Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and its contributions to a learning environment for young people with intellectual disability : professionals’ experiences and perceptions

Abstract

Augusto Boal was a Brazilian theatre practitioner, drama theorist and political activist who, in the 1970s, created a theatrical form called Theatre of the Oppressed. The aim of the Theatre of the Oppressed is to use interactive theatre to shift the role of the spectator into a performer, who Boal calls the ‘Spectactor’, and act out solutions to social problems. Young people with intellectual disability learn best by performing a task ‘hands-on’ with information being delivered concretely and visually. This study seeks to understand the professionals’ point of view about the use of the Theatre of the Oppressed with young people with intellectual disability and how this theatrical form affects young people with intellectual disability from the perspective of the professionals. A qualitative approach was used to better understand the participants’ experiences. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted to help the researcher explore the participants’ perspectives about the Theatre of the Oppressed. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants since they had to have used the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques in their work with young people with intellectual disabilities . The data generated from the interviews was then analysed through Braun and Clarke (2006)’s thematic analysis. Findings indicate that all the participants confirm that the Theatre of the Oppressed is a form of theatre that can be used to educate and foster an inclusive dialogue leading to social empowerment. The findings also show that the Theatre of the Oppressed is a catalyst for social inclusivity as it is a form of a theatrical technique that unites different people with different abilities to bring social change. Despite all these positive reported outcomes, participants recommend more awareness among fellow professionals and encourage them to use this type of technique to create a more kinetic learning experience in education to enhance the engagement of young people.