Composed of actors between 30 and 40 years old, the company has Brazilian artists from Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Pará, Maranhão and a Portuguese actor, added Marcelo Andrade, director of the company, in an interview with the Lusa agency.
“In the mouth of the shark”, which is presented at the Sociedade Filarmónica Recordação D’Apolo, in Ajuda, in Lisbon, addresses xenophobic issues, the migratory crisis, the way in which “people are abandoned to their fate” and It is a starting point of a company that wants to “confront the advance of the extreme right and hate speech,” because “hate speech kills.”
The objective of the group “is to be open,” said Marcelo Andrade, adding that the fact that it is called Teatro do Imigrante “does not mean that it does not accept Portuguese artists or artists of other nationalities.”
The main idea was “to create a space to welcome immigrant artists who did not have, for example, the possibility of being in a Portuguese company or who did not have other jobs,” he stressed.
“What we want most is for Portuguese artists to also be with immigrants debating immigration issues,” he said, highlighting that they want to have “everyone they can, of all types of nationalities represented” in the company.
Only then will they be able to “debate immigration policies like the entire world, like the entire society” and “dialogue with all audiences, of all nationalities, about diverse perspectives.”
“That’s why the group was born” when, in November 2023, the actors began to get together to form the group and moved from space to space until they ended up at the Sociedade Filarmónica Recordação D’Apolo, which welcomed them very well. It gave them a space for rehearsals and where they will premiere their first work this Thursday, he said.
Actor in Brazil, Marcelo Andrade arrived in Portugal almost four years ago to do a master’s degree and never acted again.
Since he had never been without acting for so long, he thought of bringing together actors who “had difficulties integrating into Portuguese companies”, thus creating the first production in Portugal, with which they intend to be able to earn a living solely from the theater.
Although the actors that make up the group are professionals, they all have other jobs that provide them with a means of subsistence.
“In the mouth of the shark” is made up of three stories and the narrative is based on a “guide line, a white shark,” said the author and director of the work. When asked if the great white shark represents the extreme right, Marcelo Andrade said no.
The work goes further, detecting the prejudices, the permeated, the thoughtless, the hate speech, which destroys everything.
The first story of the play depicts a father and daughter discussing the rise of the far right in Portugal and Europe and poses the question “at what point in our daily lives are we going to have a discourse on anti-immigration policies?” “
Some lines of the work portray xenophobic attitudes heard by the author “in the places where he worked.” Not against himself, but against some specific minorities, he indicated, exemplifying the case of “a very sweet and pretty lady who referred to a certain minority saying that they have children like cockroaches.”
Marcelo Andrade also maintained that “hate speech has been growing.” “Little by little, (…) I feel that there is growth, especially in social networks.”
When he arrived in Portugal there was “a discourse here and there in the comments and in the message boxes, which is now increasing a lot.”
And although he attended the academy more, Marcelo Andrade said that he did not feel the hate speech as much, since he interacts with all types of people, “he realizes that this speech is growing” that it becomes “a little open in the speeches.”
What was previously said “in a very veiled way,” now “is beginning to gain strength and the word is beginning to be said without many reservations,” he concluded.
The migratory crisis, particularly that of the Mediterranean, where people “are abandoned to their fate, on a journey that has already killed so many people” also has space in the work and occupies a place in the company that aims to “face the advance of the extreme right and hate speech.” he is stressed.
“Because hate speech kills,” Marcelo Andrade stressed, lamenting that it is a phenomenon that affects Portugal and all of Europe.
“In the mouth of the shark” has dramaturgy, staging, set design and costumes by Marcelo Andrade. It is on stage at the Sociedade Filarmónica Recordação D’Apolo, in Ajuda, in Lisbon.
The performances will take place on Saturday and on May 24, 25 and 26. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays start at 9:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
The work is performed by Alexandra Marinho de Oliveira, Gabriella Hedegaard, Geraldo Monteiro, Gonçalo da Costa Ramalho, Lorena Garrido and Tiago Braz, with the special participation of Camilo Bevilacqua.
The soundtrack is by Felipe Maciel and the photos and videos are by Keise.
Source: Observadora
