The creation of a high-level national theatre was part of a political project which the generation of Machado de Assis embraced with enthusiasm, that is to say, the modernization of society with a view to inserting Brazil in the "civilized world". In this essay, I try to demonstrate how much Machado de Assis engaged in this project through his theater reviews as well as discuss the reasons for his withdraw al from the theater at a certain moment of his life.
theater reviews; modernization; theater in Brazil; chronicle