In spite of the space and time which separate the Brazilian Gianfrancesco
Guarnieri and the Canadian David Fennario, they have more in common than
one might believe. Both started writing their plays after a period of political
authoritarianism followed by a kind of political euphoria: in Brazil, the
Kubitschek Era; in Québec, the Quiet Revolution. Affected by these
events, both of them used their plays as a means for an explicit working-class
struggle. In They Don't Wear Black Ties, and Nothing to Lose, this struggle
is shown in the workers' solidarity in carrying out a strike. While they
construct it as a collective action, they suddenly become aware that besides
the dominant classes' opposition they also have to face the opposition
inside the working-class movement. This appears when personal reasons are
presented as justifications for searching for individuality instead of
collectivity. When Tião decides to be a strikebreaker, he does it
for a personal reason: his girlfriend's pregnancy. Billy's reluctance to
strike is also due to a personal reason: the problem he has with his legs.
This paper examines the question of strikes and the contradictions they
show in these two plays.
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