Two people are about to rent an apartment. Of different ages and opposite sexes, they will decide who deserves to live there, in a verbal duel where each person will try to prove their real motives to the other. She is 50 years old, comes from a liberal marriage of 21 years where, so that their love would not end, they separated. He's 30 years old, he's about to get married, he doesn't think about the possibility of an open relationship, much less the possibility of love ending in the middle of the pretentious “happily ever after”. The duel between these two idiosyncrasies is the motto of the play written and starring Lúcia Veríssimo.
The old clash between genders permeates the entire story. Lúcia gives a long, feminist speech about the role of women in relationships, the difficulty of maintaining a monogamous relationship after being together for so long and the need for human beings to renew loving and sexual stimuli.
The carpentry of the text is good, there are quick and funny jokes. Sometimes the text is provocative, however, the author was unable to subvert the old (feminist) clichés – the ending could not be more corny – by placing the woman as a superior being, more sensitive and understanding, compared to a pragmatic man, who He thinks with his head down, pretentious and immature.
Twenty years separate the two characters and the sexual gender and its entire range of implications also clash, which makes the moral of the story weak. The vision of the man played with grace and confidence by Raphael Vianna is that of a young man who has not yet been affected by the setbacks of adult life, dreams of eternal love, of a conventional family.
When confronting this man described as insecure with the experienced and suffering woman played by the actress, it appears that both differences – of age and sex – make a brutal difference and weaken the play as a whole. Why not two people of the same age? Why not two women of different ages, able to defend their points of view using feminine sensitivity?
“Usufruct” reveals that people use each other for the pleasure of satisfying their own instincts and, by not allowing others to enjoy themselves and theirs, they make the mistake of being conservative and straight-faced. “The Ministry of Health should warn about carelessness.” The audience laughs at several moments, the female audience delights in the verbal and ironic power of the female character and shares – indirectly – in the massacre of the opposite sex. Without wanting to be reductionist – but committing the sin of being – it is a play by and for women.
José Possi Neto's direction does very little to remedy the obviousness of the “moral of the story” and the verbal war described by the dramaturgy is much more exciting than the sex scene itself – as the play's promotional material itself assumes – in the piece. In other words, the play instigates through words and the suspense that is established in the old war between men and women.
Jean Pierre-Tortil's scenario is opaque and boring. The female costumes created by Rebecca Beolchi don't make the actress feel comfortable on stage – in addition to being in questionable taste – and Tunica's musical production highlights the parts where we should pay attention in the text, in other words, it wasn't necessary.
Even with all the drawbacks, “Usufruto” surprises. It's better than expected. There is chemistry between Lúcia and Vianna. The text is agile and for the feminists on duty it is a complete meal. The text is made for the audience to laugh and question themselves. The infamous “saying phrases” used by the dramaturgy to support the whole are also great. Lúcia Veríssimo – and her alter-ego? – She is tuned in, resigned and prepared to face the second part of her life. She checks it out.
Service:
“Usufruct”
Faap Theater
R. Alagoas, 903 – Higienópolis – Center. Telephone: 3662-7233.
Entrance: R$40.
Wednesday and Thursday, at 21pm.
