Can a worker be an actress? Methodological challenges in the analysis of the interview with Marina Euzébio, actress of the production “O Último Carro” directed by João da Neves

Abstract

This article intends to analyze the interview conducted with Marina Euzébio, actress in the production O Último Carro, directed by João das Neves in São Paulo, in 1977. This play was the first in Brazil to mix professional actors with workers from the popular classes in its cast, since its script narrated the story of a train from the suburbs without a driver with passengers from the popular classes. More than 18 interviews were conducted with actors in the editing, including Marina Euzébio. Her trajectory demonstrates important aspects of the history of work in Brazil: the precariousness of work, the lack of social security, the absence of work records and the predominance of informal work in the country. Perhaps for this reason, her experience was happy and unusual: flexible hours, formal work registration and recognition for her work. All this context made her insertion in the play have a great impact on her life, which can be perceived through the exaltation of this event in her narrative. Permeated with expressions such as “I was happy”, “Best thing in the world”, “I loved”, “I was fulfilled”, the interview is filled with feelings of gratitude for her participation in the play, for her career and for that moment in the past. This interpretation does not refer only to the constructed narrative, but can be seen in the initial contact, in the choice of the interview location and in the inclusion of the whole family for that moment. The main hypothesis is that the fact that a subject – in this case the interviewer – was interested in a unique moment in the interviewee’s life made the whole process unique. Given this scenario, we intend to analyze the methodological difficulties when interpreting an interview that deals with a specific moment in life and from it builds a narrative of the past, present and future. Oral history has a great theoretical framework to understand the traumatic experiences of subjects in certain historical moments. For this article, the issue that arises is another: how to deal with narratives that report moments of happiness that have vanished in time?