“Bom Retiro 958 meters” is the last show by Teatro da Vertigem (Vertigo Theatre), a company of 20 years marked by the poetic appropriation of the spaces where it has performed. Directed by Antonio Araújo, the show premiered in June and had Amanda Antunes and Carlos Teixeira (Vazio S/A) as art directors, and lighing design by Guilherme Bonfanti. As the title says, the piece is a one-kilometer journey around Bom Retiro – a neighborhood in downtown Sao Paulo where coexist clandestine sewing workshops, Korean grocery stores, Arab and Jews restaurants, women’s clothing and mannequins factories, Bolivian seamstresses, houses barbarously sealed by the mayor, the Cracolândia (Crackland) etc.
The images below are procedural and translate the search not only by the art directors, but also by all the artists and technicians involved, for the resignificance of the elements found in the region. “Bom Retiro 958 meters” is maybe the first play by the company staged on the streets and talks about the reality of Brazilian cities – the friction between space and use, the process of gentrification, downtown SP decadent night scene, the reality of illegal immigrants, the neglect for public space, drug addicts, homelessness – and the contrast of all of this with the fashion world.
Photos: Flávio Portella and Carlos Teixeira
