Il logos riconoscitivo come strumento di liberazione. Riflessione pedagogico-educativa sul Teatro dell’Oppresso di Augusto Boal

This essay examines the relevance of the word in Augusto Boal’s (1931-2009) “Theatrical Pedagogy of Action”, realized through the Theatre of the Oppressed. The objective is to shed light on Boal’s conception of logos, which, far from being a mere expressive tool, establishes itself as a means of ontological recognition and a vehicle for social and political liberation. To this end, several focal items are developed: the right to speak; the dialectic between language and action; the deconstruction of oppressive forms of communication and the collective construction of meaning; the process of conscientization; the “recognitive power” of theatrical logos. The heuristic-hermeneutic interest (investigating the conceptual nodes just mentioned) aims to show how, for Boal, the “democratization of theatre” necessarily passes through the “democratization of the word”, giving voice back to the oppressed and transforming spectators into “spect-actors”, active in the elaboration of meaning. By offering insights into the theoretical framework and application of Boal’s theatrical methodologies, the vibrant relevance of the formative path traced by the Author emerges in relation to contemporary communication modalities and issues.