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10<sup xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> International Festival of Theatre, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

2010; Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Kansas; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/ltr.2010.0004

2161-0576

Margo Milleret, Rachel Spaulding,

Arts and Performance Studies

10th International Festival of Theatre, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Margo Milleret and Rachel Spaulding Brazil's third largest city and capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, hosted the Festival Internacional de Teatro: Palco e Rua (FIT). The event included theater and street performances, dance, music, workshops, debates, movies, exhibitions, and classes from August 5-15, 2010. The city is best known for the theater group Teatro Galpão and the dance group Corpo. During this festival, local groups from the state of Minas Gerais took the stage along with eleven international troupes and nine national companies. The international performers came from Argentina, Belgium, Columbia, South Korea, Spain, Italy, France, Nepal, Peru and Switzerland. There were 101 performances presented in 46 different spaces around the city, including parks, plazas and streets, as well as more traditional theater venues. Some of the events were broadcast on television and local talk-show hosts interviewed local organizers and performers from the companies. In addition to the traditional newspaper style flier and booklet of events, the organizers developed an extensive website www.fitbh.com.br/2010. This event was smaller than the Festival of 2008 due to changes in the leadership in the mayor's office. The FIT was officially cancelled in March of 2010, but protests from the theater community and others lead to its revival and in four months the organizers were able to generate a respectable program of activities. Of note in the international repertoire were a flamenco version of La Casa de Bernarda Alba from Spain, the Beckett play Happy Days performed by the Italian group Change Performing Arts and directed by Robert Wilson and a South Korean troupe's representation of Woyzeck in movement. Several national groups that staged works at this festival have established reputations, especially Centro de Pesquisa Teatral an offshoot of Grupo Macunaíma, with Lamartine Babo, Musical Dramático, José Celso Martínez's Teatro Oficina with O Banquete, and Grupo Galpão in a return to street theater with Till, A [End Page 157] Saga de Um Herói Torto. Lastly, the festival included a tragedy by Nelson Rodrigues, Memória da Cana, performed by the São Paulo group Os Fofos Encenam. The four performances we were able to attend were given by Brazilian troupes and two featured musical comedy. Belo Horizonte's local stars, Grupo Galpão, celebrated 27 years of activity with a street theater presentation from Medieval Germany about Till Eulenspiegel and his search to find his conscience in a world of corrupt and corrupting individuals. The play's frame is a bet between the Devil and God for the soul of Till who lives and dies by outwitting those around him. The play emphasizes physical comedy, imaginative costumes, actors playing musical instruments, and direct references to the topic of corruption in Brazil today. It is a crowd pleaser from the stage setting and special effects that include an attempt to burn Till's mother at the stake, to the involvement of audience members, and a repeating gag involving three blind beggars. The plaza in the outlying neighborhood of Barreiro was packed with young people at this free evening performance. São Paulo's CPT (Centro de Pesquisa Teatral), an extension of the work of Antunes Filho and the Grupo Macunaíma, also provided a period piece focused on the work of Lamartine Babo, a composer of popular music in the 1930s and contemporary of Noel Rosa. The frame for this piece is a theater group's rehearsal of the songs of Lamartine Babo which attracts a mysterious guest with an uncanny familiarity with the composer and his music. Although the costumes, setting, and musical performances by the actors demonstrated a high level of competence and musical accomplishment, there is little more to the piece than a choral recital. The identity of the guest is never revealed, although his insight into the composer and his production of new music is attributed to his powers as a psychic. The audience members sang along on many of the numbers included in the performance and gave a standing ovation. Grupo Ponto de Partida from the town of Barbacena, Minas Gerais, appeared...