The Boal Collection
Rhianna Elsden
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Rhianna Elsden takes a look at The Boal Collection from Digital Theatre +.
Courtesy CTO
When in 2009 visionary Brazilian theatre director and dramatist Augusto Boal died aged 78, he left behind a legacy of political theatre that challenged audiences and actors in order to lead to change.
Recognising that his work is still of significant importance and continues to be practised and studied across the world, including within many drama and theatre exam specifications, Digital Theatre has worked with the Boal Institute's archive in Rio de Janeiro to bring together a mass of resources in The Boal Collection. Its aim is to give users a greater understanding of Boal's famous and well-loved games and reinventions of theatre within the context of his own life and times.
The Boal Collection allows you to hear directly from the man himself; to hear from his son speak about Boal's work and to read about his life and techniques and consider how they can be used today. Included in the collection are fully annotated films, playscripts, essays, photos, letters, and all manner of documentation showing the trajectory of his life and his work.
The most engaging aspects of the collection were the videos of Boal himself explaining how Invisible Theatre and Forum Theatre came into being. As a speaker, he was incredibly engaging and his wit sparkles in the understandably grainy videos. His passion for theatre and its possibilities for social and political change is evident. It made me fondly recall my own attempts at Invisible Theatre when I was a first-year undergraduate, reminding me of ways I could use Forum Theatre more effectively in the classroom. Watching people completing his Games for Actors in further clips was also inspiring and served as a reminder to go to the book that almost all teachers have on their shelf somewhere.
An infographic lists all the resources and groups them for ease of reference, a necessary addition because of the sheer volume of offerings. A rushed teacher or student will need to find time to get the most out of the collection: dipping in and out could mean you feel overwhelmed and the richness of what has been collated could be missed. Investing time to explore, and the money to subscribe, are barriers worth overcoming for this and the many other resources on Digital Theatre's subscription site.
