ANDn statements on the sidelines of the press rehearsal at Teatro Nacional São João (TNSJ), which will have the show on stage until May 7, the 78-year-old director admitted that, although “it is not a dream” his direction, his presentation takes place “in a fantastic moment”.
Asked about new projects, Ricardo País began by assuring that “there is nothing else” in sight, and then agreeing that he is “always saying” that he will rest, as he said, but that he ends up letting himself be tempted.
Even so, he admitted, if he ends his career in Portuguese theater after presenting the play in four acts for the Nobel Prize in Literature Eugene O’Neill, “it would be closing with a golden key”.
Regarding the three-hour play that brings together Emília Silvestre, Joana Africano, João Reis, Pedro Almendra and Simão do Vale Africano on stage, and what it has to do with the director, Ricardo Pais replied that they all see themselves “a bit” in the text.
We all had family problems with alcohol or drugs and (there are still) family dysfunctions that run through many, many families and that doesn’t mean they are a justification for doing the play”, he replied.
Ricardo Pais later revealed that the opportunity to stage “Long journey to the night” was born in a meeting with actor Albano Jerónimo and director Nuno Cardoso, about another project, with the latter, current artistic director at Teatro Nacional São João, launching the challenge to assume the direction of the show, in a co-production Ensemble — Sociedade de Atores and TNSJ.
“And I thought that this had been going on for so long and that I had already done the scene with the two brothers in the fourth act at school, in England, in 1971 or 1972, and I accepted. I immediately went to talk to Emília (Silvestre) “, reported.
Actor João Reis highlighted the “symbolic significance after having made his debut at (theatre) São João, with Ricardo Pais in 1996, for a reunion 27 years later”.
Regarding the performance on stage, he stated that it was “a difficult, hard, intense text (…) and that will leave marks on the public in the same way that it leaves its mark on us”.
About the fact that the play lasts almost three hours, he argued that “the long texts are a false myth”.
For actress Emília Silvestre, the text “demands truth” in the actors’ performance, later alerting her to what she considers to be the play’s essentials: “Here there are no fireworks, balloons or special effects, it’s the words, it’s the human relationships and that is always in people’s memory”.
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