The word Liberdade (Freedom) is the motto of this show about Miguel Torga. The spelling of Liberdade is the nexus of the dramaturgical proposal; each letter corresponds to the first letter of another word that we find necessary, constitutive of the semantic content of Freedom.
So, the L in the beginning can be Read or Books (Ler or Livros). Without this capacity, of reading and writing, it is hard to think of Freedom, unless we’re referring to the case of the “simple-minded”, only subject to the rules of an unidentifiable nature.
There is, by chance or luck, no Freedom without Wrath (Ira): The Grapes of Wrath, of other memories of the “exploitation of men by other men”, the torrential Wrath of Aquiles, even older, also called anger; in Indignation, as well as in Injustice, in so much of what happens before our eyes, and that we, because of our Incompetence, decide to Ignore.
B follows, in Kindness (Bondade), the “milk of human kindness”, still, mercifully, the effect of an abnegated medicine in an unequal fight against suffering.
The letter E in Stoicism (Estoicismo), resistance to the mercilessness of the elements, to the difficulties of the landscape, to its allure as well, stoic until the end, “no concessions” of solitary emperor -, I refer a link, perhaps unacceptable, between Praça de São Martinho de Anta, where lays the memory of centenary Negrilho, those “hanging woods”, and the Campidoglio, in Rome, where the copy of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius endures.
R in Distaff (Roca), in River, in common thread, in the thread that connects, in the febrile intelligence, in Douro River, immense, rebel, adorning the landscape, weaving it in an ample movement of return; return home, return to the hands of a mother; to the depressed look of a father, not to keen on familiarities, absorbed between the fire and the writing, forcing, digging the river’s spring; the restless distaff on the tepid spinning, on the sweet and calloused hands.
D follows, in Destiny, but also in Decision; impossible combat, maybe somewhere between Destiny and Decision, decision to counter destiny, the destiny of countering the decision; between strong will and the circumstances to which each of our lives sway? “It’s destiny!” or “He managed against everything and everyone!” or “It was a mix! It was luck! It was God!” or “I don’t believe in God, no! What about him? Does He believe in me?” Decision and Destiny, until the end, never understanding if what prevails is the indomitable will of a Decision “undertaken to the last of consequences”, if an invisible damage, or stupor, that tarnishes the will.
The letter A, in Love (Amor), at first sight, at first light, at first things, Spring love, love of irresistible and pounding truth. Could there be Freedom without love, without the messy truth of love?
D in Democracy, despite all, and against the more sceptical voices, prevails this stubborn idea of understanding respect for minorities, for the lonely voices, as a vital exercise that safeguards the integrity and the dignity of the human communities.
And, at last, E for Eros, the Greek god that safeguards the “passage from chaos into the cosmos”, from the gloomy disorder into the luminous disorder, from mortuary quietness into the springtime vitality; Eros, c’est la vie (Sèlavy in Marcel Duchamp’s formulation) of the festive bodies, the flowers, at last in magnanimous altar, pruned, in form, ornament and sap of an innocent world.
Carlos J Pessoa
CAST AND CREW LIST
Text by Miguel Torga
Direction and Dramaturgy Carlos J. Pessoa
Research Support João Luís Sequeira – Espaço Miguel Torga (S. Martinho de Anta)
Acting Afonso Viriato, Ana Palma, Lara Matos, Maria João Vicente, Tiago Bôto and Wagner Borges
Participants from the Theatre Clubs Alexandre Neves, Aline Marques, Ana Maria Pereira, Carlota Nascimento, Carolina Marques, Graça Oliveira, José Daniel Toscano, Júlia Catita, Júlio Reis, Liliana Pedro, Manuel Pessoa, Marina Preguiça, Matilde Fernandes, Matilde Serrão and Sónia Castro
Music and Sound Design Daniel Cervantes
Set and Costume Design Sérgio Loureiro
Technical Director Nuno Samora
Lights Manuel Abrantes
Video Capture, Video Edition and Camera Operation Eduardo Cunha – Oskar&Gaspar
Production Director Maria João Vicente
Production and Communication Carolina Mano
Assistant Producer Joana Rodrigues and Marta Ascenso
Photography Marília Maia e Moura and Joana Rodrigues
This show was commissioned by Teatro Municipal de Bragança and Teatro Municipal de Vila Real, for the project NORTE 2020 – “Somewhere in the Northeast”
Coproduction Teatro Académico Gil Vicente
Presented at Teatro Municipal de Bragança [vinte e sete – Festival de Teatro], Teatro Municipal de Vila Real [vinte e sete – Festival de Teatro], Teatro Académico Gil Vicente [20ª Semana Cultural da Universidade de Coimbra]
With the support of Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, EGEAC, Junta de Freguesia de Santa Maria Maior
Financed by Direção-Geral das Artes, Governo de Portugal | Ministério da Cultura
+12|70 minutes long
+INFO AND RESERVATIONS:
producao@teatrodagaragem.com | 924 231 570
Tickets are 5,00€(*) and 10,00€
(*) Discount valid for: over 65, professionals of theatre, students of Theatre, residents on the neighbourhood
