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Rainbow of Desire is a handbook of exercises with a difference. It is Augusto Boal's bold and brilliant statement about the therapeutic ability of theatre to liberate individuals and change lives. Now translated into English and comprehensively updated from the French, Rainbow of Desire sets out the techniques which help us `see' for the first time the oppressions we have internalised.
Boal, a Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician, has been confronting oppression in various forms for over thirty years. His belief that theatre is a means to create the future has inspired hundreds of groups all over the world to use his techniques in a multitude of settings. This, his latest work, includes such exercises as:
* The Cops in the Head and their anti-bodies
* The screen image
* The image of the future we are afraid of
* Image and counter-image
....and many more.
Rainbow of Desire will make fascinating reading for those already familiar with Boal's work and is also completely accessible to anyone new to Theatre of the Oppressed techniques.
List of contents
Why This Book? My Three Theatrical Encounters; Part 1 The Theory; Chapter 1 Theatre, the First Human Invention; Chapter 2 Human Beings, A Passion and A Platform: the ‘Aesthetic Space’; Chapter 3 The Three Hypotheses of ‘The Cop in the Head’; Chapter 4 Experiences in Two Psychiatric Hospitals; Chapter 5 Preliminaries to the Utilisation of the Rainbow of Desire Techniques; Part 2; The Practice; Chapter 6 The Prospective Techniques; Chapter 7 The Introspective Techniques; Chapter 8 The Extraversion Techniques;
About the author
Augusto Boal is Vereador (Member of Parliament) of Rio de Janeiro and President of the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Previous publications include Games for Actors and Non-Actors and Theatre of the Oppressed, both of which have been translated into numerous languages.
Adrian Jackson is Associate Director of the London Bubble Theatre and is also a freelance director and teacher. He was the translator of Games for Actors and Non-Actors into the English language (Routledge 1992).
Summary
More than a handbook of exercises – a bold and brilliant statement of theatre's therapeutic capacity to liberate people and change lives. Boal shows us how to 'see' for the first time the oppressions we have internalized.
