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ORIGENS/ ORIGINS 2007

 

3 Countries: 4 Playwrights: 7 Deadly Sins

 

Staged Readings of plays by

AUGUSTO BOAL, ARMANDO ROSA,

MENA ABRANTES AND NELSON RODRIGUES

 

@ Canning House

 

  • Thursday 22nd November – 7pm Launch Evening

Punch at the Point of the Knife by Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal directed by Gael le Cornec Music by Menino Josue

 

 

  • Friday 23rd November – 7pm

Tunnel of The Rats by Portuguese playwright Armando Rosa directed by Jorge Balça .

Music by Leandra Varanda and Jonathan Preiss

 

 

  • Tuesday 27th November – 7pm Double bill

The Container by Angolan playwright Mena Abrantes directed by Natascha Metherell.

Dorotéia by Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues directed by Kwong Loke.

 

Venue for all events:  Canning House, 2 Belgrave Square , London , SW1X 8PJ

Bookings: [log in to unmask] | 020 7235 2303 (ext 226)

Admission: £5 | £3 members of Canning House

 

DETAILS:

 

This is the third consecutive year that StoneCrabs Theatre is producing ORIGENS/ORIGINS Playreading Festival. In 2005 the company presented 3 plays by Nelson Rodrigues in commemoration of the 25th  anniversary of his death. From the Festival the company went on to produce ‘Our Lady of The Drowned’ (Time Out and Metro Critic’s Choice).

 

In 2006, we celebrated the ‘Theatre of Resistance’ from Brazil with plays by Leilah Assunção, Antonio Bivar and Plinio Marcos.  The writers were flown over from Brazil to talk about their plays and the strenuous and political time in which they were written: Brazil ’s Military Dictatorship.

 

This year, StoneCrabs Theatre celebrates “3 Continents, 3 Countries and 4 Playwrights” in an exciting exchange and unification of dramaturgy of the Portuguese diaspora, encompassing works from Brazil , Portugal and Angola

 

ORIGENS/ORIGINS 200-7 Deadly Sins explores a psychological interpretation of the seven deadly sins within the dramaturgy of writers of the Portuguese language:

 

Thursday 22nd November – 7pm Launch Evening

Punching the Point of the Knife by Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal

directed by Gael le Cornec. 

WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Menino Josue – who will delight us with his sound of contemporary Brazilian Music.

 

Augusto Boal, who was once labelled a cultural activist by the Brazilian military, was arrested in 1971 and tortured. He was eventually exiled to Argentina where he wrote Punching at the Point of the Knife, looking at exile and the search for the meaning of home.  Setting the atmosphere, Menino Josue, one of Brazil ’s contemporary talented musicians, he will set the atmosphere prior to the play reading with his distinctive guitar and songs.

The night will be followed by a reception with wine and nibbles.

 

Friday 23rd November – 7pm

Tunnel of The Rats by Portuguese playwright Armando Rosa

directed by Jorge Balça .

 

A dark contemporary fable, the characters play a game of cat-and-mouse with each other; but it is only when they are all trapped in a mine-shaft and threatened by starving rats we see different versions of each character’s life and identities revealed.

 

Armando Rosa is the most successful new Portuguese playwright to emerge in the 21st century.  He will specially come to the event from Portugal and have a post-show discussion with Professor Susan Rowland of his play.

 

The evening will be introduced by the Anglo-Brazilian musical sounds of Leandra Varanda & Jonathan Preiss (Music Chamber prize winner) with songs from their new album Caratinga. 

 

Tuesday 27th November – 7pm Double bill (Abrantes and Rodrigues)

The Container by Angolan playwright Mena Abrantes

directed by Natascha Metherell.

 

Based on a newspaper article published in Portugal when 3 men who claimed to be Peter Biko, George Washington and John Mweyin were discovered fleeing their country in the container of a ship in search of their dreams in Europe, the play looks at hope, fears and the boundaries created by mankind.

 

Dorotéia by Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues

directed by Kwong Loke.

 

Known for his irreverent repertoire of controversial plays, Rodrigues’ ‘irresponsible farce’ will close the Festival.  Written in 1947 Dorotéia is considered his first surreal farce – Ugliness is desirous, sex is sin, beauty is curse, sickness is purification.  Dorotéia seeks redemption for her sin through nausea while her widowed cousins do not sleep for fear of dreams overriding the conscious repression of fantasy and sexual lust. 

 

A thundering success of his second play Vestido de Noiva (Wedding Dress) made Rodrigues the first modern playwright in Brazil . After that there was no end to his genius for writing for the theatre until his death in 1980.   

 

Canning House
2 Belgrave Square
London SW1X  8PJ