,
Ontario
deabreca@mcmaster.ca
905-572-7465
A brief summary
of my artistic aspirations to use performance to foster a greater sense of
community and human development.
I
am an artist who has organized artistic events that aim to educate and inform.
My aim has been to demonstrate to citizens how art does matter and how
they can be cultural producers; artisans in their own right.
I strive to create safe non-commercial places that inspire opportunities
for personal growth which are steeped in self awareness and allows for personal
empowerment. I use a collective
theatre approach that challenges people to explore the chasms of creativity that
surround them every day. I endeavour
to have participants tap into the enormous creative reservoirs within, so as to
engage life in ways they may never have done so before.
The aim is to have more engaged citizens that can replenish the creative
chasms of civil society with imaginative/inventive energy that will aid this
city, the country and ultimately this world, socially and economically.
Particular non-profit community theatre that does not take on the
capitalist industrial model has and continues to do this and I am involved in a
continuous process of building on learned techniques & str
ategies passed on to me through the work of such Grass Roots theatre artists
like Brazilian artistic director, Augusto Boal and his son, Julian Boal.
I
have worked and want to continue working with groups of all ages in a
collaborative fashion. I have done
so in a v
a
riety of settings for which I have used improvisational games and Boalian
theatre techniques. These Boalian
techniques are derived from Boal’s popular educational forum theatre entitled,
Theatre of the Oppressed which is based on Brazilian Educational specialist Dr.
Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
I want to continue to devise community performances that explore how we
and others symbolically, politically and emotionally order our lives.
Through the Theatre of Liberation, which is broadly based on The Theatre
of the Oppressed model, personal development and positive examination of one’s
world can be achieved and by using creative action found in approaches like
image theatre for example, which can artistically enhance the political ways
various socio-economic communities create community dialogue.
More specially, I wish to use theatre to imaginatively investigate
contemporary issues through
a
rts-b
a
sed di
a
logue that builds and strengthen one’s sense of self by strengthening the
communal links of some of the diverse communities found in
Hamilton
- the fine city I call home. I want
to use theatre to create a safe space, where participants can take le
a
dership of theatrical projects that have them trusting one another and
empowering themselves to tell there own stories.
I want to use theatre to aid citizens to democratically move them selves
through a development
a
l process which has them moving towards a possible theatrical production that
fosters democracy and civil engagement.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Simon
C. De Abreu