Performance has the power to illicit social change from spectators through its critique of politics and everyday life. In confronting Aristotelian philosophy Boal explains, the coercive system of tragedy which plagues art does not work to engage the audience in revolutionary acts (47). The author laments, though Aristotelian systems of knowing acknowledge what already exists, it works against the spectator in that it only pushes them to conform to society rather than transform it (Boal 47). Instead of looking at theatre as a representations of nature, we must come to acknowledge it as a form of transformation. Boal suggests we make the move towards spect-actors instead of spectators as the former acknowledges the viewers and the performers potential for political and revolutionary action.
Taylor expands by noting viewership can only be understood as “functioning under systems and relations of power” (80). Though performances can often push audiences to uncomfortable and sometimes confusing spaces, it ultimately forces the witness to react and/or respond to what it being shown. Brecht points to the spectator-performer relationship as a mechanism of theatre which allows individuals to breed empathy (183). It is this characteristic that can bring the viewer to reflect on their world and subsequently take part in social change.