Portuguese version: http://www.questaodecritica.com.br/2019/11/stabat-mater/

Stabat Mater is the most recent work by Brazilian actress, playwright, and director Janaina Leite, in which she carries on a process that intertwines theatrical language and self-investigation. In March 2019, she shared her creative process of Stabat Mater at the 6th MITsp – Mostra Internacional de Teatro de São Paulo, and a few months later, the show premiered at CCSP – Centro Cultural São Paulo. Janaina Leite’s text had been selected as one of the finalists of an open call for playwrights, promoted by this venue the year before. I only had the chance to watch the play a few months later, when it was presented at Teatro de Contêiner, a significant venue in São Paulo.

Vol. IX, nº 67 abril de 2016 :: Download complete edition in PDF

By Daniele Avila Small

Translated by Cláudia Cruz

Summary: The purpose of the present article is to make a brief analysis of the plays Galvarino, by the Chilean group Teatro Kimen, and Derretiré con un cerrillo la nieve de un volcán, by the Mexican Group Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, using the concept of documentary theatre as a starting point. The analysis carried out here discusses the connection between contemporary documentary theatre and history, and opens up a discussion on whether this theatre genre could make a cognitive contribution to the transmission of historical knowledge.

Key words: Documentary theatre, Latin-American theatre, historiography, fiction and history, document.