The decadent Brazilian NHS ( National Health System) is the theme of The Black Picture, a play by Antonio Ermirio de Moraes which opens in July 1998. While concluding this project, Antonio Ermirio brings to the Rio de Janeiro stage Brazil L.C., the script which marked his authorial debut, opening January 9,1998 at The Adolpho Bloch Theatre.

Brazil L.C. (L.C. stands for Limited Company) attracted more than 52,000 people to the theatre during its Sao Paulo season in 1996. It is the story of a hopeful and honest man who invests all his money to be owner of a Pharmaceutical Industry. As a victim of a corrupt government and its high bank budgets he goes bankrupt.

Brazilian politician and businessman Antonio Ermirio de Moraes became a writer during his Sao Paulo Governor Campaign in 1986. He didn´t take the charge of governor, but he decided to express all his conceptions about Brazil through a theater script. "That is the best way to be a politician", says the author. "After seeing the play, people leave the theatre with something in their minds, something that will make them think carefully."

Antonio Ermirio denies having a direct parallel between his personal trajectory and the failed character Lucas in Brazil L.C, and explains "I haven´t had the ambition to be a dramatist, but I hope always to reveal the Brazilian political problems through the theatre. Like the character Lucas, I believe that Brazil needs to work more, to export more and to employ more...."

Brazil L.C. is directed by Marcos Caruso. TV and Theatre veteran actor Rogerio Froes plays Lucas, and TV and Theatre established actress Lucinha Lins plays Rosa, the Luca´s wife. For more information about Brazil L.C. call 021 556 3161 at The Adolpho Block Theatre in Rio de Janeiro.

-- By Nertutila Achao

Brazil Correspondent