The articles written by the PÚBLICO Brasil team are written in the variant of the Portuguese language used in Brazil.
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For four weeks, anyone who wants to learn a little about Brazilian theater will have the opportunity at Chapitô, in Lisbon. The culture and circus arts space will host four theater plays, always from Friday to Sunday, with tickets costing 12 euros.
The idea for holding the festival came from Bruno Mariozz, one of its curators. “At the end of last year, I was at Chapitô with a play Mother of Sainta monologue with actress Vilma Melo. We had two presentations and it was a success. The idea of doing a program with four shows in that space came up, which was accepted”, says Mariozz.
A common characteristic of the pieces that will be on display is that they are authorial works, without using a renowned text. “We have two shows created by me and two shows by other creators”, says Mariozz.
The festival will open with the play There will bea monologue starring Mariana Vasconcelos from Minas Gerais. “She is a Brazilian living in Portugal. She brings a little of this mix, an experience that comes from Brazil and is built in Portugal, bringing together other narratives. The essence is Brazilian, but mixed with Portuguese art”, explains Mariozz.
In the second week, from October 18th to 20th, it will be the Our placewhich features actress Sara Bentes and actor Kiko do Valle. “It is a play written and performed by an actress and singer who is visually impaired. She stars in the show from a hanging arch, which is a very challenging situation. Furthermore, there is a relationship with Chapitô’s language, with its circus aspect and its concern with accessibility”, he reports.
The third show, which premieres from October 25th to 27th, is titled Black Roses. Created by Bahian director Onisajé – the other curator of the festival – it has actress Fabíola Nansurê who deals with the difficulties, struggles, victories and challenges of the daily lives of black women in Brazil.
The last show will be Bahian Motherfrom November 1st to 3rd. “It is based on the story of Helena Teodoro, the first black doctorate in philosophy in Brazil. It deals with a grandmother’s reaction to the loss of a granddaughter. Helena Teodoro lost her granddaughter when she was four years old”, she says.
Brazilian theater in Portugal
When she left Belo Horizonte to come to Portugal, Mariana Vasconcelos, 39, the actress in the play There will bewhich premieres this Friday, did not initially aim to create a theater. “I came to have experiences, to learn. I studied at Fórum Dança and Centro de Estudos do Movimento, which involves not just dance, but something broader”, he recalls.
He completed a master’s degree in theater in Lisbon and ended up forming a multinational theater group, InsanaCena. “We are four Brazilians, three Portuguese, one Hungarian and one Syrian”, she says.
Mariana Vasconcelos, who will star in the monologue Há
Disclosure
In the plays they present, social issues are always present. “We try to bring themes that make sense, such as racism, xenophobia, misogyny. The pieces are not about these themes, but they permeate our work”, he adds.
On Saturday and Sunday, at Chapitô, she will be accompanied by two Portuguese women who are part of the group and, in addition to being actresses, are musicians. “On the first day, the presentation will be with recorded music. In the other two, they will play the soundtrack while I perform”, says Mariana.
She talks about the difficulties of having live music. “They will have to improvise a lot. If I’m slower, they’ll have to keep up,” he explains.
About the piece There will beshe says: “It talks about hope in the midst of chaos. It seeks a way to find possible deviations to deal with existence and what we experience around us”, he states.
