Rimbaud’s text A Virgem Doida marks Mónica Calle’s debut as an actress and the start of Casa Conveniente in 1992. A monologue to which she returned, precisely 20 years later, in 2012.
From March to May, Mónica Calle presents at Teatro São Luiz the emblematic solos of her career. The title Este é o Meu Corpo refers to Calle’s body of work, as well as her physical body, one of the main drivers and axes of creation. With this gesture, the actress seeks to update the various shows – which translate her main artistic lines – and a possible reflection on her journey. “Theatre, intangible heritage, made up of ephemeral events that can only subsist in the memory of those who attend them or, at best, in the secondary memory of those who hear or read an account (or see images, fixed or moving, which are always and only an aid), has the possibility, here, of being revisited and rethought ”, notes Mónica Calle. Each of these solos corresponds to decisive moments of her journey, moments of discovery, research, rupture, new beginnings. “This is also a defence and a statement that artwork does not happen in a fragmented way, but rather as the result of a past that blends into the present to continue into the future,” she says. With the continuous presentation of the different solos, it is possible to consider them in confrontation and dialogue, thus producing new and different readings. On the other hand, the public is allowed access to the research line that this creator has developed over the last 28 years.
“This is my body. In between statement and question. Yes, this was my body. These solo works have been my body – my physical, personal, artistic body – over 28 years. But they are also a collective body, inscribed in different circumstances and contexts, social, political and artistic contexts, and they can also tell that story. I believe that artistic creation has consequences in all of our lives, just as I believe that our personal actions have the same expression. I believe that the duty of the living is to remember the dead, just as I believe that the duty of art is to give voice to those who do not have it. I increasingly believe, in a confident and conscious way, in the idea of God. And so I increasingly believe that the most fragile, the most perishable, the unique and the individual must be protected. But is this still my body? I don’t know. And what body is this that keeps searching for itself through work? What body could it become? This is the primary reason that leads me to unify works that have been carried out in a fragmented manner throughout 28 years of my life: to find myself in my relationship with others, in the privilege that is artistic creation and to continue to live in awe. ”
Monica Calle
