Director Danilo Gambini tells us about new show Ni Mi Madre, opening soon at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Where: Pleasance Dome
When: 31 Jul, Aug 1-5, 7-18, 20-26
Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ni-mi-madre
What are you looking forward to the most at Fringe?
I have heard about the Fringe for pretty much the entirety of my professional life, both in Brazil and the US.
I have had many friends and collaborators take their shows to the Fringe, as well as just go as audience members.
Everyone comes back saying they had the best time of their lives, and many of them saying it is their favorite place-and-time on Earth. So – yeah – I’m looking forward to that!
To falling in love with Edinburgh and with the Fringe, to the experience of sharing Ni Mi Madre with the Fringe audiences, to meeting amazing artists, to seeing great theater – all of it!
Tell me about Ni Mi Madre. It’s described as a dark comedy and classified as LBGTQ+. It’s about immigration and secrets. Where did the idea come from and what should audiences expect?
This show started with Arturo putting on a dress, opening a bottle of wine, and reading his own old journals to the audience as if he was his mother.
This was – mind you – some 15 years ago. NI MI MADRE play has evolved into a hilarious comedy about dealing with a growing queer son, being that growing queer son of a larger-than-life Brazilian mother, who has immigrated to the US and made her life there.
There is a Brazilian Modernist movement that is identified as Cultural Anthropophagism. It is the act of ingesting and digesting a multitude of cultures and references and making them all part of your “body”.
If we follow this idea, NI MI MADRE’s body is made of drag shows, stand-up comedy, a ritual of forgiveness, Iemanjá, Gloria Stefan, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, Madonna, a strong caipirinha, (maybe a pill or another?), a good glass of good wine, a glass of terrible wine, your mother, your grandmother, your queer soon, all of your husbands, a whole lot of heart, and – of course – a whole lot of fun.
The title refers to the mother. How crucial has that character been in developing the show?
Bete is Arturo’s mother, in real life and in the play. She is the hostess and the star. Bete starts the show saying that in another life, she could have been Madonna. And she could, indeed!
This is a show about her own motherhood, but also her matrilineage, and all the hurt we inherit from our mothers. NI MI MADRE is Bete’s show.
She is having the time of her life in front of us, sharing her heart and soul, until some things she would prefer to keep to herself are exposed.
We hear a lot about “generational trauma”, but this show is about “generational healing” – through laughter, joy, love, and forgiveness.
You have set this in the present day with 1990s soundtrack to match. How crucial was the music and how did you decide which tracks to pick?
I can describe the soundtrack of this show in a simple and yet quite accurately: imagine finding a CD lost in the very back of your mother’s glove compartment that says “ 90’s Favorites ”. This is pretty much it!
What’s next for you after this?
Right after Arturo and I return from the UK, we will enter a development process of Arturo’s next solo show called SIN PADRE, at Rattlestick Theater in NYC, the same theater where NI MI MADRE had its world premiere in 2021.
In June 2025 I am confirmed to direct a very exciting play at Studio Theatre in DC, where I am the Associate Artistic Director.
The play is called WIPEOUT, by Aurora Real de Asua, and it is about three women in their 70’s in a surf lesson in California!