PROJECT

34 years of theatrical activity led GATO, through various paths, to the exploration and discovery of different techniques and expressive languages. However, the importance given to non-verbal communication and the fusion of body expression with dance has always been dominant in most of our shows. The group was already doing physical theater even before knowing that what they were doing could have that name.

 

“Vai Vem”, staged in 2015, under the direction of the Colombian director Juan Carlos Agudelo, enriched the company's repertoire with a more technical and “silent” proposal, in a country where this language has few followers. This play opened doors to the company's internationalization and created a network of contacts that we want to reinforce with this new production, which, being also a physical theatre without text, now bets on a concrete story and a more narrative process.

 

The challenge we proposed to the French director Lionel Ménard was justified by the knowledge and appreciation for five of his creations that we brought to Portugal, three of them with the Polish company Warsaw Mime Center and the other two with the Czech company of Lenka Vagnerová and the German company of Alexander & Neander. It should be noted that this last show won the audience award for the LITORAL EmCena project in 2021. The training Lionel led here that year confirmed the mutual desire to extend this collaboration in 2022 with a Masterclass and a theatrical creation project. Lionel Ménard, the creator of shows with strong and unforgettable images, accepted the challenge and suggested the theme, methodology and process.

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War has mouths and the mouths of war do not kiss other mouths, but rather spit on the ground.

Once upon a time, there was a family of refugees fleeing war. The mother did not survive the long journey and a couple of farmers agree to hide the father and his baby daughter. However, they will stay there much longer than expected... What will lead the couple to make the refugee believe that the war is not over yet?

 

Nothing is completely black or white, as no one is. All the characters in this story face a dilemma. Will they have the courage to assume the truth? They all struggle with their states of mind, revealing throughout the play a part of humanity and another part of cowardice. Is this not the mirror of our own lives?

​Every day there are tragic news. Faced with the shipwrecked people of precarious boats, our empathy lasts only a few days. But these stories are true!

Outside, in the snow, men, women and children wait to cross the border, while we, in the warmth of our homes, prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas. These stories are true!

The bombing of the civilian population temporarily fuels our anger. However, we are more concerned about next weekend...

 

We witness injustices and atrocities, but the amount and frequency of the news trivializes all the cruelty and makes us forget that only yesterday we were shouting “never again! ".

Without value judgments or a Manichean view, “Une histoire vraie” shows us that the answers are almost always complex and varied, questioning our attitude towards the misfortune of others.

If I knew I loved him so much, I would love him more.

At the beginning of Claude Lelouch's film "Les Misérables" there is a scene with an amorous couple. Annie Girardot says nothing or cannot say. Fabrice Benichoux, the Jewish refugee, watches her and waits. That is the most beautiful declaration of love I've ever seen. Annie Girardot, the peasant woman, hides this refugee, making him believe that the war is going on so that he won't leave. Surprised by my emotion when I saw this scene, I searched my memory for reasons to understand it better. From deep inside me came my last encounter with my father. "We looked at each other for a moment, just a few suspended seconds, each of us holding the words. Then my father turned and walked away... I would have liked to make up a story to hold him there, but nothing occurred to me, nothing."

 

At the age of 30, the possibility of having had another father emerged from my unconscious, as if out of a heap of mud. Thus began an obsessive search for the truth. I see myself looking for clues, questioning, separating what is true from the false. I needed to put a puzzle back together, get my hands dirty, dig, remove the earth, dry my eyes. Finally, it was a written sentence that brought me peace. A few words from a testament: “Lionel, son of Jean”.

 

In this play I am Mafalda, the one who finds writings engraved on stone.

 

There was nothing left but to bridge the gap between the research into my father's identity and this scene from the movie "Les Misérables". In the training course, I started by inviting the participants to reveal some of their secrets, their greatest moments of happiness, the fantastic coincidences of their stories. Everyone, from that initial training to the last few weeks of rehearsals, was able to help me build the bridge.

 

This project started in Poland a few years ago, on the initiative of Bartlomiej Ostapczuk, and now carried out in Santo André thanks to AJAGATO. Mário Primo was like a father to me – benevolent, encouraging, and uncompromising.

 

In each of the characters there is identification with my story, but there are also real tragedies told in wartime. Theatre is often criticized for isolating itself from the world. I hope the tragic news of facts makes sense to the public.

 

Last but not least, I thank my magnificent actors who inspired me, convinced me, questioned me, and helped me find the way.

 

The ball of yarn is now untangled.

The story has become true.

Lionel Ménard