one4review | On 08, Aug 2022

A dramatised study of what it means to be black in Brazil, performed in Portuguese with English supertitles in the Main Hall at Summerhall. The otherwise totally black stage and backdrop is set up with a stack of white dining chairs as if we are in an art gallery. The four performers enter the stage in soaking wet clothing, strip off and huddle together on the floor. It feels like an art installation, with the collapsed black bodies mimicking the pile of white chairs, before they begin to wriggle around with screaming faces lit only by torchlight. Once the dialogue starts, the audience is made to feel very uncomfortable and even responsible for and complicit in racism through our collective silence. The performers address the audience directly and walk around them naked, even climbing over the seats – the sight of complete nakedness on stage, and literally in your face, still has the power to shock, even at the fringe in 2022. Once the play gets into its stride, the four take turns to tell their stories, with some humour and singing, but what is being black? One of the four explains that he didn’t even realise he was black until a couple of years ago when he left his favella to go to university. The reasons for racism are discussed – slavery and capitalism, with an interesting comparison with Nazism. The play is performed by EQuemÉGosta? and was premiered in São Paulo in 2018, since when the group has been touring internationally. This is challenging, powerful and uncomfortable theatre, and is highly recommended for those looking for something a bit different – a bland piece of fringe theatre it certainly isn’t’!

****

Reviewed by Howard

Summerhall (Main Hall)

19.15 (1hr)

Until Aug 28 (not 12, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26)