Company puts on Erpenbeck’s novel scene to pay attention to “invisible”

A company Blind premieres on Friday, in Alverca, the play “I will, you will, he will”, from Jenny Erpenbeck’s homonymous novel, to show the need for refugees to become visible in contemporary society.

In statements to the Lusa agency, the artistic director of the company Blind and director of the play, Rui Dionysio, drew a parallel between the play and those camped in Lisbon and Porto where people complain about the right to housing.

This is because what is currently happening in Portugal has similarities with the action of the author's novel, which focuses on an aggregate of tents assembled by African immigrants in a square opposite the Berlin City Hall.

Jenny Erpenbeck “actually has a very surgical look, very microscopic and hard” in the novel to be put on the scene at the Theatre-Studio Ildefonso Valério, headquarters of the company.

The construction of this piece by the author of works such as “Kairos” or “Visitation” arose following a proposal by the company’s playwright, Marta Dias, who presented to the company about three years ago when she was preparing the applications for supported support to the theatre of the Directorate General of the Arts, said Rui Dionysio.

Like what they did with Isabel Figueiredo’s novels “The Fat One”, or “The Transparent Ones” by Ondjaki, decided to put on stage “I go, you go, he goes” for, too, this work, having what the collective calls “a look inside out”.

That is, “a look beyond the first layer, beyond the first observation”, stressed the director.

Because the author of the novel “proportionates precisely this look”, since after the manifestation of immigrants in the Berlin square and after the German authorities have taken action in relation to those refugees, whether she has welcomed them into residences or in reception centers, the question the author leaves is “what happens to this”, she argued.

“ In this question we ended up finding parallels with the people who were once in the church of Arroyos. Where did they go, was the problem solved?”, asked Rui Dionysius, to immediately answer: “It seems so at first”.

“ But then, if we are going to investigate how Jenny Erpenbeck was spent more than a year with these refugees, realizing the legislative dead ends and the pushing votes between the countries of the European Union, that look at the after the demonstration was one of the mottos to fall in love with this text and put it as a theatrical object to be reflected”, emphasized the director.

Also because the company seeks to address “thems that, by their depth, end up becoming, unfortunately, timeless”, he stressed.

With this work, the company goes “to the meeting of the camps in Rossio and Porto, the people who fight for housing and who have this point in common with Erpenbeck’s work, although they are talking about completely different contexts”.

“ The struggle for housing has nothing to do with the struggle of refugees, but it has a common point that is to join in a central square to become visible, to force the political authorities to confront the situation and give a word about the situation,” he said.

What happened in Berlin and what is now happening in the campsites of Lisbon and Porto “are cries of despair of the people who unite to become visible”, he concluded.

The play is on stage until November 22nd, with recitations from Thursday to Saturday, at 9:00 p.m., on Sunday, at 4:00 p.m.

To play the play are Luís Ilunga, Nylon Princeso, Paulo Matos and Susana Sá.

With original music by Mick Trovoada, “I will, you will, he will” has set, props and costumes by Sérgio Miguel Reis.