European premiere
a production by SESC SP and
Fondazione Pontedera Teatro
text: Geraldo Alencar
artistic direction of the project
and the show: Cacà Carvalho
artistic co-direction of the project
and the show: Roberto Bacci
score and vocal training:
Francesca Della Monica
scenery and costumes: Marcio Medina
lighting project: Fabio Retti
stage sculptures and make-up: Vavà Torres
general coordination: Carla Pollastrelli
with: Dinho Lima Flor, Fabiana Barbosa,
Joana Levi, Laila Garin, Leonardo Ventura,
Majò Sesan, Marcelo Valente, Raquel Tamaio
assistant director: Joana Levi
assistant technician: Jonas Soares
in charge of production: Adriano Rizk
with the support of the Tuscany Region -
Sector for International Cooperation
The Casa Laboratorio per le Arti del Teatro di São Paulo Theatre is five years old. The project started from an artistic collaboration going back nearly twenty years between Cacà Carvalho and the Fondazione Pontedera Teatro in order to bridge the gap between a theatrical centre from a small town such as Pontedera and São Paolo in Brazil.
The idea of the Casa Laboratorio per le Arti del Teatro embodies the wish to create a space for training, artistic and cultural production and the interchange of works and experience within the arts of the theatre. This challenge is creative, productive and organisational. It is also an idea for collaboration among Institutions and, in this context, the support of the SESC São Paolo and the International Cooperation Sector of the Tuscany Region are a good example.
O homem provisorio (The Provisional Man) is the second show by the Laboratory Home under the guidance and direction of Cacà Carvalho, with the artistic collaboration of Roberto Bacci, the fundamental contribution of Francesca Della Monica and the complex research on space by Marcio Medina. The work of staging the show was strongly inspired by the theatrical expedition carried out by the Casa Laboratorio group in the sertão of the Cariri in September 2006. This exploratory trip to research the profound identity of Brazil brought with it a constellation of other fruitful activities: interaction with the Fundação Casa Grande of Nova Olinda (the extraordinary school of cultural management for the education of children and teenagers from the sertão), the publication of original sonnets by Geraldo Alencar, heir of the great popular poet Patativa do Assaré, the musical improvisations by Di Freitas, the original woodcuts by Nilo, and photographic and film documentation by Massimo Verdastro.
Inspired by the extraordinary epic work Grande Sertão by João Guimarães Rosa, O homem provisorio was conceived as the stage translation of the main themes in the novel which show the spectator the misfortunes of the leading character Riobaldo through life's sertão. Sertão is the vast, semi-arid region that includes many of the north-eastern states of Brazil and is the ambient of Guimarães Rosa's stories. From the tissue of the show the fundamental circumstances and characters of the novel follow the narrator's story from childhood to maturity. The story's axis is the dichotomy between God and the Devil (Capeta is one of his thousand names).
As scene follows scene, we see love discovered in Riobaldo's first encounter with Diadorim, the child on the riverbank who will be revealed as the great enigma in the troubles of his life; the meeting with Nhorinha, the prostitute who awakens passionate desire in the main character, part of a band of jaguncos (bandits - somewhat similar to Manzoni's bravi - often hired by landowners or politicians to defend their interests through violence); the sweet Otacilia who grants the safety of marriage when no war rages; Riobaldo's encounter with the jaguncos' chief and his path towards maturity, becoming the White Urutu; we witness the final confrontation with the ever-present diabolic opposing forces, and at last the great revelation of the play that circumscribes the protagonist and the spectator within the boundaries of life's precariousness.
O homem provisorio received the prestigious Shell Award for the best lighting project.
The play's debut was on March 30 2007 in São Paolo at the SESC Paulista.
The tickets for the performance can be also purchased online through