Actresses and intellectuals

A study on theater in São Paulo from 1940-1968 and its connections to the intellectual scene, universities and gender issues are explored in the book Interpreters of the Metropolis

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – In order to understand how São Paulo became the modern hub of Brazilian theater from the early 40s to the late 60s, one must analyze more than just the world of theater. Professor Heloisa Pontes of the Anthropology Department at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) undertook a seven-year study of theater in the period and its connections with the city, the university, the São Paulo intellectual scene and questions of gender.

The result is the book Intérpretes da Metrópole: História Social e Relações de Gênero no Teatro e no Campo Intelectual, 1940-1968 (Interpreters of the Metropolis: the Social History and Gender Relations in the Theater and the Intellectual Field, 1940-1968), which will be launched on March 29. The project was funded in part by FAPESP under its Research Support – Publications segment, support that was fundamental for the graphic and editorial quality of the work, according to the author.

Pontes, who is also a researcher at Unicamp’s Pagu Gender Studies Center, explains that she sought to go beyond the traditional approach to theater as an isolated phenomenon in intellectual and cultural life, viewing it instead in conjunction with the production of new languages and institutions that shaped the city of São Paulo’s cultural life in the period.

“I sought to explore the intersections between urban space, the university, cultural institutions and forms of sociability to insert the theater into a broader set of questions and connections,” Pontes explains to Agência FAPESP.

The study corresponds to the thesis she defended for associate professorship at Unicamp in 2008. This project, however, was the fruit of two Thematic Projects financed by FAPESP, in which she participated as a researcher: Gender, corporealities, coordinated by Mariza Corrêa, also of Pagu-Unicamp and Formation of the intellectual field and the cultural industry in contemporary Brazil, coordinated by Sérgio Miceli, of the Universidade de São Paulo’s School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH- USP).

The book also establishes a strong dialogue with another work, Metrópole e cultura (Metropolis and Culture), by Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda, a professor at FFLCH-USP’s Department of Sociology. Arruda, who was also part of the thematic team coordinated by Miceli, served as Pontes’ advisor for her 1996 thesis.

“The fundamental question was to ponder the social history of theater, university and intellectual life in a context that afforded the emergence of some of Brazil’s most important theater companies of that time in São Paulo,” said Pontes.

The author sought to conduct analysis from the purview of gender relations, investigating how diverse intellectuals and actresses emerged at the time. “I observed some trajectories with the objective of thinking about how these women, through consolidation of their names and careers, managed to obtain the cultural, artistic and intellectual authority that made them the protagonists of that cultural moment,” she said.

The cultural scene of the time is contextualized based on a comparative study of São Paulo intellectuals responsible for Clima magazine and Americans linked to Partisan Review in New York.

“It was a context of cultural effervescence, with the arrival of several artists that had fled persecution during World War II, including the foreign missions that founded USP. New York, on the other hand, was receiving a wave of immigration marked by major Jewish intellectuals. In both cities, the presence of these Europeans would be fundamental for the densification of the cultural scene. Until the 20s, American intellectuals and writers had Europe as an obligatory destination,” he explained.

Grande dames

After discussing the context, Pontes compares the trajectories of three important cultural critics and writers: Lúcia Miguel Pereira, Patrícia Galvão and Gilda de Mello e Souza.

Next, the book examines Brazilian theater based on the analysis of the trajectories of the grande dames of the national theater scene: Cacilda Becker, Maria Della Costa, Tônia Carrero, Nydia Licia, Cleyde Yáconis and Fernanda Montenegro – all originally part of the Brazilian Comedy Theater (TBC), created in 1948.

“Unlike intellectuals, which faced many constraints to establish their names, the actresses had the support of their partners,” explains Pontes.

“With the exception of Cleyde Yáconis, after leaving the TBC all of the six grande dames created their own companies in which they were the lead actresses and their partners were their agents or directors,” she explains.

One of the chapters of the book analyzes the contributions of French nationals, Louis Jouvet and Henriette Morineau, and Brazilian Décio de Almeida Prado toward consolidation of modern theater.

• Intérpretes da Metrópole: História Social e Relações de Gênero no Teatro e no Campo Intelectual, 1940-1968 (Interpreters of the Metropolis: the Social History and Gender Relations in the Theater and the Intellectual Field, 1940-1968)
  Author: Heloisa Pontes
  Launch: 2011
  Price: R$ 89
  Pages: 464
  For more information: www.edusp.com.br