This work proposes a reading of Nelson Rodrigues' dramaturgy having in mind some issues that permeate the theatrical field in the second half of the XX Century, the author's position in face of them and the theatrical project that he explains in his texts. Inside a cultural field marked by intense social and political fights, Nelson Rodrigues produces his plays focussing on theatre's purifying and redeeming functions. In opposition to a whole stream of political engaged theatre, the proposed dramaturgy is infested with intense characters (both in their expression and in their sexual repression) whose function would be to purge the audience. That kind of bet on a sense and value for the theatre occurs from some alliances, such as, for example, to Gilberto Freyre's Sociology. Reader and profound admirer of the sociologist, Nelson appropriates, for his theatrical project, various elements of the said sociology, such as excessive violence, physical, sexual and sensual (marks of hybris), as well as the analysis of imported civilization patterns, which also impose themselves by violent repression. The tension between elements of immoderation and of discipline generates a series of characters, situations and struggles, which permeate the works and may also be considered as elements of a strategic alliance.
Nelson Rodrigues; Gilberto Freyre; theatre; hybris; civilization