Theatre Mediation in the context of a co-production
By Suzanna Branco
Benfazeja, Teatro O Bando’s fourth ConnectUp-production, is based on a short story by Guimarães Rosa. The show, a co-production with Lume Theater (Barão Geraldo, Brazil) opened in Porto at FITEI festival in October 2024. It was a result of the partnership between Teatro O Bando and Setúbal City Council and is brokered by Armanda Gonçalves, a teacher who runs the Forte da Bela Vista Theatre Group (Setubal, PT).
Benfazeja is based on the creating and exploring change in partnership with the community. This is a collective methodology in which an open artistic approach explores and encourages different points of view and divergent thinking. The belief is that the theatrical form, in its multiple languages, provides a strong vehicle for exploration and communication.
The aim of the meeting with the group is for the artists to learn a skill from the students and for the students to learn a skill from the artists, so that this learning can be reflected both in the students’ theatre-making and in the artists’ theatre-making. Theatre with young people: Explore drama and theatre techniques and approaches to create theatre with young people.
Benfazeja seeks to take the audience on a journey where things are quite what they seem at first glance. It plays tricks on preconceived or inattentive views. We want to talk about those who are placed on the margins of society, condemned by society’s lack of vision and ability to change…
For Benfazeja it makes sense to conquer inner freedom and adapt our eyes to try to see what we struggle to understand. It makes sense to constantly transform in order to search for and discover what lies behind immovable, judgmental and narrow-minded appearances. It makes sense to connect with our human essence and with nature, the cycle of life and eternal death, so that we can evolve as human beings.
The first Artistic Residency in Portugal was a chance for the team to get to know each other through the work carried out by the different members of the team. We explored creativity through body exercises, music, analytical reading, writing and theatre. We got to know the short story – the starting text for exploring the universe of the author Guimarães Rosa and creating the play. We also experimented with costumes and scenery.
The second Artistic Residency in Brazil served to develop the characters already explored in Portugal, to create more scenes and to develop the dramaturgy and sense of aesthetics of the play. It was very useful for getting to know more about Brazilian culture and for researching texts and artistic creations linked to our research in local libraries. It was also useful for researching local fabrics and colors related to the creation, and for experimenting with costumes and scenery. In the workshop with Lume and Bando in SESC Campinas University, we developed a strong common theatrical language to gain a deeper understanding of the methodologies of each of the groups.
