Bertolt Brecht in Latin America

Abstract

In 1943, when Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Three Penny Opera opened in Mexico, Latin America encountered Brecht for the first time. Political concerns among Latin Americans, and their attempts to present them theatrically, pre-dated the widespread dissemination of Brecht’s theories. After 1943, Brecht’s work as a theoretician in Latin America had to wait another decade before it was to have influence there.   Thus, when Latin America encountered Brecht, it was a case of parallel evolution rather than of direct influence. Brechtian theorizing and its influence on Augusto Boal's approach has been widely acknowledged.  Some critics state that Boal extended ideas similar to Brecht’s but improved upon them by transforming the audience from a reflective passive stance to an active participant. Yet Boal does more than merely extend or elaborate on the theories of Brecht. Brecht formulated his theory through critical and intellectual analysis, while Boal co-created his approach with individuals whom he was both teaching and learning from at the same time. Since Boal’s work is based on four decades of practice, there is a commitment in his ideas that is far less intellectual and more practical, a passion in his devotion to transforming audience expectation and response that is wholly absent in Brechtian theorizing.