The laughter of the scavengers
O riso dos necrófragos
© João Duarte
→ Best Show 2021 - 2022, XIII Edition Premio Internazionale Teresa Pomodoro, Milan, Italy
The international jury chaired by Lívia Pomodoro (artistic director of Teatro No ́hma, in Italy) and composed of Lev Abramovič Dodin (artistic director of Malyj Dramatičeskij Teatr, in Russia), Stathis Livathinos (Greek director), Enzo Moscato (founder and artistic director from Compagnia Teatrale Enzo Moscato, from Italy), Luís Pasqual (Spanish director), Tadashi Suzuki (Japanese director, writer and philosopher), Peter Stein (German director), Oskaras Koršunovas (Lithuanian director), Muriel Mayette-Holtz (French actress and director, artistic director of the National Theater of Nice), Fadhel Jaïbi (artistic director of the National Theater of Tunisia) and Gábor Tompa (Romanian theater and film director, president of the Union des Théâtres de l'Europe), distinguished the show The Laughter of the Scavengers as Best Show 2021-2022 within the scope of the Premio Internazionale Teresa Pomodoro, “For the transposition of the carnival dimension of a procession ritual into a hypnotic performance with irrepressible energy, which keeps the memory of the dead alive, stimulating the consciousness of the living and rising with the strength of body and voice against any form of imperialism and racism.”
The Laughter of the Scavengers sprang from the discovery of the remains of the Trindade War on the island of São Tomé. Directed by Zia Soares and with music by Xullaji, the show brings us the memories of those who lived through the war and those who heard tales of the event, accounts that have gradually become blurred by the passage of time.
© João Duarte
In the Trindade War, the dead were piled up in mass or lost graves, thrown into the depths of the sea or in a burning fire — in an exercise of violence perpetrated by the invader who believed that by stripping the dead of their names they would condemn them to oblivion. But for the Santomeans these deads remain present at the island as a incarnate symbol, and each year, on February 3rd, in order to celebrate them, the inhabitants of São Tomé and Príncipe engage in a ritualistic procession, parading over several hours from the center of São Tomé to the Fernão Dias’ beach, in a march that amplifies spoken words, songs, laughter and sounds emitted by convulsive bodies.
The Laughter of the Scavengers transports the carnivalesque dimension of the parade to the performance floor, forging isochrony in the bodies of the performers; it is a continuation of this entropic, celebratory march, in which the performers manipulate images, remove the flesh from the bones and laugh deliriously, in a succession of pulses which evolve through a medium of trance and possession — the body opens up to a kind of limbo, where the dead escape the linearity of time and the causal restraints of the living; the body transfigures the scene as the remains and fragments of the carnage are devoured by the acting-scavengers.
It’s the necromancer island.
It is the manifesto of laughter.
The exultation of laughter blessed by the dead.
A chaos that doesn’t define order.
After all, the utopia of draining the sea.”
Zia Soares
© João Duarte
Directed by Zia Soares
Text by Alda Espírito Santo, Conceição Lima, Zia Soares
Performed by Benvindo Fonseca, Binete Undonque, Daniel Martinho, Lucília Raimundo, Mick Trovoada, Neusa Trovoada, Vera Cruz, Xullaji, Zia Soares
Original music by Xullaji
Scenery and costumes by Neusa Trovoada
Lighting design by Jorge Ribeiro
Movement by Lucília Raimundo
Support for the movement by Marcus Veiga
Scenery construction and assembly by Carlos Caetano – Construções Ilimitadas
Seamstress Aldina Jesus Atelier
Translation from forro by Solange Salvaterra Pinto
Video by António Castelo
Graphic design by Neusa Trovoada
Produced by Teatro GRIOT
Co-produced by Culturgest
Supported by Academia Arte&Dança, Associação Mén Non, Batoto Yetu, Câmara Municipal Moita, Carlos Caetano – Construções Ilimitadas, Centro Cultural Malaposta, DeVIR/CAPa – Centro de Artes Performativas do Algarve, Foundation Obras, Fundação Alda Espírito Santo, Hangar, Junta de Freguesia Misericórdia, Khapaz, Polo Cultural Gaivotas Boavista, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe – Embaixada em Portugal, ROÇAMUNDO – Associação para Cultura e Desenvolvimento, TerranoMedia
Special thanks to Ana Torres, Benvindo Semedo, Carlos Espírito Santo, elenco “MachimGang”, João Carlos Silva, Lamine Torres, Luisélio Salvaterra Pinto, Olavo Amado
Teatro GRIOT is financed by the Portuguese Government – Ministry of Culture/ Directorate-General for the Arts, and Lisbon Municipal Council; Zia Soares is an artist supported by apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Publications
Antena 3
BUALA
Coffeepaste
Observador
Público/ Ípsilon
Rádio Comercial
Sapo Mag/ Lusa
Time Out
Microsite Culturgest