Renata Carvalho: 'It's partly the task of art to shed light on this darkness that's out there'

By Ana Ávila, On the 21 - When the lights dimmed, the music swelled and Renata Carvalho slowly entered the stage, the audience that filled the Teatro Bruno Kiefer on the night of last Thursday (21) barely breathed. All attention was on her. At the end, the transvestite star of the monologue The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven was cheered by hundreds of people who never tired of applauding. There, inside the theater, Porto Alegre didn't even seem like the same capital that recently closed the QueerMuseu exhibition due to ultraconservative pressures.

The show resonated throughout the country last week after a court decision prohibited its performance in Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo. In the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, two requests also attempted to block it in court, but were denied. For Renata, however, what really matters are the debates that the play is capable of generating in the country that kills the most transvestites and transsexuals. "I see the light that is being shone on transphobia," she says about the moment. Director Natalia Mallo also highlights the importance of representation against violence. "When we start seeing trans people everywhere, transphobia will decrease. Because you will no longer want to murder the person. People simply want to kill because it exists, it's so disturbing that people want to kill."

While the play gained even more notoriety over the past week and guaranteed, among other things, sold-out performances on both nights of its run at Porto Alegre Em Cena, its journey began much earlier. Written by Scottish playwright Jo Clifford, The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven is having its first production outside of its country of origin in Brazil. It premiered here over a year ago and has been achieving its main objective ever since: to move its audience. On the day of its launch in Porto Alegre, Sul21 spoke with director Natalia Mallo, an Argentinian living in Brazil, who is responsible for bringing the play to the country and is now preparing to take it to Uruguay and Argentina.

Natalia explains that the project originated from an idea for international exchanges focusing on common societal concerns. "In 2014, I went to Scotland for the Edinburgh festivals, and it was the first thing I saw. I was immediately shocked; I was deeply moved by the work. At the time, obviously, I had empathy for the trans cause, but I didn't have much understanding, and the play showed me that, it showed me that I didn't really know what trans people experience and where they are in society," recalls Natalia, who received the text as a gift from the author at that same meeting.

Check out the full article at About 21.