17/08/25

Pleasance at EICC (Lennox Theatre), Edinburgh

I have high hopes for this critically-acclaimed Brazilian adaptation of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom at the Farm. The eponymous Tom (Armando Babaioff) is grieving: his boyfriend, Paul, has recently died in a car accident. Paul will be buried in the rural town where he was raised, so advertising executive Tom leaves the big city behind and makes his way to the remote family farm. But he soon discovers that he isn’t welcome there: Paul’s mother, Ágatha (Denise Del Vecchio), doesn’t know that her son was gay, and his homophobic older brother, Francis (Iano Salomão), is determined to keep her in ignorance. Francis is a brutish, unreconstructed kind of guy, and his threats feel very real. Tom agrees to say nothing, so long as he can attend his lover’s funeral.

Just a few years ago, the plot might have seemed outdated: LGBTQIA+ people in Brazil have had their rights enshrined in law for many years; surely closeting has long been relegated to the past? Sadly, however, this 2011 play is all-too relevant again, as regressive regimes gain strength around the world – and none more so than Bolsanaro’s Brazil. It is no longer a safe place for the queer community, whatever their law says.

So this Cena Brasil Internacional production, directed by Rodrigo Portella, has an important message at its heart: homophobia is toxic and damaging, corrupting everything it touches.

However, I’m not as immersed in the story as I want to be. The vast Lennox Theatre feels too big for four actors, the audience too far away from the action. The staging is simple, relying on the buckets of mud and muck that engulf the space, but it’s all at such a distance; even in the front row, I’m in no danger of being spattered, or pulled in like Tom. I find myself reminiscing about a student production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore I saw back in 2014, where we were herded into a tiny room and given bin-bags to put over our clothes to protect them from the bloodshed. Tom at the Farm needs more of that: what’s the point in all the spitting and fighting and slipping and sliding if the audience experience is sanitised?

I have three other bugbears and they are both with the script. First, Sara (Camila Nhary)’s arrival unbalances the play: it’s too late and precipitates nothing. Second, the climactic, most exciting moment occurs offstage, and is merely recounted to us, which seems especially peculiar in such a carnal production. Third, I’m just a bit over the whole sophisticated city slickers vs. boorish country folk cliché.

Despite all this, there is still a lot to admire here: the performances are angry and raw, the actors’ physical commitment unwavering. The lighting (by Tomás Ribas) is stark and uncompromising, transfixing Tom as effectively as a proverbial deer, illuminating the dark heart of the farm. I like the use of golden English subtitles translating from the spoken Portuguese, and the unfurling of the Pride flag during the final bows.

Tom at the Farm is a haunting howl against prejudice, and a timely reminder that we have to keep on fighting the good fight.

3.4 stars

Susan Singfield