LADIES OF THE NIGHT
MERETRIZES (Ladies of the night) is a performance that mixes theater, live piano and real stories told on stage to show fragments of the lives of sex workers. Based on real reports, the documentary play brings stories of women whose lives are hampered by prejudice and discrimination, attesting to the urgency of bringing this debate to the fore. Through a mix between Liane Venturella's multifaceted performance and the real presence of these professionals on stage, the play, with performative aspects, makes the spectators realize how close these realities are, which are silenced on a daily basis. MERETRIZES also features an original soundtrack performed live by the great pianist Catarina Domenicci. The play is a cry for respect for all women and all their personal and professional choices.
As we know, the character of the prostitute has been present in different narratives throughout the centuries; The particularity of MERETRIZES is that the entire dramaturgy is based on real reports from sex workers, which were heard for more than a year by the performance's team, in addition to the testimony given by the professionals themselves on stage. This is an innovative proposal within the Brazilian theater scene: in each city, MERETRIZES wishes to propose dialogue between local artists and sex workers, sensitizing the spectator to different realities. The show can be performed in traditional theater rooms, as well as in cabarets, bars and alternative spaces.
PHOTOS
ARTISTIC TEAM
Directed by: Camila Bauer
Cast: Liane Venturella
Original soundtrack and live piano: Catarina Domenici
Special participation in Porto Alegre: Paula Assunção and Soila Mar
Dramaturgy: Camila Bauer and Liane Venturella, based on reports from different sex professionals
Oral History Research/Interviews: Juliana Wolkmer
Set design, lighting and videography: Isabel Ramil
Costume design: Liane Venturella
Consulting: Paula Assunção, Monique Prada and Soila Mar
Voice in the song Figueira Maldita: Lívia Itaborahy
Graphic designer: Mitty Mendonça
Press office: Léo Sant’Anna
Social media: Natália Severo
Photography: Laura Testa
FAC Production Director: Fabiane Severo
FAC production assistant: Silvia Duarte
Realization and production: Gompa Project
Support: NEP (Prostitution Studies Center), Fatal Model, Theatro São Pedro, Sala Terpsi.
Financing: FAC RS - Sistema Pró-cultura RS
Thanks to Adriana Marchiori, Alemoa da Alfândega, Andressa, Antônio Hohlfeldt, Alice Kuhn da
Silva, Álvaro RosaCosta, Arnon Oliveira, Babi Barelli, Beto Chedid, Bethy Krieger, Carla Almeida,
Carlota Albuquerque, Caroline Garcia, Cia IncomodeTe, Departamento de Arte Dramática da
UFRGS, Dete da Alfândega, Dilmar Messias, Drika, Edla Bauer, Eduarda Rhoden, Elcio Rossini,
Espaço de Arte Viandante, Eugenia Del Vigna, Eulália Figueiredo, Fabrício Furtado, Felipe Bauer,
Fórum ONG AIDS, Frida Carla, GAPA RS, Garotas da Malcon, Garotas La Casa das Primas, Giovana
Soar, James Correa, Jefferson Teixeira dos Santos, Julia Bueno, Kelly, Laura do Mercado Público,
Laura Hickmann, Letícia Vieira, Lívia Itaborahy, Luciana Éboli, Luiza Waichel, Luizinho Santos,
Niltamárã Gomes, Pedro Bertoldi, Rejane Padilha dos Santos Brum, Ricardo Vivian, Sandra Possani,
Sabrina, Sala da Mimi da Salgado Filho, Sociedade Italiana de Alvorada, Suzy Vieira, Tina Taborda,
Virginia Anderle and all the girls who directly or indirectly influenced the creation of this work.
TEASER
MINIDOC
PROJECT FOR SALES / PROYECTO DE VENTAS
PRESS
REVIEWS
NORA PRADO – ENTREATOS DIVULGA
“In a cabaret proposal, lively and fun, the show opens in great style welcoming the audience informally to the sound of the piano beautifully played by Catarina, while Liane in the figure of a Spanish pimp, sassy and exuberant, approaches men and women, breaking the ice and putting us in the desired climate of complicity.
Camila's confident direction finds in the charismatic and versatile figure of Liane, the ideal actress to give life to so many women that the group interviewed throughout the research that addresses issues relating to the profession carried out by these women whose activity is seen with contempt, prejudice and a lot of fantasy on the part of society in general. Little by little, we enter the lives of these illustrious strangers whose material, consistently constructed by Liane, takes on a soul right in front of us. With resources of posture, gesture and voice intonation, Liane lends different personas to each new narrative, sometimes funny, unusual, tragic or disconcerting. Through it, a gallery of women unfolds who chose the life of prostitutes for countless reasons, from the most obvious, how to get money quickly and easily, to others that are less obvious.
Between one narrative and another, with just a basic change of costumes, and a suggestive piano atmosphere, a new story full of humanity reveals itself before the audience, absolutely surrendered and fascinated by this mysterious universe, surrounded by taboo. Simply put, there are some breaks in the illusion, when Liane “steps out of character” to make some brief observations, returning immediately and without losing the thread. How many women are made invisible and persecuted, brutally stigmatized by family members and separated from society by so-called good men and women, whose hypocrisy, uselessly, tries to deny their social function.
It is moving to watch an actress in full technical and emotional control of her craft, in a delivery worthy of great artists. A show to be seen more than once and to be presented to large audiences, as it certainly opens up space for debate and reflection on desire, sexuality, affection, loneliness and incommunicability, central themes of the human condition.
(…) For feminism to fulfill its social function with justice, democracy and equal rights. A work that honors the oldest profession in the world and treats its characters with delicacy and respect. "
Read here.
BRUNA TESSUTO
"What if the person telling the story was precisely the one who lived it? What if that person gained a voice to do so? We can, as artists, create skins that are not ours, narratives that are not ours. We can also, with this, through fictio, move, touch, make people reflect. But it's a fact: the beating is always different when the reports come from those who lived the story. The point of view looking from the outside is one, looking from the inside is always another. That's what made me got hooked watching "Meretrizes", starring Liane Venturella and directed by Camila Bauer, at Teatro Oficina Olga Reverbel, in Porto Alegre.
Through research carried out with sex workers, the show brings real testimonies from women who live or who have made a living from the profession. The vast majority played by Liane, who impresses with her versatility in composing absurdly different bodies and voices. Other women are presented to us on the screen, showing their own faces. Women who fall outside the stereotype that society makes us swallow. Married women, women fulfilled with what they do, women who don't want the same for their children, women who work hidden from their families, women who open the doors to us of the difficulties, pain, stories and beauties of the profession.
In the middle of the show, I remember thinking: "I'm glad I braved the rain on Sunday and came". With the maximum capacity of the theater reached and with people even sitting on the floor, I concluded that it was one of those works that make you open up a possibility of vision, the famous "taking the blindfold off your eyes". Using laughter as an ally, I felt the text taking me by the hand and telling me: "come here and I'll show you what you haven't seen yet".
When I thought I had already immersed myself in the universe and deduced that the show ended there, the plus happened. Liane called two of the women who gave their testimonies to the stage. They were in the audience. Would anyone suspect it? It's good to remember that a prostitute doesn't have a face. With the microphone in hand, in an image that represents the possibility of having a voice, they began to answer questions and share curiosities. What would you ask? With what they were telling me, I began to realize that I wouldn't even have been able to formulate certain questions because I had never thought about certain factors of the experience.
It's exciting, laughing, impressing and applauding standing up. It is also important to realize that a reality different from the one we live in is not necessarily far away. A prostitute could be sitting next to you on public transport or be your classmate at university. It could also be someone in your family. Does this surprise you or normalize you?”