Vianna Filho, Oduvaldo 1936–1974

PERSONAL: Born 1936, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; died of cancer, 1974, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; son of Oduvaldo (a playwright) and Deocélia Vianna (a writer). Politics: Brazilian Communist party.

CAREER: Playwright and actor. Worked in Brazilian television. Cofounder, São Paulo Culture Center theater cooperative, 1960; cofounder, Opinão Theatre Group, c. 1964.

AWARDS, HONORS: Caixa Econômica federal prize, 1957, for Bilbao via Copacabana; Saci prize, 1959, for Chapetuba futebol clube, 1965, for Se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come; São Paolo state prize, 1959, for Chapetuba Futebol clube, 1966, for Se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come; Associação Paulista dos Criticos de Arte prize, 1959, for Chapetuba futebol clube; Latin American Theater Award, 1963, for Quatro quadros de terra; Molière prize, 1965, for Se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come, 1970, for A longa noite de cristal; Serviço Nacional de Teatro prize, 1968, for Papa Highirt, 1974, for Rasga Coração; Coroa de Teatro prize, 1969, for A longa noite de cristal.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

Bilbao via Copacabana (first produced in São Paulo, Brazil, 1959), Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

Chapetuba futebol clube (first produced in São Paulo, Brazil, 1959), Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

A mais valia vai Acabar (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1961), Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

Brasil, versão brasileira (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1961), Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

Auto dos 99% (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1961), Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

Quatro quadros de terra (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1963), Casa de la Américas (Havana, Cuba), 1964.

Show opinião, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1964.

Moço em estado de sítio, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1965.

(With José Rebamar Ferreíra) Se correr o bicho pega, se Ficar o bicho come (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1965), Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1966.

Os azeredo mais os benevides, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1965.

Show telecoteco opus n. 1, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1966.

Mão na Luva, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1966.

Meia volta volver, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1967.

Dura lex sed lex no cabelo só Gumex (first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1968), Fon-Fon e Seleta (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1967.

Papa Highirt, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1970.

Brasil e cia., first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1970.

A longa noite de cristal, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1970.

Em família, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1970.

Corpo a corpo, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1971.

Milonga para Orfeu e Eurídice, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1971.

Nossa vida em família, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1972.

Alegro Desbum, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1972.

Mamãe, papai está ficando Roxo, first produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1973.

Rasga Coração (first produced in Curitiba, Brazil, 1979), Ministério da Educação e Cultura/SEAC, FUNARTE/Serviço Nacional de Teatro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1980.

O melhor teatro (collected works), selected by Yan Michalsky, Global Editora (São Paulo, Brazil), 1984.

Also adapter of plays for television, including Medéia, noites,, Noites brancas, (with Gilberto Braga) A dama das camélias, Mirandolina e ano novo, and Vida Nova.

OTHER

A grande família (television series), 1973.

Vianinha: teatro, televisão, política: artigos, entrevistas e textos inéditos, selected by Fernando Peixoto, Brasiliense (São Paulo, Brazil), 1983.

SIDELIGHTS: Brazilian playwright Oduvaldo Vianna Filho was born into a literary and politically active family. His father was a well-known playwright and his mother was a writer. Both parents were also active members of the Brazilian Communist party. Vianna Filho, or Vianinha as he would become known to many of his contemporaries, inherited his parents' interests, becoming a communist himself at the age of fourteen, and becoming active in student theater by the time he was eighteen. He later worked as an actor and writer for television, but is most recognized for his work in politically active theater groups that opposed the military dictatorship of Brazil. Among his best-known and most acclaimed works are Chapetuba futebol clube, Papa Highirt, and Rasga Coração. Papa Highirt and Rasga Coração were censored and not performed until 1979, five years after the author's death from cancer.

Vianna Filho created socially conscious plays that blended emotional scenes with a style reminiscent of Bertolt Brecht. The playwright's commitment to politics is evident in his 1964 play Quatro quadras de terra. It was written the year after the military coup in Brazil, and Romance Notes reviewer Severino João Albuquerque described it as "a passionate denunciation of social injustice in rural Brazil." After winning the prestigious Serviço Nacional de Teatro prize in 1968, Papa Highirt was censored and performances were banned until 1979. This play depicts "the brutal workings of a fictitious Latin American country's dictator who, while now in exile, still plots to regain power and resume imposing on his people the atrocities graphically portrayed in the play," related Albuquerque.

In an article for Romance Notes, Ana Lúcia Gazolla and Heloísa Murgel Starling quoted the author commenting on his about his responsibilities as an artist: "I think that the responsibility of the artist is this attempt to be profound, not with the aim of being obscure, but to risk one's life, with passion for human existence, for the human race."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Gestos, Volume 7, number 14, Leslie Damasceno, "Oduvaldo Vianna Filho and Theatre Theory: Historicity as a Category of Repression," pp. 157-172.

Romance Notes, Volume 22, number 3, 1982, Ana Lúcia Gazolla and Heloísa Murgel Starling, "Oduvaldo Vianna Filho: o teatro como espetáculo de coragem," pp. 259-264; Volume 28, number 1, 1987, Severino João Albuquerque, "'A imensidão do meu penar': Rebellion and Acceptance in Vianna Filho's Political Theater," pp. 31-36.