Quarto de Despejo no Palco: Staging Authenticity in Representations of Brazilian Poverty

Abstract

Carolina Maria de Jesus (1915–1977) is best known as the author of Quarto de Despejo (1960), a diary written on scraps of paper scavenged from the garbage while its author resided in a Brazilian favela. This article explores how the 1961 eponymous theatrical adaptation of this diary recreated her favela experiences for the stage in unusual ways. In the name of verisimilitude, the play’s producers organized cast visits to the favela and dressed the set with both Carolina’s belongings and discarded objects donated by the public. Using MacCannell’s continuum of the “staged authenticity” of tourist experiences as a framework, I demonstrate how the play’s producers incorporated people and objects from the favela into their theatrical production to provide their audience with a carefully assembled “authentic” glimpse of the other, arguing that Quarto’s audience engaged in an early form of poverty tourism by visiting a recreated place outside of their normal environment.