Assistant Director to Cibele Forjaz
Il Guarany (The Guarani), adapted in 1870 from the 1857 namesake novel, is to date the most famous Brazilian opera, played in the inauguration of the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo. The narrative presents us with a Guarany indigenous hero, Peri, and a young Portuguese girl, Ceci, whose unexpected love blossoms amidst violence, blood, power and betrayal. Set during the colonisation of Brasil by the Portuguese, we see the European men’s attempts to conquer both Ceci and the land, rumoured to hide an immense treasure. Between them, and the violent Aimoré tribe, Peri and Ceci’s love is doomed, as he sacrifices himself to save her and her father.
Extremely celebrated in its time, this new staging of the opera, with concept by Ailton Krenak and direction by Cibele Forjaz, calls out the original material for being hideously racist and misogynistic. Unable to undue the narrative itself due to the rigid constraints of the operatic structure, it does not reach a settled scenic result, but instead presents a radicalised friction on stage. The white singer who performs as Peri is doubled on stage by Davi Vera Popygua Ju, a Guarani actor, who interprets Peri Eté – the true Peri. Ceci is doubled by Zahy Tentehar Guajajara as a personification of the Land, reflecting the conquest and rape of Ceci as a parallel to the conquest and rape of the land. The opera chorus is joined on stage by a Guarany chorus, who make three interventions with traditional Guarany songs and political demonstrations.
This is not enough to redeem the original material, but makes the important political statement of accusing it, while celebrating indigenous performers.