Ten years after her premiere in Scotland, actress and playwright Jo Clifford presents her monologue for the first time in São Paulo. In this revolutionary queer ritual, bread is shared, wine is drunk and Jesus (played by the artist) is revived as a transsexual. The play, which caused a stir among Christians on its premiere in a Glasgow’s church, was created by the British playwright as a way of dealing with her own faith and transsexualism. To do so, it is based on one of the rocks of Christian rhetoric: acceptance. Therefore, it is a thinking device for the relations between art and society, and on the power of trans playwrights in confronting structural mechanisms of exclusion. Clifford’s work inspired the namesake Brazilian show performed by Renata Carvalho, which will also be presented at MITsp.

Jo Clifford is a British playwright and performer, wrote plays such asLoosing Venice and The Taming of the Shrew. In 2015, she created Queen Jesus Productions to assist The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven monologue’s tour. That year, the group performed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe supported by Made in Scotland, then it was performed at the Outburst Festival in Belfast; at Queer Contact, in Manchester; and supported by the British Council, at FIT – Belo Horizonte International Theatre Festival. The show was performed (in part or in full) in churches, bars, theatres and festivals across the UK, including a successful Christmas special edition in 2018, supported by Creative Scotland at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. In 2019, the group was selected for the first time by the Made in Scotland Festival in Brussels.

CRITICS

Clifford’s Gospel is like a warm embrace. It’s an act of communion and healing, but it’s angry too. As funny and outrageous as her rewriting of the Good Samaritan as an old queen with cum on her lips can be, her invocation of Golgotha and the Passion is agonizing. (…) Originally condemned for blasphemy when it premiered in 2009, Clifford’s story is in fact the absolute opposite. It may be a heretical doctrine that she imparts, but it’s a deeply spiritual, almost sacred hour, preaching kindness and bravery in the face of cruelty, ignorance and fear. 

STEWART PRINGLE, Fest Mag

It cannot be stressed strongly enough that this is no attack on belief in general or Christianity. Instead, it is a celebratory, almost devotional work that probably gets to the heart of the Gospels more than a regular Christmas show. Those of us who long ago stopped believing that any artistic endeavour has the capability of making anyone a better person can certainly be given pause for thought.

HUGH SIMPSON, All Edinburgh Theatre

One of the most striking journeys in recent theatre history JOYCE MCMILLAN, The Scotsman

TECHNICAL SHEET

TEXT AND PERFORMANCE: Jo Clifford
DIRECTION: Susan Worsfold
PRODUCTION: Annabel Cooper

PHOTOS

Renata Carvalho, actress and activist from Santos, performs Jesus and recreates its history as a transsexual in this Brazilian adaptation of the text by British Jo Clifford – who also presents her show The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven at MITsp. The work is based on one of the rocks of Christian rhetoric: acceptance; to think on the relations between art and society, and on the power of trans playwrights in confronting structural mechanisms of exclusion. The Brazilian version, which was censored and had presentations officially banned (accused of disrespect to religion), rescues an underground world from the streets. The artist’s raw performance brings out her transvestite identity, defying the public to understand the suffering caused by stigma and marginalisation.

Renata Carvalho is an actress, playwright, director and researcher of the trans body in the arts (transpologist). She founded Coletivo T (the first group to be formed entirely by trans artists in São Paulo) and MONART (National Movement of Trans Artists), which, in 2017, launched the Trans Representation Manifesto. In 2012, she took part in the works ZONA!, Projeto Bispo and Nossa Vida Como Ela É, in addition to productions for television and cinema. She performed in The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven (which was widely censored in Brazil) and Domínio Público (a performance that brought together four Brazilian artists to stage, who were targeted by attacks in 2017). Her show Transpophagic Manifesto, a co-production among Risco Festival, Corpo Rastreado and MITsp, premiered at MITsp in 2019. 

CRITICS

As a Christian, Clifford translates, but doesn’t reduce the Nazarene. She suggests a “thesis play”, yet without the flaws that made the term meaning a distorted theatre by the interest of political or philosophical indoctrination. She greatly balances preaching itself with physical actions, music and powerful images, which owes much to the actress’ expressiveness. Transvestite and LGBT activist, Renata shows a lavish “overflow of fraternal love”. Love not only towards transphobia victims but also in an existential dimension, by proposing we are unity.

 CAIO LIUDVIK, Folha de S. Paulo 

Clifford’s script is more prayer than play, staying faithful to its biblical source and translating it into the sparest of poetry made in her own image. Carvalho takes this and runs with it, donning a sparkly frock for the occasion as she brings the parables bang up to date. When sharing the sacraments, she brings home the full physical meaning of the devouring of the body and blood. It’s a meal served with joy, and we lap it up with wonder.

NEIL COOPER, Herald Scotland

TECHNICAL SHEET

TEXT: Jo Clifford
PERFORMANCE: Renata Carvalho
TRANSLATION, ADAPTATION AND DIRECTION: Natalia Mallo
PRODUCTION: Corpo Rastreado
TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Juliana Augusta