Antonio Reis. PR recalls actor as “a dynamic promoter of theater in Portugal”
“Energetic, charismatic and generous, he was a figure of his city and a promoter of theater in Portugal”, stressed the head of state in a statement published on the Presidency’s website.
Recalling António Reis with one of the founders of Seiva Trupe in 1973, after having joined the Teatro Experimental do Porto, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the actor “was connected (…) [do Porto] and the country”.
“With Seiva Trupe, he presented shows based on texts by Shakespeare or Copi, as well as the unexpected success «Um Cálice de Porto», of having been director of the Contemporary Academy of Spectacle and one of the founders of FITEI – Festival of Theater of Expressão Ibérica, a high point in the cultural programming of Porto. He also worked on television and was an actor in several films by Manoel de Oliveira”, he underlined.
Actor António Reis, co-founder of Seiva Trupe and the Festival Internacional de Teatro de Expressão Ibérica (FITEI), died on Tuesday, aged 77, in Porto, as a result of a prolonged illness, a source from the theater company told Lusa.
“To its name it keeps connected memories and the roots of theater in Porto”, underlined the Companhia Seiva Trupe that loses “one of its foundations on which it was founded and grew in these more than 48 years”.
António Reis began his activity in the 1960s in the Grupo dos Modestos, in a show by Joseph Kesserling, and then joined the Teatro Experimental do Porto, in 1970, where he made his professional debut and worked for two years.
In 1973, working with Júlio Cardoso and Estrela Novais – also from the Teatro Experimental Porto – António Reis co-founded Seiva Trupe, where he was an actor, but director, set designer, production director and stage director, says the Centro de Estudos de Theatre, from the University of Lisbon, in its database.
“It was a difficult stage, difficult, difficult, difficult choices, which are not the equivalent of Porto, being a difficult emblem, due to its qualities and unmistakable personalities between the famous “ or, rather, in a “ Dirty Night` by Plínio Marcos, or, later in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ or Copi’s ‘An Unwelcome Visit’, wrote the Sap Trupe in a note of regret.
Alongside the theater, António Reis also worked in cinema and television, having worked, above all, with Manoel de Oliveira, in films such as “Vale Abraão” and “Singularidades de uma girl blonde” (2008).
António Reis was also one of the founders of FITEI — Festival de Teatro de Expressão Ibérica and, throughout his career, he received a few years for his work in Portuguese theater, namely the Medal of Cultural Merit from the Porto City Council (198), the commendation of the Order of the Infante (1995) and the Lorca Prize, by the University of Granada in Spain (1995).