Past Scenes
Prantos
34th Production
Premiere: 18/01/2006
Tour: Faro, Albufeira, Tavira, Lagoa, Loulé, Portimão, Lisboa
In this work, we have a dramaturgy by Prof. José Louro from Gil Vicente’s characters, Rubena, Cananeia and Maria Parda. In it, and in an elliptic form, we tell the story of a child/girl/woman that will be performed by only one actress, Elisabete Martins.
The show has three ‘plans’ or ‘laments’, a subgenre commonly used in the Middle Ages in situations of lamentation or mourning, of relieving one’s feelings, religious prayer or confession, or even as a form of social defiance. In this case, the female character laments its social exclusion due to a ‘unblessed’ pregnancy; then she laments over her almost excommunication for having made a ‘pact with the devil’, since her family and society has abandoned her; finally, she laments over the social punishment imposed upon her for drowning her sorrows in a ‘pact with the wine’, which, without any payment, is also denied to her.
Does it matter then if our heroine’s name is Rubena, if she was born in Canan or if she is called Maria Parda? She once had rosy cheeks stained red, her hair grew white and she became just another Maria of the many Marias Pardas with no name, that walk pass by us, on the street, either depending on wine or drugs.
Press Highlights
‘It’s a good show, capable of interesting the most uninterested public.’
Ana Oliveira, Jornal do Algarve, 09/02/06
“The show starts, and immediately the students are struck by the acting genius of Elisabete Martins. (…) Very effective and excellent work of this actress.”
Ana Cristina Oliveira, Jornal do Algarve, 09/02/06