Before The Sea

They hope to arrive at the sea, but in our head, words are what to listen to: before this new creation from Teatro O Bando, before the dramaturgy and staging of Miguel Jesus, there was the novel “Um Bailarino na Batalha” / ” A dancer in the battle” from Hélia Correia, winner of Grande Prémio de Romance e Novela from the Writers Portuguese Association in 2019. Imagine that those people keep on walking. They were walking before us. Before this time, they already took their places in other journeys, another exodus. Don’t those feet ever get tired? They hope to arrive at the sea to cross it but what we see at the distance is tents remains and oars: before the fiction we can sit in open air in Vale dos Barris. It’s Summer and we can attend with all the distancing measures to a play from Teatro O Bando. We are safe and have headphones so we can listen to those conversations that are taking place in the distance. Imagine that those people, those characters, get closer. That we hear the word Europe. That they look at us in the eyes. Wonder if those feet give one more step, do they get inside us? They hope to arrive at the sea and are coming in our direction.