The Deceased Woman

Nelson Rodrigues, playwright of The Deceased Woman, said “We must fill the stage with murderers, adulterers, madmen.” Unfortunately, this production at the miniscule Etcetera Theatre doesn’t live up to this thrilling statement.

The play, by the Brazilian Rodrigues, tells the story of Zulmira, a young lower middle-class Brazilian woman who becomes obsessed with her own mortality following a visit to a fortune teller. Paranoia about imagined threats leads her to start planning her own funeral – one the neighbours will never forget.

Mariana Pereira’s production emphasises the play’s episodic structure at the expense of a coherent plotline. Suspense is almost entirely absent, so the play’s climaxes pass us by.

Wendy Windle is engaging as Zulmira and there is clever ensemble work dotted throughout the production. Darren McIllroy overplays Zulmira’s football-loving, simple-minded husband, reducing him to a caricature. Meanwhile George Rowe and Daniel Kelly play a baffling array of roughly sketched characters – with varying degrees of success.

Rodrigues is regarded as one of Brazil’s most important playwrights: this production does not do that reputation justice. Despite the cast’s energy and enthusiasm for the work, neither the characters’ actions nor the plot convince. The play’s title seems to promise intrigue and tragedy: this production delivers neither.

– Elizabeth Davis