WE NEED TO TALK TO OUR KIDS

“Deanna banana head, Deanna banana head, Skye is big as the sky, Skye is big as the sky, Claire has bad hair, Claire has bad hair.”

Characters Santi and Clara encourage the audience to join in. At a certain point, they all start making fun of Luna. But they're all worried when she suddenly disappears. Grupo XIX de Teatro makes its first incursion into children’s theater with the play “Hoje o Escuro Vai Atrasar Para que Possamos Conversar”. The play addresses a delicate and urgent matter: the fine line between teasing and bullying, and the consequences of actions that are apparently harmless.

In the narrative, the troupe bets on opening up a dialog between different generations. The idea is to make kids understand the alterity and the process – which begins with adults – of deconstructing the discrimination of other people because of their differences. Where does prejudice come from, after all? We left the answer to the play’s director, Luiz Fernando Marques.

“The idea for the play came after coming upon the book ‘Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest’ (2007), by Israeli author Amós Oz. The entire troupe is very fond of Oz’s story and shared a visceral urge to do something with this theme. The book is a tale about respect and differences.

After 17 years, the group matured along with the children, who became a part of our life of touring and performing. We also wanted to make a children’s play in our own language, using historical backdrops and interacting with the audience.

The play sparks a dialog between adults and children; it is a children’s play where you bring your child and start a conversation about something that is typically avoided, which is intolerance. On the stage, our goal is to show people that they might find themselves behind the curtains of an oppressive group. So, the play stays with the children on their way home and even afterwards.

After all, all of the phobias are still there, just like in the upcoming elections in Brazil: the debate about feminism, homophobia, democracy, and racism. The performance plays around imagination, using animals as a metaphor, which we adults are constantly kicking out or even avoiding.”

 

Guilherme Luiz de Carvalho, Sesc Online Editor