Segun Adefila’s Crown Troupe of Africa is among organizations taking part in The Art of Facing Fear, an international production for the digital play devised specifically for Zoom app. The project is an international cast with artists from three different continents: Europe (Sweden, England and Germany), Africa (Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and South America (Brazil).
According to the producers, the text refers to a dystopian world after 5.555 days of quarantine due to a pandemic crisis. In this isolated world, many things are not available anymore for people. Despite the government’s absolute control on digital communication, they still have the chance to keep in contact to each other via internet.
At the end of the performance, artists and audience may gather and chat as an international community.
The co-producers of this production are: Cie Kaddu (Senegal), Crown Troupe of Africa (Nigeria), Darling Desperados (Sweden), Oddmanout Theatre Company (England), Os Satyros (Brazil), Portuguese Cultural Center of Mindelo (Cape Verde), Village Gossip Productions (South Africa), Tell-a-Tale (Nigeria), The Kwasha! Theatre Company (South Africa), The Market Theatre Laboratory (South Africa) and Unga Klara (Sweden).
Os Satyros – theatre company from Brazil
Os Satyros is a Brazilian theatre company founded in 1989, by Ivam Cabral and Rodolfo García Vázquez. It has produced over 100 plays performed in over 20 countries and 2 fiction films. It was also the founder of SP Escola de Teatro, a major pedagogical institution for stage arts in Brazil.
The company has been researching the relation between technology and theatre for 10 years already. Several of the company´s productions have used internet, robots, apps and cell phones on stage. When the pandemic started, it decided to go into the research of new possibilities for digital theatre using the zoom app.
The Art of facing fear – Os Satyros, Brazil
The first production of ‘The art of Facing Fear’ had its premiere last June 13th in Brazil. Os Satyros started the rehearsals after the quarantine was established in Brazil. Rehearsals happened exclusively online and the actors were spread all over Brazil and abroad.
In the original production, the Swedish actress Ulrika Malmgren was a guest and took part in the whole process of devising from the zoom possibilities, from her home in Stockholm.
The production – Africa/Europe
The African/European version of the play will bring together artists from 9 different countries from 3 continents. The vast majority of the artists have never met physically and took part of digital rehearsals to devise the performance.
The idea is to establish the points in common among different national realities during the pandemic. What are the fears that took over mankind during this period globally? What are the effects of social intolerance and political extremism in the world today?
At the end of the performance, we ask the audience to stay in the room and we start a chat in simultaneous rooms. In this moment, the audience can talk freely to the artists and the other members of the audience about the performance, the effects of the pandemic in their own countries and the ways for a better political future.
Rodolfo García Vázquez – director and playwright
Born in Sao Paulo, Rodolfo founded Os Satyros in 1989. Throughout his career, he directed theatre and film and performed in 20 countries. Among his main works, there are the Libertine Trilogy, based on Marquis de Sade (Philosophy in the Boudoir, 120 Days of Sodom and Justine), the People Trilogy (Perfect People, Sublime People and Mean People) and Roberto Zucco (by the French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès).
He was also the artistic director for Interkunst, a German institution based in Berlin, for 7 years. In this period, he directed artists from over 25 countries in different shows such Instant Acts gegen Gewalt und Rassismus.
He has also developed research on technology and theatre, with a Master about Cyborg theatre and telepresence.
Ivam Cabral – playwright
Ivam is a psychoanalysis student, an actor and a playwright who has dedicated his career to the stages. Doctor in Drama by São Paulo University, he is the co founder of Os Satyros Theater Company. As an actor and playwright he won the most importants brazilian theater prizes and performed in more than 20 countries, in four continents: America, Europe, Africa and Asia. He is also the Executive Director in SP Escola de Teatro – Theater Formation Center.
Contacts:
Ulrika Malmgren – Darling Desperados (Sweden) +46 73 997 10 03 or [email protected]
Rodolfo García Vázquez – Os Satyros (Brazil) +55 11 946259474 or [email protected]
Abdoulaye Diallo – Cie Kaddu (Senegal ) +221 77 271 66 35 or [email protected]
Bola Stephen-Atitebi – Tell-a-Tale (Nigeria) +234 810 599 2000 or [email protected]
Clara Vaughan – The Market Theatre Laboratory (South Africa) +27 72 433 4311 or [email protected]
João Branco – Portuguese Cultural Center of Mindelo (Cape Verde) +238 995 10 76 or [email protected]
Katta Pålsson – Unga Klara (Sweden) +46 70 235 05 80 or [email protected]
Katy Weir – Oddmanout Theatre Company (England) +44 7515 862781 or [email protected]
Napo Masheane – Village Gossip Productions (South Africa) +27 82 215 8222 or [email protected]
Rudy Motseatsea – The Kwasha! Theatre Company (South Africa) +27 83 866 5224 or [email protected]
Segun Adefila – Crown Troupe of Africa (Nigeria) +234 802 304 9128 or [email protected]
