Discussing colonialism on Brazil’s Independence Day is emblematic, especially at a theater festival, where different performances address this subject and explore its different facets. In Respostas ao Colonialismo, which kicked off the formative activities of Mirada 2018, three professionals featuring works in this edition of the festival also discussed the topic.
The appropriation of values and all of its underlying contradictions is the Chilean axis of the debate, presented by Nicolás Espinoza, director of Colectivo Zoológico. Nimby, another production featured in Mirada 2018, is named after an English initialism, which means ‘not in my backyard’.
A group living in an ecovillage is confronted with a proposal to build affordable housing. So, the colonialism rhetoric comes into play under a range of different aspects: in the figure of the German duo called in to solve the problem – is the Eurocentric model ideal for Chile?; in the locals’ struggle to interact and live alongside their “different” neighbors, despite the compassionate discourse and way of life (which is obviously fake); in the false sense of democracy, when a people’s assembly is created. The performance on stage is unsettling, especially because we often relate to different social characters.
The Brazilian opening the panel, Gustavo Colombini, playwright of the play Colônia, points out that the biggest legacy left behind by colonialism is the language. “Brazil is an idiomatic island surrounded by a sea of Spanish. In this sense, we are isolated in Latin America.” The play’s reflections reveal the paradoxes and associations of the term “colony”, which translates concepts of botany, history, sociology, etc. The play’s title also ties into the atrocities committed in the so-called Brazilian holocaust: the death of at least 60,000 people in the Colônia de Barbacena psychiatric hospital, in Minas Gerais.
According to Pedro Kosovski, Rio de Janeiro playwright of Aquela Companhia – which featured Caranguejo Overdrive in the last edition of Mirada and is now featuring Guanabara Canibal – the latter piece discusses colonialism from a perspective of memory: what do we want to remember from our history? And what should we forget? Amidst an increasingly ruthless present and an uncertain future, we turn to the past as a safe haven – despite having uncontested (or very little contested) official stories as references of such past, redacting important names and events to convey an often mistaken and constantly cynical and violent outlook.
Each work takes on the subject through a different approach, shedding light onto the power of a single word: colonialism.
From the audience, the following question is made: how can we digest and reflect upon our own torments through art, in order to break free from the role of the colonized and take the lead? How can we break down the figure of the speaker and all of its power structures, in order to finally claim our own place in such speech? How can we tackle these burdens that have been imposed upon us, such as the patriarchy and “whiteness”, at a time in which society clamors for a new and real outlook for the future?
These discussions and insights permeate throughout all artforms at Mirada, showcasing not only the theater aspect, but also the political, social and economic scenarios, especially across Latin American countries, unveiling the embedded traits of weakness and subservience within each nation’s reality. Therefore, we hold in art a tool to propel poetic dialog, ever so present both on and off the stage across this entire fifth edition of Mirada.
Thais Amendola, Sesc Online Editor
