Augusto Boal — the 47-year old Brazilian-born playwright, director and theatre theorist — taught for many years in the Sao Paulo School of Drama. In 1956, he became the artistic director of the Arena Theatre in Sao Paulo and produced plays from both the classical and the modern world repertoire. In the 60’s, Boal began a series of experiments aimed at bringing theatre — or, more accurately, theatre forms — to large segments of his society, to segments of his society that he felt needed to become more socially and politically aware. His work led to several arrests and eventually to his decision to leave Brazil entirely for an exile life in Portugal where he presently lives. In the years since, Boal has travelled through Europe giving demonstrations of his ideas and has written a number of books including one that has been attracting particular attention of late entitled, The Theatre of the Oppressed. The book is currently available in Spanish, French, Italian and English. Because Boal’s work and ideas are virtually unknown in Canada, CTR felt it would be of interest to publish the following interview with him. The interview was conducted by the Swedish critic Thomas Mellgren during Boal’s recent visit to Sweden. It appears in English for the first time courtesy of the well-known Swedish theatre journal, Entre.