Room for optimism
Sonali Pahwa speaks with Geo Britto about the work of the Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed
The idea of democratisation through theatre has an unmistakable whiff of sixties idealism. However, the Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO), which traces its beginnings to Brazilian founder Augusto Boal's experiments with social theatre in the late 1960s, has thrived well beyond the lifespan of a youthful folly. It is steadily propagating its practices through five continents. Carrying its infectiously earnest mission to Egypt is Geo Britto, a member of Boal's core group, who was invited to conduct workshops in Cairo and Alexandria by actor/director Nora Amin, a former intern at the centre in Rio de Janeiro.
Britto's task may at first appear to be contradicted by his title of Joker. Not that the soft-spoken Brazilian donned a red nose -- the term refers to the joker in a pack of cards.
"The joker can do many things in a card game, and so must the facilitator in the theatre of the oppressed. The joker is charged with directing, scenography and, particularly, with building a relationship with the audience." And herein lies the distinctiveness of this kind of theatre: the audience is part of the action. There is no facile optimism in Britto's use of the term "spect-actor." The rehearsed scene of a social problem is only a preface in the theatre of the oppressed, and it must be followed by alternative stagings, enacted by audience members, of a viable solution.
It seems, at first glance, as if we have seen this approach before in agit-prop theatre. But Britto emphasises a subtle difference. "All kinds of political theatre are important, of course, but some kinds, such as agit-prop, carry an answer or a message. The theatre of the oppressed, however, is the theatre of the question and of doubt. The actors do not have the answer. They only ask what it is possible to do in a specific case. They answer questions with other questions."
"Augusto Boal performed political theatre in the 1960s and '70s, he went to the Brazilian countryside and worked with peasants on plays about land reform. These experiments had some success. He was told, 'You think just like we think.' But one of his group added, 'you must also do as we do.' It was then that Boal began to change his approach to political theatre, towards a new method of acting out alternatives to the way things are."
Boal's theatre of commitment makes sense within the framework of the military government in Brazil during those years, even as its position was predictably tenuous. Eventually he and his colleagues were banned from working in Brazil. Boal travelled through the Americas and Europe, established the Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Paris in 1979, and only returned to work in Brazil in 1986 when a leftist state governor invited the CTO to participate in a new popular education project. The theatre of the oppressed has since expanded its activities to 20 Brazilian states, working with trade unions, movements for the landless, AIDS education projects and for prisoners' rights.
There is good reason for optimism to judge by this remarkable history, made more impressive by the list of African, Asian and European countries in which the CTO has recognised troupes. In the Middle East, however, only Palestine and Israel are known to have adherents of the theatre of the oppressed. Britto's two workshops at the Goethe Institute in Cairo and the Bibliotheca in Alexandria, attended by both actors from independent troupes and NGO workers, aimed at building a nucleus for the movement in Egypt.
"There are many opportunities for the theatre of the oppressed in Egypt," offers Britto, "in education, women's issues, and of course in democratisation. The problems are familiar though we have to alter our methods. In Brazil we would do theatre in squares and streets which is not possible here."
"Many of the participants in my workshops work regularly with NGOs. One day a group of us went to Manshiyet Nasser to engage with a women's group that one participant has links with. She conducted an exercise with 22 women there. At first they were not particularly interested. Then they began to smile a little, and eventually they were laughing and chatting and very enthusiastic. I talked about Brazilian women's groups. They talked about problems with their husbands and questions of religion. We also have the chance to conduct workshops in many schools, through contacts that some participants have with the Jesuit cultural centres. The idea is to develop basic capacities for the theatre of the oppressed. The trainees from this workshop will hopefully go on to train others."
The truth is therapeutic, claims Augusto Boal's manifesto. But what of therapy beyond the level of individuals and small groups? Does the theatre of the oppressed contribute to social change? Britto's answer is emphatically positive.
"The theatre is like a parliament," he asserts. "The ancient Greeks used it as a political forum. People can talk about the law, about their rights and limits, in any space -- it need not be in specifically legal structures. In recent years the CTO has in fact strengthened its focus on legislative theatre, or the performance of legislation in the theatre. Often people think they cannot do anything about their circumstances but when an ordinary person gets the idea that he can make a law he senses the possibility of getting things done. We can create this situation in the theatre. When someone raises a hand to vote here, it is a significant symbolic act of participation."
"And we have succeeded in getting actual laws passed. It occurred to us that the enactment of alternatives to problem situations in the theatre produced valuable suggestions we should make use of, rather than letting them go. So we have organised to get some of these proposed laws -- resulting in 34 bills, 13 municipal laws, and two state laws so far. One group of people aged over 60 proposed a law for their right to have companions with them in hospital and this was passed successfully. Other groups from the favelas had been working on the problem of violence and they drafted a witness protection law. It was passed locally and has now become a federal law."
This determined and professional outfit dispels any visions of long-haired flower children. Britto is already anticipating the next few steps towards striking roots for the CTO in Egypt -- perhaps another workshop in May and June. As for the future, he is optimistic.
"We have an international festival for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio in 2005," he offers, "and perhaps this will be the first year that an Egyptian troupe attends."
