The Bride and the Good Night Cinderella is the first part of the Cadela Força trilogy by Brazilian artist Carolina Bianchi and her artist collective. This first part, presented at the Avignon Festival and revived at the Festival de la Batie in Geneva, did not go unnoticed. It's never easy to tackle the subject of sexual violence against women on stage, but Carolina Bianchi does it with rare brilliance. She doesn't give ready-made answers, she asks new questions and engages the spectator in an active reception.
Performance art makes this possible. The present of the performance cancels out the 4th wall, and the fiction of what we might call "a safe space". We have to face up to the reality of what has been reconstituted. Violence is not where we think it is. It's also question of gaze and receiving. This piece is a strategy for observing the consequences of sexual violence up close. But the piece won't erase or heal traumatic wounds. In this sense, "fuck catharsis" is Carolina Bianchi's credo!
I'm so happy and moved to have been able to talk to Carolina Bianchi about this much-needed play, which is so important to publicize and disseminate!
Carolina Bianchi is my guest on the 55th episode of Le Beau Bizarre, despite the distance and recording conditions.
Thanks to Carolina Mendonça for her invaluable contribution!
With works by Joel Curtz and Tania Bruguera.
The Bride and the Good Night Cinderella plays September 21 & 22 at the KVS in Brussels, January 31 to February 2 at Le Maillon in Strasbourg; and I have high hopes of seeing this play in Paris and other French cities next season !
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