I’ve been harassed my whole life, but it’s by talking about this disgust that we’ll change, says Lorena Comparato

A classic character from the work of playwright Nelson Rodrigues (1912-1980) brings Lorena Comparato, 34, back to the theater. Off stage since 2020, she will play Maria Cecília, the protagonist of “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária”, a text that has already been adapted for audiovisual media a few times.

In Rodrigo’s work, Maria Cecília is raped by five men (a shocking scene for both those who have read it and those who have seen a previous version), and her father decides that she needs to get married to regain her dignity.

Lorena knows the story well: she is a student of the author’s work, and her father, Doc Comparato, already produced an adaptation of this same work for the cinema, in 1981, with Lucélia Santos in the role. “Nelson is a guy that a lot of people question, but we have the idea of ​​adapting a classic text that brings a difficult vision and resonates to this day”, she assesses.

In addition to the plot of the young girl forced to marry someone she doesn’t want, the play criticizes the bourgeoisie and the Rio elite and addresses themes such as racism and machismo, subjects that have always been part of Nelson’s repertoire.

Lorena is excited about the role, despite the anguish and some triggers it brings her. “Starting from the principle that I am a woman and that I have been and am harassed all my life, it is important to talk about it. But it is by talking about this disgust that we will change something. I am surrounded by people that I admire and they put me on stage in a very comfortable place to address these pains that are also my own,” she says to F5.

In 2022, she revealed that she suffered sexual harassment within her own family for years when she was younger, abuse disguised as affection. Last year, she reported being the victim of harassment on a travel bus. A man touched her while she slept.

“If I said that today this is no longer part of me, it would be a lie. In a way, sometimes we only understand a trauma after many years of therapy and conversations. I have never been able to sleep on a bus again”, he says.

“Cute, but Ordinary” is directed by Bruce Gomlevsky and the cast includes names such as Agatha Marinho, Dani Marques, Emilio Orciollo Netto, Orã Figueiredo, Sylvia Bandeira and Tonico Pereira. Premieres on August 9th, at Teatro Caixa, in Rio de Janeiro