Teatro Oficina, in Bixiga, is one of the most extraordinary theatres in the world — a long, narrow space designed by Lina Bo Bardi and Edson Elito as a kind of internal street, with scaffolded galleries running up both sides, a sliding glass wall that opens onto the greenery behind, and the audience moving through the action rather than sitting in front of it. It has been the home of the avant-garde company Teat(r)o Oficina, led for decades by the late director José Celso Martinez Corrêa (Zé Celso), since the 1960s.
The company's productions are famously long, raucous, and confrontational, and the building itself is a listed monument that has survived repeated battles with developers eyeing the land. Even if you cannot catch a performance, the architecture is reason enough to seek it out. Check the schedule in advance — when something is on, it is unlike any night at the theatre you have had.