Human Body Theater: A Non-Fiction Revue

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Multi-award winning writer Lucy Kirkwood’s current projects include writing the book and lyrics for new musical The Witches, based on Roald Dahl’s classic book, now playing at the National Theatre. In the section about digestion, there is an explanation of different vitamins and minerals. The description of Vitamin D states that it can be found in sunlight. This isn't inaccurate, but not fully explained. The body produces vitamin D as a result of exposure to sunlight. With as much detail as this book goes into explaining the different processes of the human body, a clarification of this statement would have been nice.

In particular, theatre expresses the human capacity for creativity. There are many different “languages”, or forms of expression. All of these are irreplaceable and valuable. They are different ways of knowing the world. The multiplication of languages, or learning of new languages, help us get closer to the real, because they give more and more perspectives on it. The particular “language” of theatre is the human body. To act is to know and control one’s body, to make it expressive. The body, not theatrical technique, is the proper focus of learning. In his later works, Boal claims that ‘theatre is the human language par excellence’. Humans are most human when doing theatre. This is because theatre emphasises the capacity to observe oneself in action. This reflexive structure of self-observation is for Boal central to humanity. The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal during the 1950’ps and 1960’s. His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue. “While some people make theatre,” says Boal, “we all are theatre.” For Boal, art is central to human life. Art is part of culture. Culture is what is specifically human about human beings. Culture is a process of humanising ourselves, by replacing natural savagery with ethics. To do this, artists must be free from market demands, which are part of the world to be overcome. Capitalist globalisation undermines this process. It replaces artists with technicians, who reproduce a model over and over. Art is replaced by mass-produced products. The culture market makes people perform with a voice, body, emotions, and so on, other than their own, to maximise profits. Instead we should sing with our own voice. To help change the world, artists need to work outside the profit system, and in the spaces of the people. Saying no to capitalism is not enough. We also need to desire and dream in autonomous ways, which are not dominated by mass culture. The ability to choose different responses – rather than respond on instinct – is a central human trait enabled by art.

The Human Body is part of outgoing Donmar artist director Michael Longhurst’s final season at the iconic London venue. My kids (4 and 7) loved it when I read this to them, even though there was a lot of information. It's been one of their favorite books of the school year so far. I may not always enjoy graphic novels, but now I'll never question whether they can be used to present important information in an engaging, fun, reader-friendly format. It's like the perfect cross between a child's science textbook and a comic book. I learned a few things myself, and getting to really see the relationship between body systems was helpful. Even when the text was humorous and the images presented used non-anatomical analogies (for example, showing an antibody storage room for the immune system), these served to enhance the information rather than distract from it. Aesthetic distance is a way to see the real, rather than being submerged in it. In this way, the oppressed can formulate their own metaphoric world, or set of meanings. Ethically, we should try to multiply what is learnt. Any work of art (including dance, music, theatre, etc) contains a particular ideology, or worldview. Learning art and culture can help to expand one’s own sensibility. But ultimately the point is to produce one’s own art, from one’s own point of view. Boal argues that artists should ignore the market. The real purpose of art is to speak with one’s own voice. However, this leads to a fatal struggle between artist and art-consumer or buyer. Every artist is essentially ‘subversive’, or anti-capitalist. A delightful and enlightening addition to nonfiction graphic novel collections.” — School Library Journal, Starred Review

What I thought was done exceptionally well, however, were the bits on reproductive organs. It wasn't super cutesy or too clinical--just perfect, in my opinion, for not being too embarrassing for the younger reader to read or see. This chapter discusses the different ways in which female and male bodies grow through puberty, what to expect when you're older, how a fetus is made, and how that fetus is born.

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In The Aesthetics of the Oppressed, Boal extends his theory beyond his usual domain of theatre. He explores the broader role of the arts. For Boal, art is a form of sensory dialogue. It is a means to pursue truth through the senses. It expands the range of one’s ability to detect signals of a special type, in which signifiers are the same as signifieds. Boal gives emotional expression, such as smiling, as an example of this type of signal. Boal’s coinage for this kind of signal is a ‘unicity’. Art helps us to experience and perceive unicities. Librarians will find a broad readership for this engaging work of nonfiction. This book would be an excellent addition to a growing collection of graphic nonfiction options for middle school youth. Consider developing a display to feature works of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graphic nonfiction.

In fact, words are always shifting in meaning. In discussions, they change subtly from the signification meant by the speaker, to the signification held by the listener. Every word is loaded with the speaker’s desire, but received with the hearer’s. Communication often fails because words have different connotations for different people. One way to overcome this problem is to use neologisms. This theory of hearing/seeing is central to the concept of oppression. Oppression entails an absence of dialogue. It involves a monological relation in which only one of the terms can speak. It also implies a basically conflictual relation in which both sides, but especially the oppressed, are victims. Dialogue is impossible until people recognise each other as different.Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-07-02 18:01:03 Boxid IA40164423 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier