Laughter and Repression in Mid-Twentieth Century Drama in Portugal and Brazil

In this dissertation, I examine how laughter functioned as a feature of and response to theatrical performance in mid-twentieth-century Portugal and Brazil, especially during periods of dictatorial rule. Underlying my approach is the idea that repressive regimes—such as the Estado Novo in Portugal and the 1964-1985 military dictatorship in Brazil—perpetrate violence beyond the damage they inflict on the body: they also attack subjectivity, creativity, the senses, and modes of expression. In the face of this violence, Brazilian and Portuguese theater practitioners actively sought to elicit laughter from their audiences. My main argument is that one cannot understand the development of modern Portuguese and Brazilian theater in the twentieth century without understanding their turn to popular musical theater (particularly revue) in relation to laughter and mechanisms of state repression. As a corollary of this argument, I push against the common binary distinction between “serious” and “light” theater in Lusophone theater studies. I argue that the theoretical and aesthetic connections between popular revue and revolutionary drama in Portugal and Brazil are analogous to those between German cabaret/revue and Bertolt Brecht’s epic theater. In the end, the plays I analyze develop local epic theatricalities that break down distinctions between “popular” and “serious” theater. I employ interdisciplinary research methods throughout this dissertation. Beyond close readings of primary sources and the development of a theoretical framework through which to present those readings, I also analyze historical texts in order to situate the works and authors under review. In Chapter 1, I argue that Teatro de Revista à Portuguesa and its complex relation with laughter are central to any adequate understanding of modern Portuguese theater. Throughout the twentieth century, revue provided an embodied experience that challenged decorum. For this and other reasons, Portugal’s dictatorship sought to censor it. In Chapter 2, I analyze Bernardo Santareno’s O Judeu (1966), arguing that Santareno employs laughter as a rhetorical and dialectic tool to promote critical thinking, even in contexts where seriousness and violence prevail. In Chapter 3, I focus on Brazilian revolutionary theater pre-1964, with a special emphasis on Augusto Boal’s Revolução na América do Sul (1960) and Oduvaldo Vianna Filho’s A Mais Valia Vai Acabar, Seu Edgar (1960-61). I contend that both playwrights developed (Marxist) Brazilian epic theatricalities (largely through elements of revue that provoke laughter and produce a distancing effect) while maintaining a recognizably nationalist framework. In Chapter 4, I examine leftist theatrical practices in the wake of Brazil’s 1964 military coup, looking in particular at Vianna Filho and Ferreira Gullar’s Se Correr o Bicho Pega, Se Ficar o Bicho Come (1966). Despite state censorship, this play continued the Brazilian turn to a localized form of epic theater that questioned sociopolitics through laughter; central to its power is the introduction of cordel devices. Through an analysis of laughter in mid-century theatrical texts and productions, I argue that modern Portuguese and Brazilian theater developed through the strategic incorporation of multiple genres and devices on either side of the supposed divide between “serious” and “popular” theater. In many cases, laughter served as a powerful and enduring tool to challenge state repression.

Advisor: Slater, Candace
Tarica, Estelle