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He was a poet who sang the secrets in the eyes of his lover and started the tropical morning in poetry, song and prose. So he is portrayed in the play ArTorquato, performed in Rio de Janeiro during September.
Torquato Neto (1944-1972) should be respected as one of the greatest names in Brazilian literature in the 1960s. His lyrics are still heard today. His poetry, a knife that injures the "chorus of the satisfied ones" still attracts and awakens. His journalism in the column Geléia Geral, published in the newspaper Última Hora, between 1971 and 1972, is a reflection, a bulletin of the artistic environment of that time. His death, a suicide, locked in the toilet, with gas, on the day of his 28th birthday, is emblematic and reflects the cycle of psychiatric admissions, depressions that result from a sharp proximity with the word, that fatal proximity that only true artists can dare.
In the 1960s Brazil, under dictatorship and violent repression, when art fought for its expression, Torquato took part in a resistance group that had created the "Tropicalismo" movement. Glauber Rocha, Caetano Veloso, José Celso Martinez Correa, Gilberto Gil, Rogério Duarte were some of his friends. Torquato was considered by many of them to be the mind of the movement.
ArTorquato was written and directed by Antonio Quinet, a prominent psychoanalyst who now begins a career as a playwright. The playwriting "is based on psychoanalysis concepts that show the relations between what one has personally and the environment, made of choices, partnerships and visions of a world shared with the others. Through the art of Torquato, the play leads the spectator into a fragmented world of the Unconscious."
Such fragmentation is really present in the play but the result is not consistent enough for the spectator to be intoxicated with the poetry and the strong presence of Torquato Neto in the artistic expression of his time.
The audience must know beforehand the work and life of Neto, his poetry and his torments, to follow the show, since it has a great number of references, and metaphors that are dependent on this prior knowledge.
The direction does not balance the playwriting. Perhaps if the director was not the playwright that obstacle might be overcome.
In the play, there is no intention to introduce a historical reconstruction of the life of Torquato Neto, rather a dramatic vision of the connection between his unconscious and the society in which he lived. However, the theory (two years of theoretical research for the play) does not support the language of the stage. The result is a dramatic text that, in vain. looks for its dramatic language, and a dramatic language that looks for its dramatic text.
Yet there is the poetry, often in the dialogue, in a row of citations, not always proper. He is there, the tormented poet, tricking all the arts. And there is a little taste of Torquato Neto's poetry we can feel in the mouth, and we want more.
It is a laudable project. It brings Torquato Neto to us again, a poet of intimate despair. Antonio Quinet created a risky work. But whatever the risk, it is the work of the actors Gilberto Gawronski, Cristina Aché, Rodolfo Bottino, Gisela de Castro, Gean Queiroz and Miguel Campello we should praise. Well chosen actors/actresses showing interesting performances. Gilberto Gawronski, who plays Torquato Neto. Rodolfo Bottino and Cristina Achè, who play several roles, deserve special praise. They show a depth of their own, despite so much fragmentation.
ArTorquato
Written by Antonio Quinet, based on the work by Torquato Neto
Direction: Antonio Quinet
Cast: Gilberto Gawronski, Cristina Aché, Rodolfo Bottino, Gisela de Castro, Gean Queiroz, Miguel Campello.
Scene design: Victor Arruda
Custome design: Luiza Marcier
Light design: Luiz Paulo Neném
Musical direction: José Eduardo Costa Silva
Movement direction: Sueli Guerra
Graphic design: Noni Geiger
Production Direction: Julio Augusto
Esecutive production: Wagner UchĂ´a
Producer: Zucca Produções
Publicists: JoĂŁo Pontes & Stella Stephany
Contact
www.zuccanet.com.br
zucca@email.com
Essential books
Torquatália (dois volumes), de Paulo Roberto Pires, Editora Rocco.
Pra mim chega – a biografia de Torquato Neto, de Toninho Vaz, Editora Casa Amarela.
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