{"id":2320,"date":"2023-07-25T13:28:23","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T11:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2024-01-12T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T15:04:33","slug":"theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Theatre of the Oppressed is a theatrical practice created by Brazilian theatre visionary, Augusto Boal, that uses roleplaying and improvisation to engage community members in identifying solutions to inequitable systems and institutions, and then translating those ideas into new laws. This method is now used worldwide for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, therapy, and government legislation.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Augusto Boal (1931-2009) developed the methodology of the Theatre of the Oppressed in the 1960s, inspired by Paulo Friere&#8217;s most famous book on the power of education, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The socio-political context of the days in Brazil (post-colonialist era and authoritarian military junta regime) significantly influenced the development of these concepts, approaches and methodology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main features of Theatre of the Oppressed Methodology are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is an interactive type of theatre \u2013 the audience engages actively, they can participate in the process and in some of the methods, they become \u201cspect-actors\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It tackles real-life oppression in its various forms (the discussion on this topic is vast, as, very often, oppression can be interpreted in endless ways, and can be applied to almost all areas of life);<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aims to bring along a change in relation to the specific oppression tackled \u2013 mostly by empowering the oppressed and the people around them.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boal was first active in Brazil and experimented with theatre in order to give voice to the oppressed, to empower them to fight the oppression in their lives. Later, he was forced to leave the country, so he continued to work with these methods in other South American countries, and later in Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Theatre of the Oppressed comes in various forms. The main types of methods included under the Theatre of the Oppressed umbrella are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forum Theatre;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image Theatre;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Newspaper Theatre;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legislative Theatre;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invisible Theatre;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rainbow of Desire.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2328 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/What-is-Theatre-of-the-Oppressed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"380\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Probably one of the most known and widely used methods is the <\/span><b>Legislative Theatre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which uses the forms of the Theatre of the Oppressed to transform citizens&#8217; desires into laws. Through interactive theatre shows, community members act out solutions to situations of oppression and then work with officials to transform them into new laws or changes to existing laws. Since the method was first used in 1992, many groups have worked with Legislative Theatre and different approaches have emerged, based on different realities, contexts, relationships with authorities, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main advantages of the method are that it mobilizes groups of oppressed people who share similar obstacles, therefore making politics\/policies accessible to people and enabling citizen mobilization for systemic change. Since it creates a space for direct interaction between citizens, decision-makers, and other affected parties, it helps to develop creative solutions for complex issues such as homelessness, inequitable justice systems, and workers\u2019 rights. However, it is important to point out that the Legislative Theatre aims to change the system (its laws, structures, rules, methods, etc.) but, in practice, the extent to which the change happens depends on many other factors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wanna learn more about participatory methods for policy-making? Contact us via info@participationfactory.com<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sources:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salto-youth.net\/downloads\/toolbox_tool_download-file-2597\/Legislative%20Theatre_Manual_compressed.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.salto-youth.net\/downloads\/toolbox_tool_download-file-2597\/Legislative%20Theatre_Manual_compressed.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peoplepowered.org\/legislative-theater\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.peoplepowered.org\/legislative-theater<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dlibrary.stanford.edu\/ambiguity\/theatre-of-the-oppressed\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/dlibrary.stanford.edu\/ambiguity\/theatre-of-the-oppressed<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theatre of the Oppressed is a theatrical practice created by Brazilian theatre visionary, Augusto Boal, that uses roleplaying and improvisation to engage community members in identifying solutions to inequitable systems and institutions, and then translating those ideas into new laws. This method is now used worldwide for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"cs_CZ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Theatre of the Oppressed is a theatrical practice created by Brazilian theatre visionary, Augusto Boal, that uses roleplaying and improvisation to engage community members in identifying solutions to inequitable systems and institutions, and then translating those ideas into new laws. This method is now used worldwide for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Participation Factory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1058\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"774\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Participation Factory\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napsal(a)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Participation Factory\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Odhadovan\u00e1 doba \u010dten\u00ed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minuty\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Participation Factory\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4054365232f2e6c543e71befbfed4bca\"},\"headline\":\"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/Thank-yu-2-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"cs\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/Thank-yu-2-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"cs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"cs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/Thank-yu-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/Thank-yu-2-1.png\",\"width\":1058,\"height\":774},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Participation Factory\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"cs\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Participation Factory\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"cs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/logo_participation-factory.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/logo_participation-factory.svg\",\"width\":482,\"height\":213,\"caption\":\"Participation Factory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4054365232f2e6c543e71befbfed4bca\",\"name\":\"Participation Factory\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/participationfactory.com\\\/cs\\\/author\\\/participation-factory\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/","og_locale":"cs_CZ","og_type":"article","og_title":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory","og_description":"Theatre of the Oppressed is a theatrical practice created by Brazilian theatre visionary, Augusto Boal, that uses roleplaying and improvisation to engage community members in identifying solutions to inequitable systems and institutions, and then translating those ideas into new laws. This method is now used worldwide for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/","og_site_name":"Participation Factory","article_published_time":"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1058,"height":774,"url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Participation Factory","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napsal(a)":"Participation Factory","Odhadovan\u00e1 doba \u010dten\u00ed":"3 minuty"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/"},"author":{"name":"Participation Factory","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4054365232f2e6c543e71befbfed4bca"},"headline":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics","datePublished":"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/"},"wordCount":538,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png","articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"cs"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/","name":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics - Participation Factory","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png","datePublished":"2023-07-25T11:28:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-12T15:04:33+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"cs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"cs","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Thank-yu-2-1.png","width":1058,"height":774},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/theatre-of-the-oppressed-using-theatre-to-make-politics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Theatre of the Oppressed: Using Theatre to Make Politics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/","name":"Participation Factory","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"cs"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#organization","name":"Participation Factory","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"cs","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo_participation-factory.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo_participation-factory.svg","width":482,"height":213,"caption":"Participation Factory"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4054365232f2e6c543e71befbfed4bca","name":"Participation Factory","url":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/author\/participation-factory\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/participationfactory.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}