Augosto Boal and the need for actors to 'de-mechanise´ their bodies

         Augosto Boal, Brazilian theatre director, writer and theorist, has attempted to transform theatre into a democratic arena in which the spectator becomes 'spect-actor', contributing ideas, taking over roles, and using theatre to confront problems such as sexual harassment, racism, poor pay, homophobia and other forms of oppression. In "Games for Actors and Non-Actors," (Routledge, U.S.A. and London, 1992) he asks "how can emotions 'freely' manifest themselves throughout an actor's body, if that very instrument (the body) is mechanised, automated in its muscle structures and insensible to 90 per cent of its possibilities?"

        "Like all human beings," he asserts, "the actor acts and reacts according to mechanisms. For this reason, we must start with the 'de-mechanisation', the re-tuning (or de-tuning) of the actor, so that he may be able to take on the mechanisations of the character he is going to play. He must relearn to perceive emotions and sensations he has lost the habit of recognizing."

          Boal mentions numerous exercises to achieve "de-mechanisation." For example: "The actors relax all the muscles in their bodies and focus their attention on each individual muscle. Then they take a few steps, bend down and pick up an object (anything), doing the whole thing very slowly and trying to feel and remember all the muscular structures which intervene in the accomplishment of these movements. They then repeat exactly the same action, but this time mentally."

       Boal points out that "people remember emotions that they have felt at a particular moment, in particular circumstances which they alone have lived through and which are similar to their character's own circumstances. These are absolutely unique circumstances which must be transferred and modified in order to match the character's emotions. I have never killed anyone, but I have felt the desire to do so; I try to remember the desire that I had and I transfer that desire to Hamlet when he kills his uncle."

      As in the case of all theories, practice does not always follow the rule. But the essential idea is valid. If we want to play a character who thinks and behaves differently than we do we must first de.mechanise our body to enable it to approach the characteristics of the role we are playing. Then to get a feeling for an action carried out by the character, we must find an experience in our own lives and "transport" it to the situation we are working on, modifying it as circumstances demand.