The show by the French Bellescize, directed by Nelson Baskerville, at the Tucarena, addresses a delicate issue without taking sides
In 2008, the French director Like de Bellescize mounted The children of the sun, by Gorki, drama set at the turn of the century. At the age of 28, he was already making his debut as a playwright. And there he tried, in his own words, “to talk about the present, about the world in which he lived. It was the text of an artist who rediscovered himself”. Thus he was born Amedeoa piece lauded by artists such as Ariane MnouchkineFrom Theater du Soleil.
Directed by Nelson Baskerville, the show, on display at the Tucarena, has six actors who are divided into eight roles to tell the story of a 20-year-old boy who suffers a serious car accident and is paralyzed – he is in fact trapped in a body without any autonomy, incapable of to communicate. The text, taken from a real case, accompanies Amadeo, his mother, friends and girlfriend in the transition from a vibrant life full of dreams to complete immobility in the hospital – and raises the theme of freedom of choice, the most extreme, in the face of death. The cast has Cesare Mello, Chris Couto, Claudia Missura, Janina Suaudeau, Thomas Huszar and, in the title role, Thalles Cabral.
“I looked for a story that had marked me, the case of Vincenzo Umberto: I was more or less his age and the case appeared exhaustively in the press, in an extremely polarized way”, continues Bellescize, in an interview with Stadium. “Each side treated the other like an imbecile or a demon. What’s more: in Western society violence was already felt towards the most fragile beings, basing everything on the cult of the body, on performance”.
References
Despite the strong references to Beckett (the main character has a ‘double’ named Clov, as in Game over) AND Ionesco, Bellescize guarantees that this is not a game of the absurd, although the situation itself is, yes, absurd. “In Amedeo or in How to get rid of it, by Ionesco, the characters wonder how they are going to get rid of a body in the next room. 40 years ago, you would not have survived an accident like my character. People today are saved by medicine in an almost miraculous way: they survive, but then you don’t know how to ‘get rid’ of them. It’s ironic, almost cynical, these are complex questions that we have to react to, but we feel too small.”
The mother, the girlfriend, the best friend, the firefighter who pulled the boy out of the rubble, travel in this ethical paradox, between love and mourning, pain and hope. The alter ego, the imaginary double, expresses Amadeo’s conscience, thoughts, life and death impulses, in a playful and sometimes even violent way. “I decided not to put words in Amadeo’s monologue, but to do theatre. In this way it is possible to follow the character’s inner life in situations that are sometimes almost clownish. This allows the viewer to follow the character, without imposing anything”.
The assembly in Brazil was mediated by Janina Suaudeau, who saw the show in Paris ten years ago and now plays Amadeo’s girlfriend. “What struck me most about this comedy was the treatment given to such a delicate subject without taking sides. The text never falls into pathos, on the contrary, it has funny and playful scenes”.
Strindberg’s concept of “dream game” drives the director’s conception Nelson Baskerville. “The audience is led through dreamlike images to confront such difficult questions,” she says. “Theatre is that veil that is thrown over a harsh reality. And I insist on the idea of choice, the Brechtian idea of epic theatre, of reflecting and not just reacting”. Bellescize points out that there is no “moralizing stance” in presenting the boy’s options – stay alive in a state of immobility or seek euthanasia. “I try not to impose a vision, but a question. When Amedeo premiered in France, it was interesting to see militants for or against looking for me at the end of the show and saying, “Now I can see the other side and it’s creepy.” I like to make theater a place to discover oneself and others.“
The stage approach presents a realistic beginning – “there are two plays, before and after the accident,” Baskerville explains. “First the video game, the boy’s house; then the hospital. The author works on two levels, the real one and the imaginary one, a bit like in Wedding dressIn Nelson Rodríguez.”
The question posed, finally, seems to be why we are alive. Baskerville closes bringing the story of Nietzsche told – or imagined – by Irvin Yalom In When Nietzsche cried: “In the novel, Nietzsche says that he liked living in front of cemeteries to remind himself why he is alive”. / Collaborated by Luciana Medeiros
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
