It is difficult to review something as powerful as Isto é um Negro without sounding trite, and how it is experienced will, naturally, depend a great deal on one’s own frame of reference. Isto é um Negro explores what is it like to be black in Brazil, reminding us of the constructed nature of the differentiation ‘black’, the role of this differentiation in sustaining capitalism, and the almost passive acceptance of the historical atrocities inflicted on back slaves in Brazil, which up to now seem to have provoked little public outrage.
It is in many ways a piece of contemporary dialectical theatre, demanding the audience’s full attention. The four performers are, apart from a brief time at the start, nude throughout. Although white power can be considered, historically, to have disciplined and made visible the black body, far from creating a sense of vulnerability, their nudity allows actors take back control, looking at the audience straight in the eye—this is who we are and this is what we want to say. It becomes a political statement. It also, in some sense, gives the audience nowhere to hide; it is purposely confrontational to allow the performers to engage, be heard and be seen.
It feels intensely personal too, woven from individual stories, historical facts and from quotations, and we hear about the intersectional complexities of being, for example, a woman or gay and black in Brazil, and identity and skin colour. It is all delivered in lyrical Portuguese, the words carefully weighted. One does need to understand the words—they are very potent—and the non-Portuguese speakers must look upwards to the supertitles. As soon as we look away from the stage, however, we immediately feel the pull to re-engage with the actors. An openness in delivery demands an openness in reception.
The ending is theatrically hardcore: no one is going to make it all better for the audience. Afterwards, the experience feels like a shock: emotionally and physically. But at the same time, it is like being given a gift: it is not often people are willing to be so open about their lives, including their pain. Indeed, we can all learn from such openness: Isto é um Negro should be experienced!