“Black Machine” reimagines Hamlet and Ophelia in Black bodies to explore race, desire and necropolitics.
The play “Black Machine” arrives at Itaú Cultural on Black Consciousness Day, running from November 20 to December 14, 2025. The production stages an encounter between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Heiner Muller’s Ophelia, embodied in Black bodies of the 21st century to address race, necropolitics, toxic masculinity, pain and desire.
Written by Dione Carlos and conceived by Fernando Lufer and Eugênio Lima, the play unfolds in two parts and confronts Western theatrical canon. Hamlet is guided by voices such as Frantz Fanon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Aimé Césaire and Mano Brown. Ophelia draws from Lélia Gonzalez, Sueli Carneiro and Erykah Badu.
The staging alternates between manifesto, delirium and performance, presenting a polyphonic experiment enhanced by constant music and a three-screen videographic setup. Fernando Lufer and Marina Esteves deliver performances with touches of spoken word and an afro-surrealist aesthetic where all timelines coexist.
Synopsis
“Black Machine” reinvents Hamlet and Ophelia in a pop-infused experiment that confronts race, necropolitics, toxic masculinity, pain and desire. Through poetic fragments, philosophical provocations and political references, the characters challenge the ruins of the world while rebuilding their identities.
Service
Black Machine
Dates: November 20 to December 14, 2025
Schedule: Thu–Sat 8 p.m.; Sundays and holidays 7 p.m. (On Nov. 20, session at 7 p.m.)
Venue: Itaú Cultural – Av. Paulista, 149 – São Paulo
Duration: 80 minutes
Rating: 12+
Admission free
Tickets released from 12 p.m. on Tuesdays of each performance week via INTI, through the Itaú Cultural website.
Programming subject to cancellation.
