Theatre of the Oppressed “Games for Actors and non actors by Augusto Boal Year 9 Exercisies

Feeling what we touch – Reconstructing muscular relationshipsCross and the circle

Make a circle with their right hand and a cross with the left.Variation: Cirlce with foot and write name with hand

Colombian hypnotise

One actor puts their about 20 -40 cm away from their partner’s face. Hypnotiser moves their hand up, down left and right. Then explores different locomotor movements and levels. Partner must contort their body to always stay the same distance from the hypnotised handVariation: Leader uses two hands guiding two actors. The leader cannot stop. The followers can’t touch each other. After a few minutes they all become leaders: extending their right hand to the person on their right and following the person on their left.Variation: Hypnotist uses feet and hands.Variation: Hypnotist with any part of the body eg ear, nose, hip, bottom, foot

Minimum surface contact

Two actors counter balancing themselves

Pushing against each other

To actors stand facing each other, and place their hands on each others shoulders. There is a line (imaginary or real) on the ground between them. They push with all their strength. When one feels the other is losing they ease off a little, so as not to win.Variation:

1. bottom to bottom2. back to back so the two go from standing

to sitting and back up again.3. back-dancing, without music. Each must

try to intuit what the other wants to do and where they want to go.

4. See saw. One sitting one standing, holing on to each others wrists, both go up and down like a seesaw

Joe Egg (trust circle)

Group in a circle. Bodies upright without bending at the waist or arching back. All together, lean in, lean out, left, right. Then describe a circle: centre, left, back, right.Variation: Circle moves in tight. Have an actor stand in the middle and close their eyes they fall forward and the circle catch them.

The circle of Knots In a circle holding hands, one actor threads the

circle under the arms of others – keep doing until the circle is in a tight knot. Then without violence and in silence they undo the knot without breaking their hand holds.Variation: same thing with eyes closedVariation: A line instead of a circle

The Greek exercise

An Actor stands in the centre of a circle. If he moves the others in the circle must use their body to support that movement. Eg if he lifts his leg, they should put hands/ bodies under it. Eventually he could walk above their heads.

Lifting someone out of a chair

One actor sits on a chair. The others around her try to press her body into the chair and she tries to stand. On the word go everyone reverses their movment putting their hands under her and throwing her into the air.Variation: Actor lies on the ground. But the others don’e throw her they lift her and carry her off.

Rhythm GamesThe Peruvian ball Game

Mimed ball game. Each person plays with an imaginary ball doing a repetitive rhythmical action ( can have sound) involving their whole body (should be lots of different types of ball). Teacher says find a partner. Two people approach each other and observe their partners action and rhythm. Teacher counts 1, 2 ,3 on three they exchange balls. Repeat 3 more times. Then tell them to get their original ball back. If one spots their ball they go that’s my ball and they take it. The person left without the ball goes to the side to look for his ball. Some will not find their ball. After they can try to trace where it went.

West side storyThe Portuguese rhythmic shoesThe two broomsThe four broomsHorse shoe rhythm

Actors sit in a horse shoe shape. One person starts a rhythm in goes around to the right with each person picking it up. Once it reaches the end of the horse shoe that person (while everyone is still doing the rhythm) changes the rhythm and individually the rhythm changes till

it gets to the other end and the process is repeated.

Circular rhythms Same thing as horse shoe rhythms but standing up using their whole body

The orchestra and the conductor

In a group each actor comes up with a rhythm or melodic sound. The conductor listens to them. They must reproduce that same sound whenever the conductor points at them and be quiet when given the sign. Each actor can act as conductor and produce their own music

Rhythm dialogues