Rio group Teatro de Busto opens a show where delivery workers are paid in liters of water. All sessions include simultaneous sign-language interpretation at Espaço Tápias, starting April 11.
A dystopia born from reality
Improvisation as resistance. Scarcity as currency. Popular ingenuity as the only way out. That is the urgent, inventive territory where Rio de Janeiro theater group Teatro de Busto stages “País Gambiarra” at Espaço Tápias, opening April 11.
The collective script was born during the covid-19 pandemic lockdown. It imagines a fictional Brazil where water has become the medium of exchange and gig workers — embodied by delivery riders — are paid in liters. In this world, pipes are deliberately punctured, the government announces containment projects while profiting from a pharmaceutical, and death itself becomes a new delivery demand.
The story already inspired a graphic novel of the same name, distributed free of charge in public schools and libraries. Now it comes to life onstage, directed by Jefferson Santi, with a cast that blends sharp comedy and critical precision.
“País Gambiarra is not a play about a distant future. It is about right now. About what we invent when the State disappears. About how the makeshift fix becomes politics, art, and often the only way to keep from sinking.” — Jefferson Santi, director
Teatro de Busto: caricature, critique and social commitment
Formed by artists from different Brazilian states who met in theater programs at UNIRIO and UFRJ, Teatro de Busto has been building since 2022 a repertoire that moves between broad comedy and deep social reflection. The group earned three nominations for the Prêmio PRIO do Humor 2024 and has toured public schools in Rio de Janeiro and Maranhão, bringing workshops, staged readings, and art to communities with limited cultural access.
“País Gambiarra” keeps the group’s signature style: exaggerated physicality, extreme situations, and dramaturgy that exposes precarity without being didactic. Every performance includes simultaneous Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) interpretation, underlining the collective’s commitment to art as a universal right.
Credits
- Artistic Direction: Jefferson Santi
- Production Direction: Dudu Gehlen and Gustavo Kaz
- Executive Production: Felipe Ferreira
- Dramaturgy: Grupo Teatro de Busto
- Cast: Lucas Rodrigues, Leo de Moraes, Ketrolin Rossetto, Kath Alvez, Gustavo Kaz and Dudu Gehlen
- Movement Direction: Elton Sacramento
- Musical Direction: Rohl Martinez
- Set and Lighting Design: Lara Aline
- Costumes: Cleiton Almeida
- Visual Identity: Jefferson Santi
- Social Media: Victoria Brandão
- Photography: Michele Gomes
- Funding: Brazilian Federal Government, Ministry of Culture, State Government of Rio de Janeiro and State Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy, through the Política Nacional Aldir Blanc
Event Info
- Show: País Gambiarra
- Company: Teatro de Busto
- Season: April 11 to May 3, 2026
- Performances: Saturdays and Sundays at 7 PM
- Venue: Espaço Tápias — Av. Armando Lombardi, 175 (near Jardim Oceânico metro station, Mar exit), Rio de Janeiro
- Capacity: 80 seats
- Running time: 60 minutes
- Tickets: BRL 30 (full price) | BRL 15 (half price)
- Sales: Sympla — https://www.sympla.com.br/produtor/espacotapias
- Accessibility: simultaneous Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) interpretation at all sessions
- Age rating: 12 and over
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