Mia Couto and Agualusa question machismo on 12 stages in Portugal – Observer
Baltazar Fortuna, a Mozambican “male”, and the three women in his life leave on Tuesday from Maputo for Portugal where they will go up to the stage of 12 municipalities during the month of July.
They are the main characters of the play “Chovem amores na Rua do Matador”, produced by the Fernando Leite Couto Foundation, from Maputo, based on a story written by Mia Couto and José Eduardo Agualusa.
On stage will be a conflict that is currently lived in the social fabric of the Mozambican suburbs, explained the co-director Vítor Gonçalves.A
The change portrays a break with inherited practices in gender relations”, shows a piece in which women question sexist traditions.
The story takes place in southern Mozambique, close to a town where Baltazar Fortuna has three women in whom he counts obedience, as all men expect, but “the problem is that they don’t agree and he didn’t anticipate that”.
Faced with the opposition, “he wants to kill them, but they don’t want to die”, describes Vítor Gonçalves.
“This conflict characterizes the plot of the show”, he adds.
“There are conflicts of each character with himself and among them”, explains Maria Clotilde, co-director.
“They discuss existential problems, they want to solve personal problems starting from the other”, during an hour and 20 minutes on stage and with humor enough, a characteristic underlying Mia Couto’s texts, whatever the genre.
It is a play written for a young audience, which constitutes the majority of the Mozambican population.
In Mozambique, “any show that is put on, any artistic reflection that is undertaken, has an obligation, which is to speak to young people”, said Vítor Gonçalves.
“If you don’t talk to young people, you’re not talking to anyone”because more than half of Mozambique “is under 20 years old, which is an absolutely extraordinary thing”, he stressed.
are young people who “inherit the mental structures” that submit to machismo and that are in question in the play.
The show will be on stage from June 30th to July 30th, with 20 sessions on stage, in the biggest tour carried out by a Mozambican company in Europe.
In addition to the show, there will also be conversations between the public and the authors of the text, Mia Couto and José Eduardo Agualusa, in different locations.
The production of the Fernando Leite Couto Foundation with support from the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) has a 100% Mozambican team and is performed by Angelina Chavango, Horácio Guiamba, Joana Mbalango, Josefina Massango and Violeta Mbilane.
After Portugal, tours are being prepared for Brazil, Cape Green and Angola.
Data:
June 30th to July 2nd, Cine-Teatro Louletano, Loulé.
July 0 to 7, Teatro Garcia Resende (host company: Cendrev – Évora Drama Center), Évora.
8th and 9th of July, Teatro Lethes (ACTA — The Algarve Theater Company), Faro.
11th and 12th of July, Teatro Estúdio da Covilhã (Teatro das Beiras), Covilhã.
13th and 14th of July, Teatro da Cerca de São Bernardo (School of the Night), Coimbra.
15th and 16th of July, Municipality of Seixal.
July 17, Akassá productions, Setúbal.
July 19 and 20, Serpa Theater Festival (Baal Theater).
21st and 22nd of July, Sala Estúdio do Teatro da Rainha (Teatro da Rainha), Caldas da Rainha.
July 23, Figueira da Foz Arts Center.
July 27, Viriato Theater, Viseu.
28th to 30th of July, Forum Romeu Correia, Almada.