Publications
Scroll down to access our books, films, and research
The Theatre of the Oppressed in Practice Today – 2019
An Introduction to the Work and Principles of Augusto Boal
(Lawnmowers – Programme Partners, see pp 4, 9, 14, 18, 22, 30)
The Lawnmowers – UK case study and consultants
ISBN: 9781350031418
2019 – by Ali Campbell – Bloomsbury
Augusto Boal (1931–2009) was one of the most influential theatre directors of the 20th and early 21st centuries with his work and seminal manifesto for a Theatre of the Oppressed having a lasting impact on performance studies and the fields of education and community development. Using detailed contemporary case histories Ali Campbell demonstrates how the underlying principles of Boal’s practice have been adapted in the work of some of the most influential applied performance groups operating internationally today. These highly accessible studies extrapolate Boal’s core principles as they are enacted in the practices of an urban network (Theatre of the Oppressed NYC); a rural and developmental theatre organisation (Jana Sanskriti, West Bengal); Boal’s original company CTO Rio (Brazil) and a theatre-based group led by Learning-Disabled adults in the UK (The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company). The book concludes with an envisioning of possible futures for the Theatre of the Oppressed movement in the shifting political, educational and artistic context of the new century, with the principles in practice as a guide.
Participatory Research for Health and Social Well-Being 2019 – Featuring The Lawnmowers
(Chapter 7)
Springer Publishers, Switzerland
ISBN: 978-3-319-93190-6
The Choice Use of Participatory Methods: “The Lawnmowers uses participatory theatre developed by Augusto Boal (1993) to develop the shows it stages. Thus participatory research is central to the company’s mission with staff and members equally engaged in this practice.”
Disability Hate Crime and Violence 2013 – (Featuring The Lawnmowers (Chapter 13).
Routledge – Advances in Disability Studies, IBSN: 978-0-415-67431-7
Bringing together the notions of civil courage and critical theatre as tools for better responses to disablist hate crime. Brandon and Keyes, working with the learning disabled theatre company The Lawnmowers, explore the use of civil courage (and good Samaritan principles) and their value in reducing hate crime. The innovative methods to spread messages about and reduce crime make this a very novel addition to the field.
Participatory Practice: Community-based Action for Transformative Change 2010 – (Featuring The Lawnmowers Pp 120-124)
Policy Press Bristol – Participatory Practice
ISBN: 978-1-84742-012-1
“Once we start to acknowledge humanity’s intimate connection to the wider ecosystem, we fit a missing piece in the jigsaw of social justice and sustainability, and we see our practice in a more holistic light.”
Performance and Community 2013 – (Featuring The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company – The Politics of Making Chapter 4)
Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 9781408146422
Performance practice in community settings is an established part of the cultural landscape. However, this practice is frequently viewed as functional: an intervention that seeks to solve, educate or heal.
Performance and Community presents an alternative vision, focussing, instead, on the aesthetic and political ambitions of artists, organisations, and cultural producers committed to this area.
Case studies include the Grassmarket Project, the Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company, London Bubble, Magic Me, and the partnership between the artist, Mark Storor and producer, Anna Ledgard; while interviews in this collection include: Mojisola Adebayo, Bobby Baker, Sue Emmas, Tony Fegan, Paul Heritage, Rosemary Lee, and Lois Weaver.
Theatre in Health and Care
Emma Brodzinski
Favela to the World 2013 (Featuring The Lawnmowers – Programme Partners, see pp 4, 9, 14, 18, 22, 30)
By Raj Bhari: Paul Heritage’s AHRC-funded Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, June 2009-May 2012
This report presents the key findings of the AHRC-funded Knowledge Transfer elements of the final phase of the Favela to the World programme of work, from June 2009 – May 2012.
The research undertaken includes an overview of the current UK social policy context and presents the broader social, cultural, and political questions that young people, artists, academics, policymakers, and community leaders face in terms of supporting young people at risk of violence3 and social exclusion4. PPP recognizes that both young victims of acts of violence and the perpetrators of these acts are “young people at risk” of the deleterious effects of violence.
The report attempts to map the continuing legacy of the PPP and GCAR’s collaboration, with an emphasis on the possibilities this work has realized and how these possibilities could inform socially engaged arts practice in the UK.
“The inspiration of working with the Lawnmowers has helped GCAR prioritise work with people living with disabilities in Brazil – a key moment of knowledge transfer from the UK to Brazil.”
Use or Ornament? The Social Impact of Participation in the Arts (Featuring The Lawnmowers Pp56-58 & 74)
ISBN 1-873667-57-4
Comedia Publishers, Gloucester
1997-2000 – Francois Matarasso
This report offers an account of the evidence we have found of social impacts arising from participation in the arts and, of some of the methods used in the research. It is the first large-scale attempt, in the UK at least, to come to grips with these issues and our intention has not been to give definitive answers but….. to ask the questions more clearly. If others, and especially those who work in the field, are encouraged to take forward this general study into more specific areas, it will have succeeded in its purpose.
positive financial contribution to the public purse.