“In silence” goes up the stage to break with forgetfulness of dictatorship

O show “In silence”, debuting on Saturday, at Teatro S. Luiz, in Lisbon, transports the public to the 48 years of history of the dictatorship of the Estado Novo in Portugal, based on historical documents and testimonies of political prisoners.

With the text and staging of Teresa Sobral, the show, which will be on the scene in Sala Mário Viegas, had at its origin the concern of the artist of, “as a mother”, having long realized that “in schools there is almost nothing taught about the dictatorship in Portugal”, as Lusa told the agency at the end of a press essay.

“ Going through textbooks and such a recent history, ours, of so many years and, surely, with so much story to tell, always being summed up to two, two and a half pages” was something that worried the creator whenever she had to help her children in the studies.

So one day he thought, “This story is poorly told or not told. There is a lot missing from this: why did this happen, how did it happen, the consequences that it actually had – social, economic, political, etc....”

Then he began to think about investigating, and “maybe make a spectacle to take to schools”.

If you thought so, the sooner you did. First, he talked to a woman who had been in political prison for many years. In this interview he was given “four or five more names”. Then there were “four or five more, then ten more, then maybe twenty”. Result: for seven to eight years, Teresa Sobral spoke to political prisoners of the dictatorship, before April 25, 1974.

From then on, he went to the archives, to the Torre do Tombo, to the Fundação Mário Soares, consulted the archives Ephemera, project of historian José Pacheco Pereira, also resorted to historian Irene Flunser Pimentel. Its goal was that the events narrated in the show had “historical rigor on dates and on what had happened”.

“In silence” thus results from a work done over nearly thirteen years, “in a mind-blowing collection of personal and historical information, which gave in fact to realize that the story [of the New State Dictatorship] is not told.”.

And so that “the memory does not go out”, Teresa Sobral makes a point of depositing in Torre do Tombo the text of the show, as well as the interviews she did to political prisoners. “So that the memory does not fade,” he stressed.

The coup d'état of 28 May 1926, the revolt of February 1927, which began in Porto and quickly spread to Lisbon, headed by the sailors of Alcântara and the Navy Arsenal, the first experimental broadcast of RTP, in September 1956, the campaign of Humberto's candidacy Delgado to the 1958 presidential election and the misrepresentation of its results are some of the facts addressed, both in speeches of the play and in video broadcasts of images of the time.

Salazar’s arrival in power as Minister of Finance in 1928, his rise to President of the Council (Government), in 1932, the promulgation of the 1933 Constitution, which establishes the New State, and the creation of the State Surveillance and Defense Police – the political police of the dictatorship (future PIDE), in the same year, from the International Police and the Political and Social Defense Police – are also in the narrative of the play.

The “tightening of the dictatorship” with the consequent increase of political prisoners in the jails of Aljube and the Fort of Peniche, with testimonies of the various tortures, sleep, ‘pingo’ and brutal beatings, are other facts portrayed, by actors dressed at the time, that go through the public showing documents of the regime and against the regime, as well as newspapers of the time.

Poverty, often at the level of misery, and illiteracy, emigration, the absence of women's rights, the abuses of the dictatorship in the former colonies, the emergence of independent movements in Africa and the mobilization of soldiers for war, where they died or where they returned, desertion and exile are also in the play, as well as the fall of Salazar from the chair, in the Fort of Santo António do Estoril, in August 1968, and the years of disaggregation of the dictatorship, which was based on repression and the limitation of basic rights of citizens.

For the construction of this show, now recreated later on during the celebrations of the 50 years of April 25, Teresa Sobral began working with the actors for two months, with whom she was building the scenes.

Sometimes “rewrote them”, others, changed their order, all to draw up a piece too long, as to go 48 years in the history of Portugal, ending on 25 April 1974.

“Then we no longer advance; this would give another investigation and another show,” said Teresa Sobral.

About the title of the play, “In Silence”, Teresa Sobral said she chose it “for many reasons”.

“First, because one lived in silence, because people did not give their opinions, neither the people of the regime, nor the people against the regime.”.

“ We did not speak for very many reasons: some [people] because they were afraid, others because they were suspicious, others because they were against the system, others because they were in favor. He lived in silence,” he observed.

And silence, “one of the characteristics of dictatorship, which is the worst system to live, continues today”, emphasized, referring to the fact that little is said about this period.

Strange, the director continues, it is today that there are those who defend “a path that can lead us quickly to a dictatorship”. And it attributes this possibility to the fact that that period and its real consequences are still “unknown to many people”.

With live music and large projections, the show has an immersive quality that allows the public to ‘live’ the historical facts reported.

“In silence” will be on the scene in the room Mário Viegas, until 1 November, with recites on Friday and Saturday, at 19:30, and on Sunday, at 4pm, for the general public.

For secondary schools there will be sessions on 28 and 29 at 2:30.

With text, staging, vocal composition and scenic space of Teresa Sobral, “In silence” is played by Beatriz Maia, Danilo da Matta, Mário Coelho, Miguel Nunes, Patrícia Fonseca, Rita Gonçalves and Tomás Barroso.

As musicians are Hernâni Faustino (contrabass), Miguel Sobral Curado (electric guitar) and singer Leonor Cabrita.

The original sound and music design is by Miguel Sobral Curado, the costumes are by José António Lente and the light drawing by Vasco Letria.

The video is by João Pinto, Daniel Rondulha and Teresa Sobral and the historical consulting by Irene Flunser Pimentel.

In Bidonville's voice is Valdemar Francisco, in Colonialism/25 April Ernesto Dabo.

Álvaro Pato, Luísa Tito Morais, Pedro Santarém, Fernanda Neves, Maria Machado, Raimundo Narciso, Helena Pato, Ernesto Dabo, Fernando Cardeira, Rui Pato and Silvestre Lacerda are among the political prisoners with testimonies in the play.