The messengers

In the early 80s, the group of mime and theater oficina versus was a drama troupe. From 2001 it assumed a more artistic language, prospering through a more theatrical aspect, in a comprehensive universe where everyone is equal and no one is marginalized by the difference, where everyone with a disability and without finds their space won with great dedication and work over the years. A pioneer group at the national level, which aims to awaken people from the torpor of their cocoons, with strong themes that encourage them to have more social awareness, such as the play violence enacted by Duarte Rodrigues, on the subject of  domestic violence in the childhood, in adulthood and old age and ends with a message of hope through a story set during the campaign “ just-forget-me-not”, which was presented by its author Francis Fernandes, in the closure of the regional plan against domestic violence.

The play is called violence, why the choice of this particular theme?
Duarte Rodrigues: I'd rather like to talk a little bit about our theater group before answering the question. We are different because it is a group that is composed of young people with special needs, but that is not all. We work in a universe of social inclusion through the arts with young people who want to express themselves artistically. We belong to the regional office has been linked to special education, in which is also part of an orchestra, singing and dance. This theme of "violence" was proposed by the regional department of education, through the campaign "just forget-me-not", led by Teresa Carvalho, to combat domestic violence. It was an effort that took place over the year in different municipalities of the island and ended in Funchal. She gave me this challenge of presenting a play with this subject during the week dedicated to people with special needs, which took place between 2-9 December. So I made an investigation of texts and theme emerged almost as soon, despite being a subject that touches us all, both individually and society in general. It happens around us and so we thought it was very interesting and positive to be working this text with these young people and to the remaining audience.

What was the reaction of the group, when they approached this text for the first time?
DR: There was a careful choice of the texts. I came across several, some more aggressive, some less. As we wanted the message to reach most of the public in general and to classify the part for over 12 years old I tried to be restrained in the language, whether in written, also in expressive terms and in the first readings there were chills, due to its explicit hardness. My care was to relieve all this in a poetic form. I did not want to show violence for violence. This already exists in large doses on the evening news and on national campaigns. So we decided that this translation for the theater, had poetical harmony, addressing this issue with its drama, which is raw and hard. We wanted people to assimilate and reflect on this subject above all, did not intend to just promote shock.

In terms of audience?
DR: It was a varied reaction. Although very cohesive I had this care with the text, not to shock anyone. There are, however, monologues of a woman who is raped by her husband and had a blind child. The boy is abandoned by his father, as if it were the fault of the mother. Despite all the care I had, this is a very harsh reality, and in these difficult moments, we felt the restlessness in the audience, the uncomfortable cough, because this segment in particular is very aggressive. All this whole dramatic mass is needed to make the reading consistent with the whole show. I felt this upset when they hear the story of this woman who had a rough time with his son because of her husband and due to her social status. She goes saying that ended up being stuck at home and the people did nothing, did not ask about her, despite knowing what was happening. This kind of story happens, we know it's there.

You chosen to delete the harder text because you found it was too violent for the artists and the general public, but by doing that did you not misrepresent the message? Domestic violence is a harsh reality and deadly in many cases.
DR: No. If we close our eyes and think of the images that appear around us, we already have this, the slapping, the blood and the death. There is a lot going on and we do not care. This play has a more attenuated form, because I thought this is a time to receive, to reflect on the information, taking that care I had with the language, because it was for an audience over the 12 years old. We wanted to include schools.