Searching for the Marxist in Boal

This article will examine Augusto Boal's relationship to and understanding of Marxism, and its influence on the development of his work. The position of Boal, whose thinking is heavily influenced by Brecht, will be examined in relation to basic Marxist concepts and principles to which Brecht is faithful but that are not reflected in Boal's ideas, despite his insistence to the contrary. Boal's 'Marxism' transforms Marxism into a doctrine of piecemeal reform. His reformist politics as reflected in his practice would therefore appear a negation of socialism as Marx conceived it. Whereas Marx was committed to gaining a deeper insight into the driving forces of the contemporary world as a means of changing the form and content of the whole of society, Boal's approach appears to encourage people to look for that insight in terms of their own lives, thus effecting change for themselves, exercising an individualist attitude towards empowerment. It will be suggested that Boal seems to incline to an idealist method and this undermines all his claims. This would indicate a contradiction between the theory of Boal, supposedly informed by a socialist perspective, and the actual practice-which could end up more supportive of a capitalist regime than against it.