São Paulo – The clown group Traço Cia de Teatro, from Santa Catarina, will take part in the second edition of Festiclown Palestine, in October. The event will bring circus shows from several parts of the world to Palestinians and Syrians who live in refugee camps in Lebanon. The company is the only one from Brazil to take part in the festival.
Festiclown Palestina had its first edition in 2011 and is organized by the Spanish Iván Prado, director of the group Pallasos em Rebeldia, which takes the circus world to areas with military conflicts or social injustice. Débora de Matos, actress from Traço Cia de Teatro, tells us that her group is partners with the Spanish company and that is why it was invited to the Arab festival.
“We started out with the desire to incorporate the clown into the process of rescuing dreams, humanity. We are preparing this work for people who are not allowed the right to laugh”, Matos explains.
The Brazilian group consists of four actors, but for now only two are confirmed to go to Lebanon. They will perform at the camps in Nahr Al-Bared, Baddawi, Bourj Al Barajneh, Shatila and Ain Al-Hilweh. For the trip, the company had funding from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. The event, which would originally take place in January, is now scheduled to happen from October 02 to 12.
According to Matos, the group knows little about the lives of the Palestinians and Syrians they will perform to. “We are going to witness their reality. They are people who were displaced and that makes them lose their family reference, lose their wishes. To us, [the festival] is the reconstruction of a dream, it’s about how to rebuild the will to fight, self-reliance, about fighting for and believing their dreams,” she says.
The actress explains that the numbers chosen for the presentation are those which are silent, because of the language barrier. “We had to use a more physical, a more corporeal language,” she says. One of the scenes shows a clown who composes a song, but ends up being disturbed by an assistant who wants to be the center of attention during the songs presentation.
The theater company is located in the city of Florianópolis. The group also performs in hospitals with the support of other collaborating artists. You can find out more about the theater company at http://tracoteatro.blogspot.com.br.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
