Theatre of the Oppressed

I have encountered/ been aware of Theatre of the Oppressed for some time. I had studied it in my pre college program back at my old school. Even back then I thought the methodology was extremely interesting and appealing in the way where It can make non- thespians enthusiastic and less self conscious about the art form.
As I read the text (which I thoroughly enjoyed) I developed a couple of thoughts..
- The charm of Theatre of the Oppressed is that it takes the purpose of art (to provide social commentary/ inflict change/ make audience aware of themselves and the human experience) and delivers the message clearly and distinctly to the audience through having them engage with the piece (i,e, through the dramatic method of Barrio- where simultaneous dramaturgy occurs); thus eliminating the third person which is the idea of theatrics ; and the associations along side with that (that its seen by some as a luxury to witness and not a necessity).. thus allowing audiences/spectators from all walks of life to get involved with the method and get the full impact of the art form.
- I also enjoyed the idea that most people are not aware of our bodies, as if we have learnt to ignore the communications that our bodies make as per our subconscious. I mean, even in a court of law body language doesn't hold much account, but words do. Therefore the games that have been conceptualized by Augusto Boal, that this aspect of humanity that he himself noticed and planned out different ways in which he could help us reconnect to the fluency we have with our own body language; for example the charades-like game where the spectators have to imitate an animal and communicate through that imitation, just games like these where we are forced to become hyper sensitive to how we use our body to communicate; which in result makes us super aware of our body.

As I mentioned during the first class on the slide show,
Theatre of the oppressed as I researched it, is a great medium for community engagement. It breaks down the wall of theatre and yet maintains a theatrical element that separates reality from games and practice methods whilst still delivering its artistic purpose (creating change/ awareness of certain issues). simply because it forces the purpose of art to take immediate action to solve things or fix things, or allow things to be said and expressed that in the context of it still being a theatre game (safe space) is fine to say and act out (like the Opressed game where the community has to imitate one another- with the imitation being a criticism or just something the imitator notices about a subject), whereas if it was said in the context of a real world or if someone was imitating someone else in the real world it would cause a fight.