A companhia teatral Phenix Dramática: teatro ligeiramente nacional no Rio de Janeiro entre as décadas de 1860 e 1870

Abstract

The endeavor to the construction of a “National Theater” in the capital of the Empire of Brazil had the effort of many literate men, especially of playwrights who supported the Romantic and Realist schools. From the 1860s on, time of the advent of genres of Light Theater (Teatro Ligeiro) in Brazil, and especially in the early 1870s when these genres were established on our stages, the ideal of a “National Theater” built by the representatives of those schools were significantly unsettled. This work demonstrates that the transformations in the social, economic, cultural, and political context of Rio de Janeiro between the late 1860s and early 1870s changed the very definition of the “National Theater” concept, making it wider and less strict, because espectacles which, in the previous decade, would not be accepted as “National”, started being considered as such. In order to deeply understand the repercussion of such contextual changes in the field of drama, it was necessary thorough dedication to the everyday events of one of the most important theater companies of that time and the most representative one regarding the adoption of Light Theater Genres throughout the world of theater in Rio de Janeiro, Phenix Dramática theater company (1868 – 1891). Dialoguing with the contributions provided by the History of the Concepts and, in the methodology field, with the Social History, especially Social History of Culture, this thesis uses the periodic press as main source of research. Twenty-five newspapers were directly consulted, most of them in Rio de Janeiro, between 1821 (Diário do Rio de Janeiro) and 1889 (O Paiz).