By Isle of Wight Observer
Following their huge successful productions of ‘Busu & The Damask Drum’ and ‘Tieta’, StoneCrabs Theatre are taking their interactive Brazilian show ‘The Trial’ to the Ventnor Fringe July 26-28.
Tieta comes home to a small, conservative Brazilian village in search of justice – the audience will be the jury. Part stand-up, part gig, part storytelling The Trial is a dynamic and interactive piece of theatre that asks if we can reject authority in order to live an love in different ways.
Loosely based on Jorge Amado’s 1970s novel, this new work presented at the Edinburgh Fringe by StoneCrabs Theatre, is a timely expose of today’s social and political struggles of the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil and elsewhere.
At its heart is Tieta, a young person who was shunned and driven from their small town in the northeast of Brazil for being queer only to return as a trans woman asking for the townsfolk to find her justice.
Performing six different roles, playing a variety of instruments and enlisting dance, speech and song – Ines Sampaio delivers a hugely energetic performance that raises a multitude of questions about gender and sexuality.
Franko Figueiredo, the show’s director who is a Brazilian based in the UK, said: “This is very much a production for the times we live in.The LGBTQ+ community in Brazil, and other countries, are facing growing persecution and discrimination – in some places it feels like society is moving backwards.
“The Trial digs deep into social attitudes and realities, and I feel privileged to be working with Ines Sampaio’s, with such remarkable energy, and the ability to grip the audience as she tells a compelling story while switching between half a dozen roles.”
Isle of Wight Observer