Nando Messias

Abstract

My research develops a practice-based investigation into the concept of sissy resignification.  The argument is situated within the scope of queer theory, more specifically as developed in the work of Judith Butler.  The ‘sissy', produced in my study as an original term, is therefore understood as a gendered category that reiterates a series of negotiable markers following a historical chain of stigmatised citations. 

The study analyses sissy subjectivity according to three distinct, yet related, categories: the body, abuse and space.  The thesis positions the sissy in relation to, and against, the concepts of defiance and normativity.  The thesis investigates and analyses existing queer theatrical practice and situates the practical element of the research in relation to it.

Profile

Nando Messias is a classically trained dancer originally from Brazil.  He received his BA in Acting at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2000 and worked professionally with O Sótão Dance-Theatre Company until 2003, when he moved to Britain to pursue further academic training.  Since then, Nando has gained an MA in Performance at the Central School of Speech and Drama and is currently pursuing his practice-based PhD at the same institution.

Professional stage experience includes an adaptation of Jean Genet’s Our Ladies of The Flowers and a performance of Samuel Beckett’s Not I.  Nando’s most recent experience includes Sissy! (2009), a dance-theatre piece choreographed by him as part of his PhD and The Bad Breast (2009), directed by Bruce LaBruce in Berlin.  Nando is a member of the London-based queer performance collective 'Eat Your Heart Out', directed by Scottee.

Nando has worked as a teaching assistant at the Department of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London for two terms (2006 and 2007).  In one of the modules, he taught how to create a theatrical performance from sources other than dramatic material (e.g. films, poems, novels, music, etc.).  In the second module, he taught physical training and improvisation for theatre.

Productions

2009 performer, The Bad Breast, Berlin, directed by Bruce LaBruce

2009 choreographer, performer, Sissy!, PhD performance, Central School of Speech & Drama

2007 choreographer, performer, Crumbs!, PhD performance, Central School of Speech & Drama

2006 choreographer, performer, In My Shoes, PhD performance, Central School of Speech & Drama

2005 performer, Underground, site-specific theatre production, directed by Tristan Sharps with dreamthinkspeak for BITE

2005 choreographer, performer, Jocasta, final MA submission, Central School of Speech & Drama