The Trans-Copernican Revolution in Theater

by João Cerqueira

Certainly inspired by the invasion in Brasilia, the performer, transvestite and prostitute Keyla Brasil, shouting “transfake”, “off stage” and “respect”, interrupted the play Tudo Sobre a Minha Mãe on stage at the São Luiz theater. Wearing a thong and showing off her beautiful breasts, she went on stage, scolded the actor who, according to her, was stealing her role and, facing the public, denounced the injustices that the Theater commits against transvestites. And the result of this invasion was that the day after the protest, the director changed the cast of the play and the actor who was decomposed in public by the activist, André Patrício, was replaced by the trans actress Maria João Vaz.

This combination of protest, happening and turmoil inaugurates a new era in Theater in which the time of lies and exclusion is over.

From the first representations in Ancient Greece, passing through the staging of Shakespeare’s works in England in the 16th century, by the Japanese Kabuki theater, to the plays by Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter in this century, the Theater has committed successive injustices and deceived the spectators. Even if no one noticed, the Theater was a farce. But thanks to Keyla Brasil, the farce is over. From now on, the Theater will no longer pretend that the scenes on stage are true. Anyone who pays a ticket cannot continue to be deceived. From now on, the scenes and protagonists will be completely real. As such, the concept of an actor – that faker – also ceases to make sense. Why are actors needed if society can provide all kinds of characters that make up the plays?

It is true that actors and actresses will lose their jobs, but they shouldn’t make a drama out of it. Because there are also those who benefit from this change: directors and criminals. Instead of wasting time rehearsing actors, forcing them to repeat successively and shouting at them even louder than Dona Keyla, the directors now have a much more interesting role. Leaving the stage for the street, the directors will look for thieves, rapists, murderers and crazy people of all kinds to join the cast of their plays. If necessary, they will even recruit from jails, asylums and former Secretaries of State. And these, instead of killing, stealing, raping and doing other tricks in the streets, or in their offices, will start to do them on stage. So, yes, we will have the best theater plays ever performed, with the most credible protagonists that ever existed, where the difference between fiction and reality will no longer make sense.

As such, in the next staging of Romeo and Juliet it will be necessary to find two families that hate each other to incarnate the Montecchios and the Capulets, for example those that every now and then start shooting at each other; a true friar to be Frei Lourenço; an assassin to play Teobaldo and a would-be suicide to play Mercury and die on stage; another one you want to kill to play Paris; and, of course, two young people madly in love and with a big blow to the head to also want to die during the play. In addition to not misleading the public with false hatred, false injuries and false deaths, this form of representation also has the advantage of generating employment, since each new representation will require new actors to replace those who have died or are in hospital.

Unfortunately, plays like The Pied Piper of Hamelin will no longer be able to be staged because current society would not allow rats to be mistreated. It will also not be easy to stage O Auto da Barca do Inferno because of the Devil and the Angel.

Be that as it may, the Trans-Copernican Theater Revolution will not only raise the level of the performing arts, it will also contribute to social reintegration, expiating the guilt of politicians and increasing employment. This increase in employment could even cover the said fired actors and actresses, since some of them, when unable to find work in other professions, will be forced into marginality, thus ending up in the Theater again.

The Stanislavky method followed by Hollywood actors, which advocated that they completely transform themselves into their characters, is obsolete. The Keyla Brasil method will not take long to reach the major American studios, putting an end to the careers of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and other stars, but opening the door to stardom for those sentenced to death in Texas prisons, the terrorists of Guantánamo and imitators of Bernie Madoff.