Birgit Fritz - InExActArt - The Autopoietic Theatre of Augusto Boal: A Handbook of Theatre of the Oppressed Practice

When Birgit Fritz first told me she was writing a book, she looked like someone who had just discovered that they could fly. It was beautiful gift to the world that needed to burst out of her, and the excitement was contagious! I was even more touched when she asked me to read the first draft. In a wonderful combination of circumstances, the weekend on which she gave me the man u script to read, she had also invited me as a guest on a Theatre of the O p pressed seminar she was teaching at the university. So in opportune moments and during the breaks I would retreat to a corner to continue reading. It was the ultimate encounter of her work: to read about the history, the ethics and principles, the meaning of this kind of work, its global and political relevance, and then to watch and sense the depth and transformation taking place around and inside of me as the workshop progressed. This is a book to exper i ence, to take and cook with, to challenge and embrace, fall down and get up again, it is work and play, and a journey that goes much further than the last page. For myself, as a younger practitioner gathering experience, it is an inva l uable resource to continually return to and be inspired by. Thank you Birgit!

Lana Sendzimir

What struck me most about this book when Birgit asked me to write a For e word for the German original was its humanity and its wisdom. It speaks in the voice of someone who knows what they are doing because they have been d o ing it with care, love, precision and understanding. It is more than a book of exercises, it is a book which shares with us the reasons why we might want to do them and teach them to others, and offers us the chance to do them in full awareness of h ow and why they are working. It s an interactive and dynamic map of how to negotiate the business of becoming more human, which means relating to yourself and to othe rs, becoming what you are and taking the r e sponsibility of acting, in all senses of the word, in consequence.