Brazil: Linking to a Deeper Culture

Abstract

Canadian theatre critic William Weiss, a professor at the University of Ottawa, recently spent an extended period of time in South America. The country that fascinated him most was Brazil where it appeared that the European theatre tradition had all but wiped out the folk tradition. Not so, however, and of late new interest has begun to be shown in indigenous forms and subject matter. Those fortunate enough to have seen the Brazilian play Macunaima last year during the Theatre of the Americas Festival in Washington D. C. and New York had a unique opportunity to see clearly how those earlier traditions have begun to blend with European dramatic narrative. In the following, Weiss looks at some of the country’s most interesting recent theatrical events in this context and speculates on what they mean in terms of the overall development of a national culture.