Response 17

Theatre of the Oppressed is an article that describes the characteristics of a theater dividing it up into three stages. The article begins with stage three as it explains the theater as a language. This section is broken up into three degrees. The first is simultaneous dramaturgy. This is when spectators intervene by telling the actors what to do. The actors then improvise and develop it until an appropriate solution arises. The next degree is called image theater. This is when spectators use the bodies of the actors and sculpt them the way the idea is being expressed at that very moment. The sculptor must determine the body position down to “the most minute details of their facial expressions”. The last stage this article presents is called forum theater. This is when spectators intervene and change the scene completely with how they would like the scene to be played out. This occurs after the play has been played at least once. The second time the play is played is when spectators can do this. “The spectators who choose to intervene must continue the physical actions of the replaced actors”. The article then gets into the fourth stage and describes theater as a discourse. The article splits this up into seven different sections each one describing different forms of theater. For example, the first one the article presents to us is newspaper theater. This was when news articles are transformed into theatrical performances. Another example would be analytical theater. This is when actors immediately improvise the play right after it is told. Also characters are broken up into symbols. The article concludes with stating that spectator is a bad word. I found this article interesting to see how the audience of plays can change the way the play is played out. I did not know that there were at least seven different forms a play can take. I would be most interested in the third degree which was forum theater. I would have liked to participate in one of those if I had a chance.