Viva Portugal 2024

THE PROJECT

Viva Portugal commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 25th April Carnation Revolution which brought freedom for the people of Portugal, an end to a bloody colonial war and helped give birth to the new independent nations in Africa of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor in Asia.

The seedling for this project came from two plays written and translated by duo Susannah Finzi and Armando Nascimento Rosa, set in 1960s Portugal, in the time of Salazar. 

In A Reputation, by Susannah Finzi, we are in Lisbon, 1966.  The ageing dictator Antonio Oliveira Salazar has governed this small European country with an iron hand for nearly 40 years.  A devout and intensely private man, he contemplates his legacy of a secure and solvent nation with pride. But time passes, and there is the different matter of how history will treat him – of his reputation.  And today he has a visitor, the one person he can trust. 

Departure – The Woman Without Fear, by Armando Nascimento Rosa and translated into English by Susannah Finzi, tells the real-life story of Humberto Delgado, diplomat and politician, and leader of an ill-fated attempt to overthrow the Portuguese dictator Salazar. The story is told through the eyes of Arajaryr Campos, his secretary and lover. Leaving her small daughter behind in Brazil, Arajaryr was assassinated together with Delgado in 1965 in Villanueva del Fresno, Spain by the secret police of Prime Minister Salazar. 

The plays will be on at Omnibus Theatre between 2-14th July in a double bill. Alongside the plays we will have post show discussions around translation and the historical context the plays are written in, as well as two fado evenings with Armando Nascimento Rosa. You can buy tickets to the plays and events here: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/viva-portugal/

The Omnibus Theatre cafe will also house a street art exhibition of images, never before seen in the UK: In a spontaneous burst of celebration, long suppressed protest and bids for attention among the emerging political parties, the months and years that followed the Portuguese revolution saw a fabulous flowering of Street Art on the walls of cities and small towns throughout the country. Writer and translator Susannah Finzi was living in Portugal when the revolution took place on 25thApril 1974 and she and Michael Noelke recorded a large number of these (most of the originals have long since disappeared). The resulting digital file was donated to the Museu Aljube (Resistance and Revolution) in Lisbon in 2016. 

WORKSHOPS

We will be running three types of workshop between April and July with schools and members of the Lusophone community in Lambeth.

Street Art Workshops - Be Your Own Banksy

Inspired by the colourful street murals painted in Portugal following the Revolution, this is your chance to get creative and make your own street art for the here and now. What do you want to say? Introduced by the photographer who captured them in 1974. For all ages. Saturday 20th April, 11:00 - 12:00, South Lambeth Library. FREE. Book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/864955514227?aff=oddtdtcreator

Living History Archive Project

What happened on 25th April 1974, and what changed? Join us to find out more, or to share your own perspectives, at this in-conversation event. We shall also be gathering UK Lusophone residents to help us by recording their memories of the news breaking for a Living History sound archive to be donated to the library. Weds 24th April 6.30 - 8.00pm, South Lambeth Library. FREE. Book here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/864957720827?aff=oddtdtcreator

Theatre Translation Workshops

We will be working with Lambeth secondary schools and Performing International Plays (PIP) in collaboration with Foreign Affairs Theatre Company to run some theatre translation workshops based on the two plays at Omnibus Theatre. There are many Portuguese speaking students across Lambeth schools and we aim to celebrate their multilingualism by running theatre translation workshops with these pupils. See the brilliant work of PIP and Foreign Affairs in action below!

BUDGET

After not being successful with our Arts Council England application we are fundraising from a number of different sources to cover the costs of this project. We have actors and directors to pay, a creative team, workshop leaders, rehearsal space and equipment hire. Our aim of £5000 will go a long way to help making this project happen. The majority of costs for the project are to pay freelancers, so will go to help keeping afloat individual creatives in this tough time for the arts. We are committed to paying these people fairly, so anything you can contribute will help to do that. 

The first £2000 that we raise will be match funded from a funder, so please help us to reach that target soon!

WHO WE ARE

Susannah Finzi is the writer of A Reputation and translator of Departure and brainchild of this whole project! Susannah lived in Portugal between 1969 and 1980 and witnessed the revolution for herself. 

As a writer for the stage Susannah has had full productions of Blind Eye at Teatro Estrela Lisbon and Theatre503 London, and other plays in Gloucester, Surbiton and Woking. She has translated a number of Armando Nascimento Rosa’s works for the stage including premieres in London and Houston and she was one of three translators commissioned by Oberon Books for their anthology of the Collected Plays of Nelson Rodrigues (published 2019).

Armando Nascimento Rosa and Susannah Finzi have worked together for more than ten years and in the case of A Reputation and Departure – The Woman without Fear have translated each other’s work for performances this year in London and Lisbon. 

Armando is a professor in the Theatre Department of Lisbon University Faculty of Dramatic Art and one of the most successful Portuguese playwrights to emerge in the 21st century. He is the author of many plays translated into English, Spanish, French, Italian, Catalan, Greek and Serbian and his dramatic works include two opera libretti. He is also a fado singer with many original fado compositions to his name.

Almiro Andrade is a Brazilian-born Black Queer Latinx actor, director, playwright, dramaturg, educationist, theatre translator and all else needed in a theatre-making process. Their approach sees all stages of theatre-making as acts of translation and their work has been staged all over the UK and internationally. They are currently Lecturer in Contemporary Acting and Early Career Researcher at the University of the Arts London (UAL).

Their latest works include: the R&D project for the first English translation of Namibia, Não! by Aldri Anunciação in partnership with King’s College London and Soho Theatre; The Trial – from iconic 800-page Jorge Amado’s novel Tieta to a breaking-form theatre event as dramaturg and assistant director to Franko Figueiredo from StoneCrabs Theatre; a gender-bending adaptation of The Blind One and The Mad One by Cláudia Barral (IntiPress) produced by Foreign Affairs Theatre; the translation of Brazilian canonical playwright Nelson Rodrigues:Selected Plays (Bloomsbury/Oberon); dramaturgy and translation of Royal Court’s production of Black Horses Are Massive from the Brazilian playwright Barbara Esmenia Rae.

Mariana Aristizábal Pardo

Mariana is directing Departure – The Woman without Fear. She is a theatre maker passionate about stories and what they can tell us about ourselves. She wears many hats, depending on the project she works as a director, facilitator, translator, dramaturg and sometimes performer. She's interested in exploring the intersections between cultures and languages, through collaborative methodologies. 

Mariana is co-director of the award-winning company MarianaMalena Theatre, a channel to amplify female and Latinx stories in the UK. For the past couple of years, Mariana has been leading a project for social integration through theatre making of the Latinx community in South London. 

Rachel Toogood is an independent producer who is passionate about telling stories from around the world. When Susannah told her about this project she knew she wanted to be involved straight away! Not only does it involve producing two brilliant plays, but the project connects with the Portuguese speaking community in and around Lambeth, making important personal connections for the community that the project is about. 

Photo credit: Joanna Cumming