Abstract
In April 1979 the Brazilian government announced it was lifting all censorship of the theatre. This reflects the new regime's more pragmatic approach to the question of censorship. After all, theatre is a rather special form, as José Leite Otati (a former head of the Public Entertainments Censorship Service in Rio de Janeiro) pointed out: Its audience is already restricted by entrance regulations about age groups, by levels of education, the travel factor, and the price, which puts theatre tickets out of the reach of many.
Nevertheless, for the past ten years theatre has been – relative to other cultural activities in Brazil – amongst the worst hit by censorship. This can partly be explained by developments in the period 1964–8. In those years there emerged a number of experimental theatre groups interested in socio/political themes and the problems of the country, unlike the highbrow productions of most professional companies of the time. Three of the most important groups were Oficina, established by José Celso Martinez Correia, which presented productions such as Gracias Señor in the northeast of Brazil (the poorest area of the country), Grupo Opinião, and Teatro Arena, founded by Augusto Boal and Guarnieri. Censorship during this period was fairly arbitrary; occasionally it was replaced by acts of violence. In 1968, for example, Roda Viva by Chico Buarque was attacked on its first night by the CCC (Comando de Caça aos Comunistas, ‘Commando to Hunt Communists’), a right-wing terror squad.
After 1968, as theatre came increasingly to reflect political commitment and resistance, and as social protest grew, censorship became more systematic. Every play had to be submitted to the censor in Brasilia before it was staged, and a complete rehearsal had to take place in the presence of a censor of the town in which the play was being performed. After a private viewing before the censor, and the day before it was due to open, Calabar by Chico Buarque and Ruy Guerra was banned, causing considerable economic problems to the producers.
The experimental groups had difficulty surviving in the new repressive climate. Augusto Boal was imprisoned in 1971, then forced into exile; and Teatro Arena finally found it could no longer function.
Among the many censored playwrights, Plínio Marcos – still one of the best known in Brazil's theatre – is notorious for having 18 of his works suppressed without performance. However, those which were allowed a few performances before being banned were enormously successful. They include Navalha na carne (‘Knife on Flesh’) and Jornada de um imbecil ate o entendimento (‘An Imbecile's Journey to Understanding’).
Having suffered censorship to this extent in the past, Plinío Marcos wrote the following short play to be read only. It was first published in Movimento in December 1978.