Contemporary Theater
2017
Before is a small jewel in new Portuguese dramaturgy. Recently presented at ISKV Tiyatro Festivali - Istanbul, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and Barcelona’s Hiroshima, Pedro Penim’s text approaches with irony and humor, the feeling of saudade, the longing of the past.
Presented as an “atlas of melancholies”, the performance identifies here and there across Europe a sort of persistent awkwardness related to very ancient events.
Has our past really been so “glorious” once? And how far back should we trace this “before”?
Before speaks about the yearning for a return to a past time perceived as glorious and desirable when facing a painful present.