Collective Paths of Undoing: Exploring Gender and Masculinity in Theatre of the Oppressed

This thesis considers the role of participatory theatrical practices from Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) in exploring gender and masculinity. Analysing different aspects of TO, I present four case studies exploring the strategies proposed by this theatrical practice in collectively and aesthetically scrutinising questions pertaining to oppression, gender and masculinity. TO’s initial lack of explicit concern for gender-related oppressions, as well as a disregard for the privileges held by men involved with TO, often led to the formation of TO spaces and practices that needed to refocus on these issues. This was primarily achieved by considering the experiences of oppressions lived by women, mostly, if not exclusively, cisgender. This vital and critical reworking, operated mainly by feminist activists engaging with TO as well as TO practitioners engaging with feminism, usually translated, however, into a collapse of different terms and realities, equating at once men, masculinity, violence and oppression. As TO has been traditionally conceived as a theatre practice at the disposal of oppressed communities, the equation of masculinity with manhood, maleness, and oppression has thus arguably contributed to a paucity of workshops, performances, and other theatrical experiences working at the intersection of TO and masculinity. Nonetheless, contemporary TO practitioners and companies, working from a queer and trans* perspective, have sought to delink some of these associations, resisting the more essentialising and normalising tendencies present in TO. As TO continues to develop, several groups, companies, and practitioners are currently reworking TO’s early and still present assumptions that relegate explorations of masculinity to manhood and maleness. Through the four case studies, I explore how contemporary TO practices investigate, through collective aesthetic means, questions about oppression, gender and masculinity, interrogating TO’s potentials and limitations in dismantling oppression tied to the gender binary and imagining possibilities for living otherwise.