ABSTRACT
A reading of Hamlet and the Baker’s Son, Augusto Boal’s autobiography, shows how Bertolt Brecht’s work and figure were present in the mind of the Brazilian author. If Brecht’s procedures were followed closely, it was also because some of these procedures had similarities with the forms of popular theatre. The relationship with Brechtian theatre was made in the light of the previous relationship with popular theatre and vaudeville. Coming out of the theatre one night after an Arturo Ui rehearsal, Boal was arrested, as he writes in a letter addressed to Marc Silberman of the International Brecht Society. Boal tries to find a way to change society, which will culminate in Legislative Theatre, and for the participation of more people in theatrical performance. More than the voter-citizen or the spectator-actor, Boal tries to create a citizen-actor—someone who participates—and a republic-stage—a theatre to be made by all.
