Abstract
Decio de Almeida Prado is among the most important Brazilian theater critics and a relevant figure for theater modernization. Throughout his work, the theme of the “personality” relates to the critic’s argument of “old theater’s” anachronism, characterized by several absences, such as direction and scenography as specialized activities, which coexisted with an excessive presence of great actors full of talent and strong personalities that upstaged other play elements, particularly its text. This paper highlights Prado’s analyses of the actors, sometimes described as possessing innate talent, other times criticized for lacking a self-improvement ethos. These considerations extend to important modern theater figures, such as actress Cacilda Becker and director Zbigniew Ziembinski. When analyzing actors, Prado mobilizes considerations aligned to the German notion of Bildung ; on the other hand, Prado’s analysis about Ziembinski resembles Mário de Andrade’s idea of individualist artists.
Keywords
Theater criticism; Decio de Almeida Prado; Modern brazilian theater; Old theater; Great actors