Augusto Boal Quotes & Sayings

Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it. — Augusto Boal

It is forbidden to walk on the grass. It is not forbidden to fly over the grass. — Augusto Boal

Theatre has nothing to do with buildings or other physical constructions. Theatre - or theatricality - is the capacity, this human property which allows man to observe himself in action, in activity. Man can see himself in the act of seeing, in the act of acting, in the act of feeling, the act of thinking. Feel himself feeling, think himself thinking. — Augusto Boal

Anyone can do theater, even actors. And, theater can be done everywhere, even in a theater. — Augusto Boal

Theatre is the art of looking at ourselves. — Augusto Boal

We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it. — Augusto Boal

The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it. — Augusto Boal

Nothing is going to remain the way it is. Let us, in the present, study the past, so as to invent the future. — Augusto Boal

It is not the place of the theatre to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined. — Augusto Boal

Theatre is a weapon. For that reason it must be fought for. — Augusto Boal

The theater itself is not revolutionary: it is a rehearsal for the revolution. — Augusto Boal

The poetics of the oppressed is essentially the poetics of liberation: the spectator no longer delegates power to the characters either to think or to act in his place. The spectator frees himself; he thinks and acts for himself! Theatre is action! — Augusto Boal

Empathy is the most powerful weapon [ ... ] — Augusto Boal

Theatre is the most perfect artistic form of coercion. — Augusto Boal

The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!). — Augusto Boal