The “Independence Centennial Exposition” in Microcosm

The vaudeville Surpresas da Exposição is Staged in Carlos Gomes Theater

Abstract

This article tries to think about the writing and presentation of Gastão Tojeiro’s vaudeville Surpresas da Exposição (Surprises of the Exhibition), staged at the Carlos Gomes Theater in Rio de Janeiro by the Paschoal Segreto Company on November 23, 1922 – during the Independence Centennial Exposition. In the style of a revue, a theatrical genre popular in Rio de Janeiro from the last decades of the 19th century to the first decades of the 20th, this play seeks to revisit the event that changed the dynamics of the then federal capital from September 7 on. The Independence Centennial Exposition was one of the Universal Exhibitions, seeking to insert Brazil into the world concert occupied by the developed countries. Gastão Tojeiro’s vaudeville weaves a humorous social critique of the event, transforming the Carlos Gomes stage into its microcosm. We will analyze the play based on its copy sent to the censors. We will discuss its theme and the construction of the types considering the articles published in the period about the event, as well as the critical reception of this work, which was one of the great theatrical successes of 1922.