When the policies governing people’s working lives are unjust and harmful, and when the people impacted by those laws are far from the traditional halls of power – how do they push back? Can the joyful and collective nature of theatre catalyse the people-power needed to change bad laws? 

The Marias do Brasil, a theatre group of domestic workers (mostly) named Maria, formed in ‘98. Alongside the Domestic Workers Union, they were advocating for a new federal law granting workers’ documentation cards, retirement benefits, and other basic rights to be extended to domestic workers. However, the parliament, which mostly consisted of men, many of whom employed domestic workers at home, wouldn’t allow debate on such legislation. 

So the Marias escalated to legislative theatre. Over 4 years, they toured a play about experiences of abuse, workplace injury, and lack of adherence to severance pay regulation, with performances at schools, churches, even theatres. At each one, they collected not only ideas for action, but also petitions from their audiences. When they had amassed the maximum possible number of signatures, they flew to the capital for a single day, to deliver the signatures, and a performance, directly to the vice president of the congress, demanding continued debate on this package of laws. They called their campaign “The Marias Fight for a Just Law.” 

With the help of the women’s bloc of the federal parliament, a new law eventually passed. Domestic Workers in Brazil, numbering over 6 million, were entitled to working papers and retirement pay. A win for people power!