Games for Actors and Non-Actors

by BOAL; AUGUSTO

• ISBN13: 9780415267083
• ISBN10: 0415267080
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-25
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Games for Actors and Non-Actorsis a unique piece of writing. Boal's Methods transform theatre into a democratic arena where the spectator becomes the 'spectactor', contributing ideas, taking over roles, and using theatre to confront problems such as sexual harrassment, poor pay, homophobia, and racism. For this first translation into English, Boal has included fresh material to make it the most up-to-date introduction to the techniques of Image Theatre and Forum Theatre available.Games for Actors and Non-Actorsis a valuable handbook of methods, techniques, games, and exercises, and is a genuinely inspiring work by the world-famous author ofTheatre of the Oppressed. It is designed to help anyone - whether actor on non-actor - rehearse for real life: make the fictional real.

Author Biography

Augusto Boal is a theatre director, dramatist, theorist, writer and teacher. He was a Member of Parliament for Rio de Janeiro from 1993 to 1996 Adrian Jackson is Artistic Director of Cardboard Citizens. He has translated four books by Augusto Boal, collaborated with him on a number of occasions and taught Theatre of the Oppressed widely in countries including Namibia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Mauritius and Finland

Table of Contents

List of figures	xxi
Translator's introduction to the first edition	xxii
Translator's postscript to the second edition	xxvii
Preface to the second edition: The Royal Shakespeare Company, theatre in prisons and landless peasants	1	(5)
Postscript -- with pride in our hearts	6	(5)
Preface to the first edition: the fable of Xua-Xua, the prehuman woman who discovered theatre	11	(6)
Postscript: actors and non-actors	17	(1)
Theatre of the Oppressed in Europe	18	(11)
Introduction	18	(1)
The Godrano experience: my first Forum Theatre in Europe or the ultimate spect-actor/protagonist!	19	(10)
Feminism in Godrano	20	(1)
The police again	21	(2)
The oppressed and the oppressors	23	(6)
The Structure of the Actor's Work	29	(19)
The primacy of emotion	29	(6)
Muscular exercises	31	(1)
Sensory exercises	31	(1)
Memory exercises	32	(1)
Imagination exercises	32	(1)
Emotion exercises	32	(3)
Rationalising emotion	35	(2)
A la recherche du temps perdu	37	(3)
The dialectical structure of the actor's interpretation of a role	40	(8)
The will	40	(3)
The counter-will	43	(2)
The dominant will	45	(1)
Quantitative variation and qualitative variation	46	(2)
The Arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed	48	(2)
Introduction: a new system of exercises and games from Theatre of the Oppressed	48	(2)
Two unities	49	(1)
Five categories of game and exercise	49	(1)
I FEELING WHAT WE TOUCH (RESTRUCTURING MUSCULAR RELATIONS)	50	(42)
First series: general exercises	50	(20)
The cross and the circle	50	(1)
Colombian hypnosis	51	(5)
Minimum surface contact	56	(2)
Pushing against each other	58	(4)
Joe Egg (aka trust circle)	62	(1)
The circle of knots	62	(2)
The actor as subject': the Greek exercise	64	(2)
The actor as `object'	66	(1)
Lifting someone out of a chair	67	(1)
Equilibrium of the body with an object	67	(1)
A balloon as an extension of the body	68	(1)
Racing on chairs	68	(1)
Rhythm with chairs	68	(1)
Musical chairs	69	(1)
Movement with over-premeditation	69	(1)
Difficulties	69	(1)
Divide up the movement	70	(1)
Dissociate coordinated movements	70	(1)
Second series: walks	70	(4)
Slow motion	71	(1)
At a right angle	72	(1)
Crab	72	(1)
Crossed legs (aka three-legged race)	72	(1)
Monkey	73	(1)
All fours	73	(1)
Camel walk	73	(1)
Elephant walk	73	(1)
Kangaroo walk	73	(1)
Leaning-against-each-other walk	73	(1)
Strapped-feet walk	74	(1)
Wheelbarrow	74	(1)
As you like it	74	(1)
Imitating others	74	(1)
Third series: massages	74	(3)
In a circle	75	(1)
The movement comes back	75	(1)
Sea waves	75	(1)
The rolling carpet	76	(1)
Back massage	77	(1)
The demon	77	(1)
Fourth series: integration games	77	(9)
Person to person, Quebec-style	77	(1)
The bear of Poitiers	78	(1)
The chair	78	(1)
Leapfrog	79	(1)
The Brueghel game	79	(1)
Stick in the mud	80	(1)
Grandmother's footsteps	80	(1)
Millipede	80	(1)
Apple dance	81	(1)
Sticky paper	81	(1)
The wooden sword of Paris	81	(1)
American football (aka British bulldog)	82	(1)
Three Irish duels	82	(1)
Little packets	83	(1)
Cat and mouse	83	(1)
Homage to Tex Avery -- cat and dog(s)	84	(1)
The handkerchief game (aka the hat game, aka dog and bone)	84	(1)
Good day	85	(1)
Cadavre exquis (aka consequences)	85	(1)
The parachute	86	(1)
Balance with an object	86	(1)
Fifth series: gravity	86	(6)
Horizontality sequence	87	(1)
Verticality sequence	88	(1)
Sequence of rectilinear and circular movements	89	(3)
II LISTENING TO WHAT WE HEAR	92	(22)
First series: rhythm	92	(16)
A round of rhythm and movement	92	(1)
Game of rhythm and movement	93	(1)
Changing rhythms	93	(1)
The machine of rhythms	94	(2)
The Peruvian ball game	96	(1)
The clapping series	97	(1)
West Side Story	98	(1)
The Portuguese rhythmic shoes	99	(1)
The two brooms	100	(1)
The four brooms	101	(1)
Horseshoe rhythms	101	(1)
Circular rhythms	101	(1)
The big chief	101	(1)
The orchestra and the conductor	101	(1)
Rhythm dialogue in teams	102	(1)
Chain rhythm dialogue	102	(1)
Pretend Brazilian `Indians'	102	(2)
Lines of five	104	(1)
The president's bodyguards	104	(1)
Walk, stop, justify	104	(1)
Carnival in Rio	104	(1)
Bolivian mimosas	105	(1)
How many `A's in a single `A'?	106	(1)
Two by three by Bradford	106	(1)
Crossing the room	107	(1)
Circle of names of Belo Horizonte	107	(1)
Circle of rhythms of Toronto	107	(1)
Second series: melody	108	(1)
Orchestra	108	(1)
Music and dance	108	(1)
Third series: sounds and noises	108	(1)
Sound and movement	108	(1)
Ritual sound	109	(1)
Fourth series: the rhythm of respiration	109	(5)
Lying on your back completely relaxed	110	(1)
Leaning against a wall	110	(1)
Standing up straight	110	(1)
Breathe in slowly	110	(1)
Explosion	110	(1)
Breathe in slowly while lifting the arms	111	(1)
The pressure cooker	111	(1)
Breathe in as quickly as possible	111	(1)
Breathe in as slowly as possible	111	(1)
Breathe in deeply through the mouth	111	(1)
Breathe in with clear definition and lots of energy	111	(1)
Two groups	112	(1)
Breathe out, standing in a circle	112	(1)
One actor pretends to pull the stopper out of another's body	112	(1)
A, E, I, O, U	113	(1)
All the actors, standing facing the wall	113	(1)
Two groups of actors, facing each other	113	(1)
With their bodies in maximum possible contact with the floor	113	(1)
Lying on their backs on tables	114	(1)
Fifth series: internal rhythms	114	(1)
Rhythmic images	114	(1)
III DYNAMISING SEVERAL SENSES	114	(15)
The blind series	115	(12)
The point of focus, the embrace and the handshake	115	(1)
Noises	116	(1)
The imaginary journey	117	(1)
The glass cobra	118	(1)
One blind line, one sighted line	118	(1)
The magnet -- positive and negative	119	(1)
Swedish multiple sculpture	120	(1)
The vampire of Strasbourg	120	(1)
The blind car	121	(1)
What is the object?	121	(1)
The smell of hands	122	(1)
The figure-of-eight chicane	122	(1)
Goalkeeper	122	(1)
Friend and enemy	122	(1)
Draw your own body	123	(1)
Modelling clay	124	(1)
Touch the colour	124	(1)
The blind person and the bomb	125	(1)
Find the hand	125	(1)
The siren's song	125	(1)
Find a convenient back	126	(1)
The melodic hand	126	(1)
The sound of the seven doorways	127	(1)
Recognising the `Aaah!'	127	(1)
The space series	127	(2)
Without leaving a single space in the room empty	127	(1)
Instead of simply saying `Stop', the Joker says a number	128	(1)
The Joker says a number and a geometric figure	128	(1)
The Joker says a number and a part of the body	128	(1)
The Joker calls out a colour and an item of clothing	128	(1)
The participants run slowly	128	(1)
The participants touch each other	129	(1)
IV SEEING WHAT WE LOOK AT	129	(42)
The mirrors sequence	129	(7)
The plain mirror	130	(1)
Subject and image swap roles	130	(1)
Subject--image, image--subject	130	(1)
Everyone joins hands	131	(1)
The two lines form a curve	132	(1)
Symmetrical groups	132	(1)
The mirror breaks	133	(1)
Changing partners	133	(1)
The distorting mirror	134	(1)
The narcissistic mirror	134	(1)
The rhythmic mirror	135	(1)
Unification	135	(1)
The modelling sequence	136	(2)
The sculptor touches the model	136	(1)
The sculptor doesn't touch the model	137	(1)
The sculptors spread out around the room	138	(1)
The sculptors fashion a single sculpture together	138	(1)
Sculpture with four or five people	138	(1)
The puppet sequence	138	(1)
String puppet	139	(1)
String puppet with rod	139	(1)
Image games	139	(9)
Complete the image	139	(1)
Ball games	140	(1)
Boxing match	141	(1)
One person we fear, one person is our protector	141	(1)
Furnish the empty space	142	(1)
Atmosphere of snow	142	(1)
Building character relations	143	(1)
Characters in movement	143	(1)
Observation	143	(1)
Complementary activities	143	(1)
What has changed?	144	(1)
Tell your own story	144	(1)
The antiquated telephone exchange	144	(1)
Concentration	144	(1)
Animals	145	(1)
Professions	146	(1)
The balancing circle	147	(1)
The `Indian' in the city, the city dweller in the forest	148	(1)
Games of mask and ritual	148	(12)
Follow the master	148	(1)
Follow two masters -- who metamorphose into each other	149	(1)
Rotation of masks	149	(1)
Unification of masks	149	(1)
Collective creation of a mask	150	(1)
Addition of masks	150	(1)
Pushing the mask to its extremity and nullifying it	150	(1)
Following the master in his own mask	150	(1)
Changing masks	151	(1)
Mask exchange	151	(1)
The masks of the actors themselves	152	(1)
Substitution of mask	153	(1)
Separation of mask, ritual and motivation	153	(1)
Changing a whole set of masks into a different social class	154	(1)
Making the mask all-encompassing	155	(1)
Changing actors mid-ritual	156	(1)
A round of masks in different circumstances	156	(1)
Natural and ridiculous	156	(1)
Several actors on stage	156	(1)
The game of complementary roles	157	(1)
The politicians game	157	(1)
Exchange of masks	157	(1)
Exchange of roles	158	(1)
Fainting at Frejus	158	(1)
The designated leader	158	(1)
The clown of Amsterdam	159	(1)
The animals of Vienna	159	(1)
Looking first at one another and then at the same spot	159	(1)
Cookies	159	(1)
The image of the object	160	(2)
The found object	160	(1)
The object transformed	161	(1)
The object created out of simple things	161	(1)
Homage to Magritte -- `This bottle is not a bottle'	161	(1)
The invention of space and the spatial structures of power	162	(3)
Space and territory	162	(1)
Inventing the space in a room	162	(1)
The great game of power	163	(1)
Chairs in the empty space	163	(1)
Where is my place?	163	(1)
Six chairs	164	(1)
Photographing the image	164	(1)
Games involving the creation of characters	165	(6)
Murder at the Hotel Agato	165	(1)
Cops and robbers	165	(1)
The embassy ball	166	(1)
The child's dream -- what I wanted to be when I grew up	166	(1)
The child's fear	167	(1)
What grown-ups wanted me to be	168	(1)
The opposite of myself	168	(1)
The two revelations of Saint Teresa	169	(1)
The fighting cocks	170	(1)
Catchphrases	170	(1)
What am I? What do I want?	170	(1)
The blank character	170	(1)
V THE MEMORY OF THE SENSES	171	(3)
Reconnecting memory, emotion and imagination	171	(3)
Memory: remembering yesterday	171	(1)
Memory and emotion: remembering a day in the past	172	(1)
Memory and emotion and imagination	172	(1)
Remembering an actual oppression	173	(1)
Rehearsal on the stage of the imagination	173	(1)
Extrapolation	174	(1)
IMAGE THEATRE	174	(43)
Image techniques: models and dynamisations	176	(27)
Image of the word: illustrating a subject with your body	176	(5)
Image of the word: illustrating a subject using other people's bodies	181	(4)
Image of transition	185	(1)
Multiple image of oppression	186	(3)
Multiple image of happiness	189	(2)
Image of the group	191	(2)
Ritual gesture	193	(5)
Ritual	198	(3)
Rituals and masks	201	(1)
The image of the hour	201	(1)
The kinetic image	202	(1)
The merry-go-round of images	202	(1)
Images of transition -- the technique in action	203	(3)
Examples from Europe	203	(3)
New Image Theatre techniques: the cop in the head	206	(11)
Dissociation -- thought, speech, action	207	(1)
The analytical image: the multiple mirror of how others see us	208	(3)
Somatisation	211	(1)
The circuit of rituals	211	(1)
The three wishes	212	(1)
The polyvalent image	213	(1)
The screen image	213	(1)
The image of the image	214	(1)
Four very simple demonstrations of embryos of Forum Theatre pieces, based on projected images	215	(2)
REHEARSAL EXERCISES FOR ANY KIND OF PLAY	217	(81)
Exercises with or without script	217	(3)
Improvisation	217	(2)
The dark room	219	(1)
One story told by several people	219	(1)
Change the story	219	(1)
One line spoken by several actors	220	(1)
Games of emotional dynamisation	220	(2)
Breaking the oppression	220	(2)
The oppressor's confession	222	(1)
Emotional warm-up exercises	222	(3)
Abstract emotion	222	(1)
Abstract emotion with animals	223	(1)
Abstract emotion, following the master	223	(1)
Animals or vegetables in emotional situations!	223	(1)
Ritual in which everyone becomes an animal	224	(1)
Stimulation of the dormant parts of ourselves	224	(1)
Ideological warm-up	225	(1)
Dedication	225	(1)
Reading newspapers	225	(1)
The evocation of historic events	226	(1)
Lessons	226	(1)
Exercises for the preparation of a Forum Theatre model or for the rehearsal of other kinds of theatre	226	(15)
Play to the deaf	226	(1)
Stop! Think!	227	(1)
Interrogation	227	(1)
The reconstruction of the crime	228	(1)
Analytical rehearsal of motivation	228	(1)
Analytical rehearsal of emotion	229	(1)
Analytical rehearsal of style	229	(1)
Opposite circumstances	229	(1)
Artificial pause	230	(1)
Self-interrogation	230	(1)
Opposite thought	230	(1)
Rehearsal of the cue	231	(1)
Two touches	231	(1)
Silence on set -- Action!	232	(1)
Invisible characters	232	(1)
Before and after	232	(1)
Transference of emotion	232	(1)
Slow motion	233	(1)
Sensory focus	233	(1)
Low volume	233	(1)
Exaggeration	234	(1)
Free-style rehearsal	234	(1)
Reconnaissance	234	(1)
Caricature	235	(1)
Swapping characters	235	(1)
Need versus will	235	(1)
The rhythm of scenes	236	(1)
Rashomon	236	(1)
Keep talking	237	(1)
The ceremony	237	(1)
Secret whispers	237	(1)
I don't believe you	238	(1)
Long Beach telegram	238	(1)
Holy theatre	238	(1)
Analogy	238	(1)
The tick-tock sequence	238	(3)
The Early Forms of Forum Theatre	241	(12)
Introduction	241	(1)
The rules of the game	242	(1)
Dramaturgy	242	(1)
Staging	243	(1)
The performance game	243	(2)
Examples of Forum Theatre	245	(8)
Agrarian reform seen from a public bench	245	(2)
The people judge a secret policeman	247	(1)
Leader at work, slave in the home	248	(1)
The return to work at the Credit Lyonnais	249	(1)
The nuclear power station	249	(4)
Forum Theatre: Doubts and Certainties: Incorporating a New Method of Rehearsing and Devising a Forum Theatre Model	253	(24)
Twenty fundamental topics	254	(23)
Oppression or aggression?	254	(2)
The style of the model	256	(2)
Do the problems have to be urgent or not? Should they be simple or complex?	258	(1)
Do we have to arrive at a solution or not?	259	(1)
Does the model of the future action need to be depicted or not?	260	(1)
Model or anti-model? Error or doubt?	260	(1)
The conduct of the Joker	260	(2)
Theatricality or reflection?	262	(1)
The staging	263	(1)
The function of the warm-up	264	(1)
The function of the actor	265	(1)
The repeated scene	266	(1)
Macrocosm and microcosm	266	(1)
How to replace a character without transforming it into another	267	(1)
What is a `good' oppression?	268	(1)
Who can replace whom?	269	(2)
How should a `model' be rehearsed?	271	(2)
Can a forum change themes?	273	(1)
Can people remain `spectators' in a Forum Theatre session?	274	(1)
When does a session of Theatre of the Oppressed end?	275	(2)
First Experiences with Invisible Theatre	277	(12)
Examples of Invisible Theatre	277	(12)
Sexual harassment	277	(3)
Queen Silvia's baby	280	(2)
Racism I: the Greek	282	(1)
Racism II: the black woman	283	(2)
Picnic in the streets of Stockholm	285	(2)
The audience's children	287	(2)
Artistic Creation and Divine Madness: A Meditation on Art and the Miraculous	289	(9)
Passion and art	293	(3)
The mad artist and the artist madman	296	(2)
Postscript: The Pedagogy of Fear -- Theatre and the Twin Towers: An Essay After 11 September, 2001	298