Theatre of the Oppressed

First Stage

The story of the Arena Theater’s use of realist texts began with the Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia (TBC), a theater that presented European theater for wealthy audiences. At first, the theater was highly successful, but soon the separation between what the actors were presenting and what the middle class in Brazil was experiencing became too great. The Arena Theater responded by presenting Brazilian actors performing in their own languages. However, the theater found it difficult to find material for these performances. Many Brazilian authors in the 1950s were preoccupied with classical forms and themes. Wanting to present a different style of theater that would break from Western influence, the Arena Theater began using young Brazilian actors to write plays based on realistic stories.

The actors worked together to develop their skills as playwrights and to reframe narratives for Brazilian topics that included protest strikes and the living conditions of rail workers. The Mandrake was just one play that was rewritten and performed. In the version presented at the Arena Theater, the protagonist is not Callimaco. Instead, the story centers on Lucrezia, who is both oppressed (kept locked in a room) and exploited.

Need for the “Joker”

The performances at the Arena Theater responded to the needs of Brazilian audiences. The plays were realistic and engaged audiences in activism, creating “a theater that attempts to influence reality and not merely reflect it” (168). Boal asserts that realistic art should adhere to the principle of reality—that it is always in a state of transition. The principal goal of the Arena Theater was to show Brazilian life as it truly was. While this reflected a need for audiences at the time, Boal warns that adhering to a model that only reproduces reality does not open the audience to understanding. The Joker system therefore merges the work of the Arena Theater with synthesis.

Goals of the “Joker”

New forms of theater always act in response to a need. For example, Shakespeare’s habit of opening with a violent or action-packed scene was intended to quell notoriously rowdy audiences. Traditionally, the public demands and therefore receives theatrical performances that reflect how they see the world. However, in non-Western countries, audiences are often subjected to Western performances as an idealized and aspirational way of life. The Joker system was a response to the Brazilian public’s need to engage with stories that reflected their own lives.

The Joker sits with the spectators and mediates between the audience and actors. The theatrical style encompasses all genres. The aesthetic of each scene is dependent upon its content, and the Joker’s explanations help to keep this chaotic style from devolving into anarchy. The problem is always structural, relating to deeper systems of oppression and power. The characters can act freely, as in the Hegelian style, but they are still subject to these systems. The audience’s freedom is therefore derived from the recognition of systems of power through social analysis.

Structures of the “Joker”

In the Arena Theater’s past methodology, all actors played all characters, using a “mask”—the mannerisms or social mask defined at the beginning of the play—to indicate who would be playing which character. Boal’s model returns actors to prescribed functions. While their actions were not determined, they inhabited the functions and goals of the characters they played. In this model, the protagonist presents reality and the actions of a character within realistic limits. The Joker also serves another purpose; as Boal explains, “The ‘Joker’s’ is a magical reality; he creates it. If necessary, he invents magic walls, combats, soldiers, armies” (182). The Joker is therefore conceived as an omniscient being who helps to shape the narrative and make adaptations.