Daniel Mello        Reporter Agência Brasil

São Paulo – Last weekend a play, Torquemada – 17 Bullets, based on the works of Augusto Boal (1931-2009) was staged at the Teatro Coletivo, Rua da Consolação, in the central region of the city of São Paulo. Entrance was free of charge.

Much of what was presented on stage was written by Boal after he was arrested and tortured in 1971 by the military dictatorship in Brazil. But the thrust of the drama is the idea that state-run violence, sponsored and carried out by the government, continues to exist, especially in more remote areas – in places like the outskirts of large cities like São Paulo. The play portrays the present, but contains many historical references, some dating back to the Spanish Inquisition and the man who ran it, Torquemada.

“Violence on the part of the state continues today, mainly in poor areas distant from city centers (‘periferia’),” explained Yara Toscano, the coordinator of the theater project, with regard to some content in the presentation that was added to Boal’s original words.

Toscano goes on to explain that the play lays bare the way the ideological narrative that sustains and justifies torture comes into being. And shows how those ideas have not only outlived the military regime in Brazil but continue to feed oppression in Brazilian society even today.

The presentation follows Boal’s formula for a Theater of the Oppressed (“Teatro do Oprimido”) in that it is interactive (as we say nowadays). Members of the audience are invited to go on stage and present ideas and solutions for the problem of torture.

As part of the project, there will be a theater workshop at the University of São Paulo Theater (“Tusp”) and discussion on social networks.

Among the greater objectives of the theater project is to debate the Truth Commission (“Comissão da Verdade”), the military dictatorship and its continuing influence in national life. The presentation of Torquemada – 17 Bullets is scheduled to travel to eleven cities.

The play received support from the Amnesty Commission’s Memory Landmarks (“Marcas da Memória”) project, housed in the Ministry of Justice. According to Egmar José de Oliveira, a commission counsel, “The Amnesty Commission understands its historical role as defined in law as seeking to repair damage caused by the dictatorship, as well as discussing the truth and the memory of the country.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Espetáculo Torquemada -17 Balas traça paralelo entre a tortura na ditadura militar e na sociedade atual