Introduction
The big picture or the essence of 'Approaches to Acting' is to examine how the actor's skills and art create a dynamic relationship with the audience in theatrical performance (Jefferson, 2006, p.69).
Fundamentals
Augusto Boat's text Games For Actors And Non-Actors by explores a variety of his games and exercises. Familiarise yourself with the purpose and function of each exercise to gain an understating of the acting implications, as well as to understand the structure of the textbook.
Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal calls his theatre The Theatre of the Oppressed as it grew out of the chaos and oppression in Brazil in the l 950's to 1970's. In order to understand the aesthetics of his approach to acting it is important to keep in mind Boal's basic philosophy and belief in humanity's ability to change through theatre. Theatre of the Oppressed is therefore a theatre of liberation and the actors are trained in a specific way to realize Boal's theatrical forms.
Augusto Boal uses a myriad of games and exercises to allow ideas to be released. These games and exercises are based on groups of people working together connecting their bodies and minds to create dramatic action and meaning and are categorized as:
feeling what we touch
listening to what we hear
dynamising several senses
seeing what we look at
the memory of the senses.
The games and exercises attempt to reconnect the memory of our human senses so that as actors and non-actors we learn about the world we live in. Boal's games and exercises are fun, are rigorous, and have strong structural principles based on physicality, as he believes that a flexible actor or non-actor taught through games and exercises is one who can engender change.
Activity
Walk around the room as yourself
Observe how you walk
Observe how you sit
Pay particular attention to your mannerisms
What are you hearing? Are you listening to another person?
How do you greet another person?
How do you laugh?
How do you respond to an order?
Boal thinks that a person's role in society and their attitude (i.e. their mental and bodily responses) is conditioned by class, upbringing and politics. He says:
our social and political behaviour can be demonstrated by our everyday bodily behaviour
theatre is political because all activities of man are political and theatre is one of them
that theatre has come to reflect a ruling class control over people as the ruling classes use theatre as a tool for domination
that theatre can be used as a weapon for liberation but we must be aware of our own and others' personal and political behaviours.