New Plays From Brazil

h2. 1/16/2003 - 1/21/2003 Rehearsed readings of: Emptying (ESVAZIAMENTO) by Beatriz Gonalves The Wall (O MURO) by Cacilda Povoas The Seven Lives of Santo (SETE VIDAS DE SANTO) by Celso Cruz Random (Sem Memria) by Pedro Vicente Almost Nothing (QUASE NADA) by Marcos Barbosa Brazier (BRASEIRO) by Marcos Barbosa   h3. Newspaper reviews h4. ALMOST NOTHING bq. “Watch out for Brazil. It not only produces great soccer players but also highly promising playwrights. Certainly one of the two plays by the 25-year-old Marcos Barbosa that end the Royal Courts short season of new Brazilian work grips you by the throat and never lets go. ALMOST NOTHING is about the fear that stalks Brazilian life. Given the writers youth it is extraordinary how much of the drama lies between the lines. With the utmost economy, Barbosa evokes a world in which violence is always impending, the law is bendable and the wealthy are dependent on parasitic middlemen. But his masterstroke is to leave you unsure where the truth lies Translated by Mark OThomas, directed by Joseph Hill-Gibbins and powerfully acted by David Westhead and Michelle Fairley as the haunted couple, this is a play that deserves to move from rehearsed reading to full-scale production. the Courts international department deserve nothing but praise for bringing the flavour of Brazilian life into sodden Sloane Square.”   The Guardian h4. RANDOM bq. “Five works, developed by the Courts own staff, are being given nightly rehearsed readings; and, since the plays range from a Pinterish study of sexual betrayal to an account of a football-based revenge-killing, they clearly convey the wild contrasts of Brazilian life. RANDOM, by the 35-year-old Pedro Vicente from Sao Paula, is itself a fascinating study of colliding worlds  Clearly Vicentes play, in part, is about the co-existence in Brazil of extremes of wealth and poverty. It also resembles one of those J B Priestley time-plays, in which past, present and future are inextricably mixed. But, although it pungently captures the dream-like contrasts of Brazilian life, it lapses into a rather woozy mysticism. Having created a dazzling mystery, Vicente gives Lucy an overly affirmative climactic hymn to the power and beauty of everything in existence.  What the play provides, however, for the armchair-tourist is instant anthropology. You come out having learned a lot about Brazils sex-obsessed media culture, about the existence of parallel social worlds and about the possibility of charity among the urban poor: given that our theatrical knowledge of Brazil is confined to revivals of Charleys Aunt, that is quite something. Vicente is also well served by John Londons translation, Gordon Andersons production and good sit-down performances from Justin Salinger and Claudie Blakley as the bitching lovers, Bernard Gallagher as the cosmic waiter and Jo McInnes as the altruistic beggar. But the real pleasure lies in being transported into a world that is simultaneously recognisable and strange.”   The Guardian