Wagner Moura debuts in Lisbon play with jury of the public

“ Um Judgment — After the Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen”, who will have presentations at the Cultural Center of Belém between Friday and Sunday, “it is not an adaptation” of “An enemy of the people” Ibsen wrote in 1882, highlighted the director today, at a press conference in Lisbon, referring to “a new text, a possibility about the next” of the story of the text of the Norwegian playwright.

In Ibsen's play, the main character, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, tries to warn of the contamination of the waters of the spas in his town on the Norwegian coast. Local authorities, fearing the financial impact on the city with the closure of space to tourism, harass Stockmann, declaring him an enemy of the people.

According to Christiane Jatahy, in the play that now arrives in Lisbon, after being presented in Amsterdam and Brazil, “95% of the text is new and the rest is Ibsen”.

“ The past forms the characters and the play, which is passed completely today, as if Ibsen had written ‘An enemy of the people’ six years ago. And [the story] happens in every place where we take the show”, he said.

In “A Judgment” there is on stage a court, but not in the literal sense. However, “11 spectators will decide whether Thomas Stockmann [character played by Wagner Moura] is an enemy of the people.”.

The possibility of participating in the piece is offered to the public when entering the room, when 50 bracelets are distributed to interested parties.

Of the 50, eleven are drawn, who will be on stage, “but are not exposed”.

The judges write the questions, which are not identified, to which Wagner Moura's character answers. In addition, the director explained, “the vote on Thomas’ innocence or guilt is anonymous.”.

In each city where the play is performed there is a local actor or actress who coordinates the jury. In Portugal, actress Cleo Diára was chosen.

Wagner Moura said that the questions are answered by improvisation, since they are made at the moment, and to give the answers he returns to the work of Ibsen.

The actor and the director told that the project that now brought them to Portugal “beginned 20 years ago”, when Christiane Jatahy saw Wagner Moura, “an exceptional actor ever since”, on the scene.

“I had to work with him,” he shared, telling them that the professional life of both ended up delaying the project.

“ We met two years ago and decided: ‘This is it’. Then began a very interesting dialogue, without pressure”, described the director, with the actor reinforcing that “it was two years to do this, to dialogue”.

The choice to work from Ibsen’s play brings together at least two factors: “Wagner is very passionate about ‘An enemy of the people’ and I had a lot of idea of working on brothers, of how polarization can break the family,” said Chistiane Jatahy.

Wagner Moura reinforced that he wanted “very much” to work on Ibsen’s play, because he was always “very crazy” for her, “and with the passage of time even more.”.

“A Judgment” aims, among others, to “call people to decide and think.”.

The piece, like Ibsen’s work, addresses issues such as ecology, the relationship between politics and science, the role of the press, the ‘fake news’ and “the discourses that oscillate between freedom of expression and the threat to democracy”.

In addition to Wagner Moura, “A Judgment — After the Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen”, he also stars Danilo Granghea and Julia Bernat on stage, Marojrie Estiano, Jonas Bloch and Salvador Moura, in film.

This play also marks Wagner Moura's return to the theater. The last time I'd been on stage was in 2009, in "Hamlet".

“The Theatre is a very important, very sacred commitment for me. I only do when I mobilize a lot”, she shared.

With a career in theater in Salvador da Bahia, Wagner Moura gained international recognition by playing Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s “Narcos”. Last year he was distinguished at the Cannes Festival with the award for Best Actor for his performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho's "Secret Agent", a role that also earned him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

“ The actors eventually need to go back to the theater. I have to. There is a very strong connection with the nature of what it is for me to be an actor”, he said.

The sessions of “A Trial”, a coproduction between the CCB, the Holland Festival (the Netherlands), the Festival d’Avignon (France), the Edinburgh International Festival (United Kingdom) and the DeSingel Art Centre (Belgium), are practically exhausted.