‘Revolution junkies — Foreigners in the Portuguese Revolution’ is the title of the “show in progress” to be held at the Library of Marvila, in which the public can follow, “in detail, some of the stories and memories of foreign citizens who were in the Portuguese Revolution and in the revolutionary process that followed it,” Joana Craveiro, artistic director of Teatro do Vestido, told the Lusa agency today.
Written and directed by the actress and director, ‘Revolution junkies’ is a joint creation with Estêvão Antunes, Francisco Madureira, Inês Rosado and Joana Craveiro, who also interpret it.
The presence of activists, revolutionaries, political activists or just curious people in Portugal during the Revolution and after the 25th of April 1974, the way they lived it, the memories they left with and the way they inscribed those memories are the basis of the new project from the Lisbon theatrical collective, with more than twenty years of work in the area of documentary theater and the inscription of historical memory.
The presence of citizens who came alone and the arrival of some organized groups to Portugal following the Carnation Revolution, which turns 49 on Tuesday, also set the tone for the play, as well as the duration of this presence, for a short time or for a period of time. longer periods, and the different ways in which these stories were inscribed in the memories of each one, in their own history, through diaries, writing books or photographic records.
For this work, Joana Craveiro chose some of these stories collected by the company, coming from British, North American, German and French citizens.
It is the case of the dispatch of an American journalist and documentary filmmaker to the radio station KPFA, in Berkeley (California), sent in 1975: “But what is happening in Portugal now is not chaos; it is a revolution and the revolutions have their own laws”.
Of the testimonies integrated in ‘Revolution junkies’ that Joana Craveiro highlighted to Lusa, is that of an English friend, who at the time belonged to the International Socialists group. “In addition to being a great memory researcher, he is always collecting people’s memories and interviews.”
The show, like the company, is also concerned with knowing and showing the way each element uses to inscribe the memory of the “revolution at the end of the street” or “the Cuba of Europe”, ranging from the collection of objects , testimonies, diaries to writing books.
Built to inhabit the Marvila Library, from the 23rd to the 25th of April, with three performances, always at 9 pm, ‘Revolution junkies’ is also based on documentary objects that account for the post-25th of April revolutionary process.
This is the case of the Portuguese film ‘Torre Bela’, a feature-length documentary directed by the German Thomas Harlan, premiered in 1975, in a co-production between Portugal, Italy and the then Federal Republic of Germany.
‘Scenes from the class struggle in Portugal’, by Robert Kramer and Philip Spinelli, the interventions of Brazilian director Glauber Rocha in ‘As Armas e o Povo’, a film by Colectivo de Trabalhadores from the Cinematographic Activity, among others, whose collection is “masterfully documented by Sergio Tréfaut” in ‘Another country’, also served as a basis for the new theatrical creation, Joana Craveiro told Lusa.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, Teatro do Vestido will stage, in 2024, ‘A living museum of small and forgotten memories’, a performance-reenactment by Joana Craveiro based on the compilation of seven performative lectures on the Estado Novo, the Revolution and the Revolutionary Process Underway (PREC), results from a thorough historical and political — but also affective — investigation into memories, narratives and images of the last 89 years of the History of Portugal, from the military dictatorship that gave rise to to the New State.
Representing in Lisbon and touring other Portuguese cities, Joana Craveiro also told Lusa that the company is also preparing a specific show for the municipality of Vidigueira.
‘The revolution passed by here’ is the title of the creation that will be based on the events that took place in that municipality in the district of Beja, in the Baixo Alentejo region.
As part of the ‘Revolution Junkies’ show, Teatro do Vestido also puts the ‘Almost 50 Years’ show to “inhabit” the Marvila Library for three nights, with materials from the “Living Archive of Small and Forgotten Memories”
With a maximum capacity of 45 people, ‘Revolution junkies’ has a sound space and original music by Francisco Madureira, set design by Carla Martínez and costumes by Tânia Guerreiro. Assisting is Joana Marques Brás and, lighting, Leocádia Silva assisted by Rodrigo Lourenço.
The Teatro do Vestido company has been waiting for years for a physical space provided by the Lisbon City Council, in Marvila, where it can install the historical archive gathered over the years, also making it available for consultation by the community.
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