The USP Theater will host the play “Ainda sobre a cama” (Still about the bed) starting from November 16, directed by Luiz Fernando Marques (Lubi) and featuring performances by Camila Cohen, Duda Machado, and Luiz Felipe Bianchini. The season concludes on December 17, running on Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 6:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Sympla website.
The original script emerged from the reading of Leonce and Lena, a work by the German author Georg Büchner (1813-1837). On stage, three characters question both new and old forms of emotional relationships.
The play was born from the collaboration between the cast and director. Personal memories, inspired by the German author’s play, served as a guide for constructing a script that reflects on the persistence of patriarchal systems and their intricate mechanisms, despite current freedoms and alternative relationship possibilities.
Approximately two centuries ago, Büchner used irony to illustrate our entanglement in the conventions of our times. In his plot, the protagonists Leonce and Lena, born into noble families, are promised in a marriage of convenience, even without knowing each other. However, they both desire a different future. Unaware of each other’s actions, they escape to the forest and, by a stroke of fate, coincidentally meet and fall in love. The couple returns and gets married, aligning the union of interest with a celebration of love.
For the creators of “Ainda sobre a cama,” Büchner’s text served as a study object, pointing to a past that insists on being present. The new work’s scenes risk drawing parallels between the present and the past. Lubi emphasizes, “Our idea was to address heteronormative relationships, especially how these relationships are haunted by norms, models that come from centuries, patriarchal and Eurocentric, even if nowadays this also appears in the form of same-sex affection or even free love.”
Throughout the play, the actor and two actresses portray different possibilities of couples. “The scenes are independent, connected by the theme, but they point to a chronology of a couple. There are several Leonces and Lenas – they are called that in the play – and can be seen as an archetype of a couple,” says actress Camila Cohen.
This chronology of events helps to follow and understand the relationship between a couple. Lubi explains, “There are various situations that reveal how patterns are ingrained in the structures of our affections. The staging goes through some emblematic moments such as the loss of virginity, dating, betrayal, engagement, and marriage.”
The stage setting consists of a room with a double bed and two bedside tables; the audience sits very close to the actresses and the actor. The director notes, “The feeling is that the audience can overhear the most ordinary conversations, with their emptiness and boredom, through fights, and, at the limit, the violence that a relationship is capable of generating.”
“Throughout the play, the actors also take on the role of narrators. This epic resource creates a distancing effect, as if they could look at what is happening,” concludes Lubi.
Synopsis:
This is once again an attempt to build a bed. And this bed is not a nest, it will not give birth to anyone, nor will it offer deserved rest. It may witness the inertia of feelings, words, and actions that we still repeat today since 1837. A scenic installation for a contemporary dramaturgy created from the work Leonce and Lena by Georg Büchner. From idleness to boredom. From boredom to sex. From sex to violence. From violence to control.
Technical Information:
Director: Luiz Fernando Marques (Lubi)
Assistant Director: Erica Montanheiro
Dramaturgy: Duda Machado, Camila Cohen, Erica Montanheiro, Luiz Fernando Marques (Lubi), and Luiz Felipe Bianchini
Cast: Duda Machado, Camila Cohen, and Luiz Felipe Bianchini
Lighting: Wagner Antônio
Set Design: Luiz Fernando Marques (Lubi)
Photos: Isadora Relvas
Production: Lud Picosque – Corpo Rastreado
Service:
“Ainda sobre a cama”
Where: USP Theater
Address: Rua Maria Antônia, 294 – Vila Buarque – São Paulo, SP (near Higienópolis and Santa Cecília metro stations)
When: November 16 to December 17 | Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 6:00 PM
Ticket Prices: R$ 40 (full) + R$ 20 (half) – available at the box office 1 hour before the show or on the Sympla website
Duration: 90 minutes
Capacity: 60 seats
Recommendation: 18 years old
Information: (11) 3123-5222