Come closer he would say. Come closer.

Now he is further away than ever — and yet we may feel closer than ever to him. The greatest Joker has left the stage.

Augusto Boal, our good friend, teacher and inspiration has died. Many of us loved him. It has been my privilege to interpret his words in print — but for this moment he prepared no text for me to use. The world is a poorer place without him. He touched the lives of thousands, possibly milllions of people. He gave us an invention, a discovery, the Theatre of the Oppressed, which helps us make sense of the world, but even that wonderful invention cannot entirely soften the blow of his loss. The consolation of course is that his work will live and continue to grow – the Theatre of the Oppressed is already the richest legacy anyone could hope for.

Augusto taught us that the tenses of TO are present and future, not past. So while we grieve in the present, and celebrate the life of our great mentor, we must look to the future and work out how to respond as a community, how we can ’come closer’, and what form of memorial which can create in his name.This space is has been created by our friends at Formaat to solicit interventions from all spectactors responses, condolences, ideas and thoughts in this sad time — all are welcome. Our thoughts are with Cecilia, Julian and Fabian.

Adrian Jackson