Zulmira, uma mulher frustrada e vítima de tuberculose, tem apenas uma ambição: um enterro luxuoso, que cause inveja aos vizinhos e perturbe Glorinha, a prima que parou de cumprimentá-la. Obra que retrata um convívio contaminado por obsessões e traições, A falecida inovou na interação dos atores com o cenário. Na primeira montagem da peça, os próprios intérpretes moviam cadeiras e outros acessórios pelo palco, o que chamou a atenção da crítica e do público.
Com uma habilidade genial para ironizar e satirizar os desvios comportamentais da sociedade, Nelson Rodrigues criou um teatro único e universal que vem atravessando décadas com a mesma vitalidade. Para celebrar o centenário do dramaturgo, a Editora Nova Fronteira relança suas 17 peças, uma obra essencial que inaugurou e consolidou o modernismo no teatro brasileiro.
Nelson Falcão Rodrigues (August 23, 1912 – December 21, 1980) was a Brazilian playwright, journalist and novelist. In 1943, he helped usher in a new era in Brazilian theater with his play Vestido de Noiva (The Wedding Dress), considered revolutionary for the complex exploration of its characters' psychology and its use of colloquial dialog. He went on to write many other seminal plays and today is widely regarded as Brazil's greatest playwright.
Nelson Rodrigues was born on August 23, 1912 in Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, to Mario Rodrigues, a journalist, and his wife, Maria Esther Falcão. In 1916, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro after Mario ran into trouble for criticizing a powerful local politician. In Rio, Mario rose through the ranks of one of the city's major newspaper and, in 1925, launched his own newspaper, a sensationalist daily. By fourteen Nelson was covering the police beat for his father; by fifteen he had dropped out of school; and by sixteen he was writing his own column. The family's economic situation improved steadily, allowing them to move from lower-middle class Zona Norte to what was then the exclusive neighborhood of Copacabana.
In less than two years the family's fortunes would be reversed spectacularly. In 1929, older brother Roberto, a talented graphic artist, was shot and killed at the newspaper offices by a society lady who objected to the salacious coverage of her divorce. Devastated by his son's death, Mario Rodrigues died a few months later of a stroke, and shortly after that the family newspaper was closed by military forces supporting the Revolution of 1930, which the newspaper had fiercely opposed in its editorials. The ensuing years were dark ones for the Rodrigues family, and Nelson and his brothers were forced to seek work at rival newspapers for low wages. To make matters worse, in 1934 Nelson was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that plagued him, on an off, for the next ten years.
During this time Rodrigues held various jobs including comic strip editor, sports columnists and opera critic. In 1941, he wrote his first play A Mulher Sem Pecado (The Woman Without Sin), to mixed reviews. His following play, Vestido de Noiva (The Wedding Dress), was hailed as a watershed in Brazilian theater and is considered among his masterpieces. It began a fruitful collaboration with Polish émigré director Zbigniew Ziembinski, who is reported to have said on reading The Wedding Dress, "I am unaware of anything in world theater today that resembles this." In the play, set while the female chief character is hit by a car in the street and undergoes surgery, the stage is divided in three planes: one for real life action happening around the character, another for her memories, a third for her dying hallucinations. As the three planes overlap, actual reality melds with memory and delusion[1].
Rodrigues's next play, 1946 Álbum de família (Family Album)- the chronicle of a semi-mythical family living outside society and mired in incest, rape and murder - was so controversial that it was censored and only allowed to be staged 21 years later.
In all, Rodrigues wrote 17 full-length plays. They include Toda Nudez Será Castigada (All Nudity Shall Be Punished), Dorotéia, and Beijo no Asfalto (The Asphalt Kiss, or , better, The Kiss on Asphalt[2]), all considered classics of the Brazilian stage. His plays are frequently divided in three groups: Psychological, mythical and Carioca tragedies. In his Carioca tragedies Rodrigues explored the lives of Rio’s lower-middle class, a population never deemed worthy of the stage before Rodrigues. From the beginning his plays shocked audiences and attracted the attention of censors.
In spite of his success as a playwright, Rodrigues never dedicated himself exclusively to theater. In the 1950s, besides writing the hugely successful column A Vida Como Ela É (Life As It Is), he also wrote soap operas, movie scripts, a
Esse mês a adaptação para cinema de Leon Hirszman para a peça A Falecida de Nelson Rodrigues está completando 60 anos, então aproveitei para relê-la. Tal peça consta no rol de suas tragédias cariocas, mas como tudo que escreveu também está embebido de psicologia, neste caso neuroses mil de todas personagens, o que torna Rodrigues tão único é o humor travestido de tragédia que ele injeta em seus escritos.
A falecida na verdade é uma obra de teatro , com todas as descrições e roteiros teatrais , sendo assim , e uma obra literaria de epoca retrata os anos 60/70 , um casal instavel , uma mulher mais instavel ainda , entra em situações hilarias (e as vezes nem tanto) a obra gira em torno de Zumira , esposa instavel e lamuriosa , que se encontra doente de tuberculose , decide se dedicar a ter um funeral inesquesivel . Um tanto macabra , mas nem tanto , a obra tambem se desenvolve sem aprofundamento.Retrata o vazio das vidas humanas , que giram em torno de coisas tão triviais , quando a vida e morte são coisas realmente fundamentais . Um final aberto , a gente fica pensando , que Porra de vida é esta ?! mas afinal um tipico texto de Nelson Rodrigues.
I read this play for my Portuguese class (and might actually get the chance to watch it performed later this semester). It was ironic, satirical, and funny. The characters were a bit empty, but the story was interesting and the ending fit the tone perfectly. I found the first act a bit confusing to follow, but once I figured out who all the characters were it made more sense.
Nelson Rodrigues, mais uma vez, nos apresenta um texto que expõe e critica diversos comportamentos frequentes na nossa sociedade: do fanatismo religioso ao fanatismo futebolístico, da inveja compulsiva à malandragem explícita, todos são retratados e minuciosamente analisados. O espectador começa o roteiro rindo, mas depois se pega amargando o riso com a chegada forte da tragédia a partir do final do primeiro ato. Em suma, "A Falecida" é - de fato - uma peça muito boa do célebre dramaturgo brasileiro! :)
Leve e engraçado, a peça deve ser mais divertida de se assistir. Não tenho nada a reclamar sobre mas também nada que eu achei extraordinário sobre o livro, uma história comum e divertida que eu apenas li por conta do vestibular. De qualquer maneira vai ficar marcado como uma história que sempre irá me lembrar dessa época.
Foi simplesmente o máximo interpretar a Zulmira no teatro. A cada apresentação, cada leitura, os personagens tomavam diferentes proporções de sentimento e importância na obra. Inesquecível.