About

“Queen Jesus opened in Brazil on the 26th August 2016. Since then the play has been banned ten times, and suffered attempts to ban it dozens of times more. We have had a bomb thrown on stage, suffered the foulest insults, have been threatened with death and rape on numerous occasions, and have had armed police invading the stage. But the play has also opened up discussions on art, on justice, on politics and on religion. Jesus Queen of Heaven has given me a stronger professionalism as an artist and has amplified my voice as an activist and transpologist (trans*[anthro]pologist). It has taken me to places I thought I would never go to.” Renata Carvalho

It is still hard to measure the impact made by “The Gospel According to Jesus Queen Of Heaven” in Brazil but many researchers and academics are already describing it as a work that has changed the history of Brazilian theatre. 

“O Evangelho Segundo Jesus, Raihna do Ceu” premiered in Londrina and would go on to be performed over 200 times in major festivals and venues across Brazil, selling out wherever it went. Throughout, the play has faced huge opposition in Brazil, a country with the highest murder rate for queer and trans people in the world - performances have been cancelled, the cast have received death threats. Simultaneously, it has helped to change the landscape of theatre in Brazil, becoming a way to celebrate the rich, vibrant trans culture the country has, and be a focus of discussion about censorship and the limits of art. To go and see the play has become a political act and in the UK PEN International have written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to take action to call an end to attempts to censor it.

The company has resisted attempts at censorship via court orders, slanders, spreading fake news, threats of physical violence, and other boycotting strategies. Even before the massive controversies, the play has achieved great success with the public. It has been performed almost two hundred times in two years, and has attracted huge crowds in every venue. Tickets sell out wherever it goes. The piece has been performed in every single international festival in Brazil, besides reaching Northern Ireland, Cape Verde, Argentina, Uruguay and Germany. It has been performed in theatres, in cultural centres, and in museums, as well as in homeless shelters, prisons, refuges, churches and even on the streets. 

With the recent election of far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, it has become too dangerous to perform the play in Brazil. Openly transphobic, fundamentalist and extreme-right wing president Jair Bolsonaro, working in an alliance with neo pentecostal religious groups, politicians, members of the congress and of the government, conducted a crusade against the play.

Team

Renata Carvalho, performer

Actress, director, playwright and transpologist (trans anthropologist).
Founder of MONART (National Movement of Trans Artists), "Trans Representativity Manifesto" (which aims at trans artists playing trans characters) and COLLECTIVE T (the first art collective formed entirely by trans artists in Brazil).

Natalia Mallo, director and translator

Natalia is a multi-artist and cultural entrepreneur born in Argentina and based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has 20 years of professional experience developing projects in the fields of music, performing arts and interdisciplinary practices. She is a skilled composer, dramaturge, performer, director, curator and creative producer. Her artistic concerns address the intersection of languages and art forms in projects that touch upon the politics of diversity. She also acts as consultant for cultural organizations, governmental bodies and the third sector. She is translator and director of O Evangelho Segundo Jesus, Raihna do Ceu - The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven.