About the Book:

Hamlet and the Baker's Son is the autobiography of Augusto Boal, inventor of the internationally renowned Forum Theatre system, and Theatre of the Oppressed. Travelling the world giving workshops and inspiration to teachers, prisoners, actors and care-workers, Augusto Boal was a visionary as well as a product of his times — the Brazil of military dictatorship and artistic and social repression and was once imprisoned for his subversive activities.

From his early days in Brazil's political theatre movement to his recent experiments with theatre as a democratic political process, Augusto Boal's story is a moving and memorable one. He devised a unique way of using the stage to empower the dis-empowered, and took his methods everywhere from the favelas of Rio to the rehearsal studios of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

A distinctive warmth and humour fill these pages, demonstrating Augusto Boal's commitment to his personal/political slogan: "Have the courage to be happy!"

What people say:

"Hamlet and the Baker's Son is written with a spirit of generosity and sincere affection for Brazil and its theatre. The intense vitality and shrewd accuracy of observation of the human condition that are Boal's trademarks shine through and reward the reader with a deeper understanding of one of the most influential theatre innovators of our time ... an engaging tale that swerves away from the stated purpose of theatrical history on enough occasions to keep the book from becoming dry and didactic." — Theatre Journal

About the Author:

Augusto Boal (1931 – 2009) was a Brazilian theatre director, theorist, writer, teacher, social activist, and politician. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical form originally used in radical popular education movements.