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.
He capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May.
If you let the plot be determined by what you feel is in the character's mind at that point, it may not turn out to be a very good play, but at least it will be a play where people are behaving in a kind of truthful way.
On stage, you're not limited at all because you're free in language: language is the source of the imagination. You can travel farther in language than you can in any film.
I will take the sun in my mouth and leap into the ripe air Alive with closed eyes to dash against darkness
In a photo, you just do a click, but in art you have to put in so much energy. This concentration of energy and attention says something that other media cannot say.
An awful lot of storytelling isn't really about making people understand - it's about making people care.
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