Written by Michel Marc Bouchard

Adapted by Armando Babaioff

Review by Marina Funcasta

Pleasance at EICC

Armando Babaioff’s adaptation of Michael Marc Bouchard’s 2013 play Tom at the Farm comes to the Fringe Festival with not much to prove. Winner of several international awards since its first adaptation in 2017, Babaioff’s translation of has already been regarded as a seminal turning point for contemporary Brazilian theatre.

Set in modern-day Brazil, in a rural farm under the Presidency of Bolsonaro, Babaioff’s adaptation is frictionless. Although much of this is thanks to Babaioff’s diligent translation, reportedly prioritising words which feel natural to the emotion and rhythm of Brazilian Portuguese, his wider team also deserve much credit. The ensemble, first and foremost, performs their characters with an effortless Latin edge. Agatha, the matriarch of our fazenda, is played with cutting wit by Denise del Vecchio. Her presence dominates the stage, attesting to the power mothers hold over embattled, petulant sons. Francis, her surviving son, is played with menacing volatility by Iano Salomão, whose physicality stuns in its verisimilitude. Being related to Brazilians myself, I must say Salomão’s performance was uncanny; during his sweeter moments, albeit few and far between, I could well imagine him as an avuncular figure, looming over a churrasco, drinking his seventh Brahma, heckling at the football on the TV.

Francis and his mother clearly have a strained relationship. Safe to say, in this farm, love is reduced to familiarity. Hugs and kisses become synonymous with helpings of corn grits and being the first to taste fresh cow cream. To be sure, the beauty of these moments is magnified by the pure filth which characterises the wider stage. Designed by Aurora dos Campos, Lennox Theatre at the EICC becomes a habitat of mud. A messy kind of work is at play here. Seeing the actors prepare the stage was particularly effective at orienting the audience towards an appreciation of this. Heightened by Tomas Ribas’ lighting design, the farm is painted as a filthy, solitary confinement. Chosing to remain here, Tom’s presence itself becomes one of the play’s most explicit mysteries. Partnered with several other omissions and delusions, the silent working rhythm of the farm has a note of violence about it.

The violence is a particularly important theme for Babaioff, who brings his script to modern-day Brazil, buldozing Bolsonaro’s politics into his theatrical arena. Though the mentions are subtle, the feeling is pervasive: having seen a 30% increase in the rate of homophobia-related deaths from 2015 to 2017, this period of Brazilian politics taught social survival through the lens of deceiving conformity. The effects of this ideology on small, detached communities are clearly ubiquitous, but in this play, the homophobia strikes a slightly eerier and more stringent tune.

The style of Babaioff’s performance ought to be credited for this: constantly teetering on the edge of insanity, we see him flicker between realist dialogue, stream of consciousness, and desperate voicemails. Physically he is also under pressure, and having completely transformed by the end of the production, we are left to question where to put our trust: they are all lost, and overcome with emotion, violence becomes the only answer. Thankfully humorous, this tragicomedy packs a blistering bite, even 500 miles and nearly a decade away from its first adaptation.

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