“Sortilégio” de Abdias do Nascimento : a estética negra no Teatro Experimental do Negro de 1951 a 1957

Abstract

When considering Abdias Nascimento's landmark for Afro-Brazilian culture, the research aims to analyze the theatrical play Sortilégio, written by Abdias Nascimento and performed by Teatro Experimental do Negro in 1957, with the perspective of an interdisciplinary research of History with the arts scenic. Through the research problem that proposes to think about how Abdias Nascimento used the elements of black aesthetics in Sortilégio, it presents the analysis of the textual and visual sources of the work to identify these elements, which would also be a tool used by the Negritude movement in exercising the protagonism for black people. The proposal is to resort to a visual analysis, looking for the elements of black aesthetics through the costumes, the characters' performances and their expressions, and also the textual analysis of the representation of the female characters, more specifically the characters: "Efigênia", black woman represented as a prostitute; and "Margarida", a white woman represented as a wife. There is a need to investigate female participation in the dramaturgical creation of the work through the author's own trajectory to demystify his female references during his life, which lead us to concepts of black feminism such as: intersexuality and pain. In this way, the research presents contemporary black theater as a Teatrovivência, and asks us to think about the importance of the play Sortilégio and the Teatro Experimental do Negro as one of the precursors in inspiration for an anti-racist practice carried out in theater based on the experiences of black subjects., influencing several contemporary theater groups currently aware of racial issues.