“Our phoenix has just left”, published José Celso Martinez Corrêa’s colleagues, on Teatro Oficina’s social networks. Zé Celso, as he was known, died this Thursday morning (6) at the age of 86, victim of a fire. Considered one of the greatest playwrights in Brazil, Zé Celso produced work described as innovative and revolutionary. With art, he faced the military dictatorship and, after being arrested and tortured, he went into exile. At the time, documents from the Teatro Oficina were also safeguarded outside Brazil, which since 1987 constitute a public collection in the Edgard Leuenroth Archive (AEL) from Unicamp.
The collection has almost 18 thousand documentary and iconographic items, such as photographs, posters, books and cassette tapes. The items, which cover the history of the company, created in 1958 by Zé Celso and other colleagues from the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP), can be consulted on AEL.
In 2008, when Teatro Oficina turned 50, the playwright was at Unicamp for a tribute organized by AEL and which took place at Unicamp's Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH). On the occasion, Zé Celso was with professors Marcelo Ridenti, from IFCH, and Armando Sérgio da Silva, from USP. As expected, the event turned into a spectacle led by the playwright, who transformed the auditorium into an open stage.
Read reporter published in Jornal da Unicamp at the time of Teatro Oficina’s 50th anniversary:
At 50, Oficina continues staging the new
Watch the recording made by TV Unicamp, in 2008:
Zé Celso and his theater also have a deep connection with the training of Performing Arts students at the University. At Unicamp, undergraduates frequently visit the Teatro Oficina, one of the longest-running companies in the country and considered a Brazilian cultural heritage.
But the reflections brought by the playwright transcend his most immediate area of activity. The last production directed by Zé Celso was “Waiting for Godot”, by Samuel Beckett. Students from Unicamp's Higher Interdisciplinary Training Program (Profis) were studying the work and went to Teatro Oficina to watch the show, which presented the inclusion of Exu in the plot as one of its innovations. Reflections on waiting and the need for action received special attention from the students.
Check out the report produced for Portal Unicamp:
There's no point waiting for Godot, he's dead
See AEL publication:
Note of condolence for the loss of Zé Celso Martinez
Watch the video produced by TV Unicamp of one of the playwright's last appearances at Teatro Oficina.
"He had a thing for scandalizing people"
Professor Marcelo Ridenti, who was with Zé Celso at the event held at Unicamp, recalls what the day was like and highlights the importance of the Oficina collection and the playwright. For him, Zé Celso “had a big impact on the history of theater, culture and politics in Brazil”. Check out:
One of the materials that AEL has available in the area of culture is the historical archive of Teatro Oficina, whose most prominent figure was Zé Celso. It is an important collection to reconstruct the history not only of Theater, but of the context of social struggles in the 60s and 70s especially.
On the occasion of Oficina's 50th anniversary, there was a celebration and Zé Celso was invited. I was at the table, I made an intervention, then another teacher who wrote about Zé Celso also. But I remember that Zé Celso was very late that day. At the end of the event he appeared and gave a long and emotional speech. But the most curious thing was that Zé Celso took off his clothes. He had a thing for scandalizing people, but one or two people in the audience were shocked, there wasn't much of a fuss.
In the 1960s it was different. Those actions they did at Teatro Oficina and in other plays staged by Zé Celso, for example Roda Viva [in which actors ripped apart an ox liver], were very provocative. These were transgressions that are much more prevalent today than in the 1960s.
He had a major impact on the history of theater, culture and politics in Brazil. It's a shame that he passed away, especially in such tragic circumstances.
Memories of an Oficina actor who graduated from Unicamp
A graduate of Unicamp, Jota Guerreiro Vilar graduated in 2022 in Performing Arts. Shortly before finishing the course, he was already acting at Teatro Oficina. Meeting the playwright Zé Celso, for him, was transformative. Performing at the company with the play "Mutação de Apoteose", Vilar brings back memories of Zé Celso playing the piano at one of the open rehearsals. “Always passionate about theater”, he defines. Check out the actor's statement in full:
I discovered Oficina and Zé Celso's work when I was 18 years old, and it was very remarkable and transformative for my career and my understanding of many things. It opened me up to other possibilities of creation and language, I was very enchanted by the radicalization of the limits of the body.
I entered college [in 2017] and continued following the company's work. During graduation, I had another experience of meeting him as well. We performed the play Entremeios, in 2019, directed by professor Matteo Bonfitto, and we were selected to present at the Itaú Cultural exhibition in SP.
A visit to the Teatro Oficina was part of the show’s program. We were welcomed by Marília Piraju, who guided us through the theater and spoke about the architecture and the Bixiga River Park project. Afterwards we spoke with Zé, who asked each group (there were several university groups from all over Brazil) to give a brief overview of what they were presenting at the exhibition.
Then, in 2022, in my last semester of college, I passed the selection process for the fifth set of teeth at the anthropophagous university, which is a process of exchanging knowledge at the Oficina, for three months. From then on, I got closer to the company, we did some work together, like now the play Mutação de Apoteose, which is currently showing, directed by Camila Mota.
I didn't have the experience of being directed by Zé, who could no longer be at the theater every day. Occasionally, he would show up to watch us, or participate in open rehearsals, or in meetings, always very passionate about theater. I remember him playing the piano at the first open rehearsal we did of Mutação de Apoteosis. It was very exciting, it was a suspension in the middle of the play.
Check out a photo gallery from the event in 2008 and scenes from the show Waiting for Godot:
