The regime started to lose its shame. In the Brazilian theater. In 1968.

In 1968, the Brazilian theater lived a period of protests, like all the planet.

At that year, Brazil lived in a “shy dictatorship”. Militars were in the power since 1964 but allowed some kind of contestation to the regime.

But the environment was tense. And became even more tense when the play “Roda Viva” was launched in a theater in São Paulo.

The play was the first from Chico Buarque de Holanda, who until the play was a music idol considered as a “good guy”. But the play was everything but soft – it was a contestation with criticism to almost everything, from religion to sex repression, from the TV and its idols to the government. There was a lot of “bad words” and some nude scenes.

The play became a success when was launched but also provoked protests from the “right wing”. With the play, this right started to show its strength and hate.

This hate exploded during a presentation of “Roda Viva”. A group of 100 people who was seated watching the play suddenly woke up, invaded the stage and started to beat up the artists. The scenario was destroyed. The group, called Comando de Caça aos Comunistas (something like Anti Communists Command), declared with proud that they promoted the aggression.

The action became a symbol of the reaction of the government. The dictatorship started to lose its “shame”. And in December of 1968 the regime showed its real face installing a dictatorship, real, violent and with no shame.

In 1968, of course…