Origens/Origins 2006

Origens/Origins 2006 brought to the UK three modern Brazilian Theatre Classics from three of the six playwrights who made up the NOVA DRAMATURGIA movement (Theatre of Resistance) in 1960s Brazil: Leilah Assunção, Antonio Bivar and the late Plinio Marcos.

In the wake of the 1968 military state of siege the NOVOS DRAMATURGOS unable to explode outwardly had to look inwards at their own, most intimate personal experiences. Their plays were of a confessional nature, the characters are not focusing on social conditions, trying to exist from day to day. The NOVOS DRAMATURGOS were modern, irreverent, anarchists – rebels in Brazilian drama who rose up against the repressive dictatorship.

Playwrights Leilah Assunção and Antonio Bivar were specially invited to join us in London to share with our audiences their experience of writing during that tumultuous period of Brazilian History.

Each evening included a short recital of Brazilian contemporary classical music by members of the Chamber Music Company, a multidirectional performance group directed by Mark Troop.

The Programme included:

Indecent Intimacy by Leilah Assunção, Directed by Meran Vargens

Passion. Sex. Betrayal. Companionship. Abandonment. Love. Prejudice. Solitude : The changing destiny of a couple’s relationship over 40 years of marriage.

Alzira Power by Antonio Bivar, Directed by Franko Figueiredo

Europe is not America, Spain is not Mexico and the retired Alzira wants to talk, but she is not Eva Peron.

Razor in the Flesh by Plinio Marcos, Directed by Kwong Loke

A prostitute, a pimp and a homosexual share a tiny room in the red light district. Together they struggle for companionship in a world that couldn’t care less about what happens to them.

The project was supported by The Arts Council and produced by StoneCrabs in partnership with the Embassy of Brazil in London and Canning House