São Paulo – Miguel Mahfouz is a young Lebanese man who relocated to Brazil in 1914 and tells the audience of his day-to-day, his struggles and victories as a travelling salesman and immigrant. He also reads out his letters to his pregnant wife who stayed back in Lebanon. Onstage, Mahfouz is accompanied by his suitcase of goods.
It is thus, through its sole character, that the theatrical play Cartas Libanesas (Lebanese Letters), set to premiere in São Paulo this Friday (20th), addresses Lebanese immigration to Brazil. The script, by José Eduardo Vendramini, is built upon family recollections of Vendramini himself and of actor Eduardo Mossri, both of whom are of Lebanese descent. They also collected stories from Lebanese immigrants to Brazil, condensing them into Mahfouz.
The staging is a project by Vendramini and Mossri. When Mossri’s Lebanese grandmother died, at the age of 99, he found a pile of letters written by her in Arabic and showed them to Vendramini, his professor at the School of Communication and Arts of the University of São Paulo. The material hasn’t been translated yet, but led to the idea of doing research with immigrants, which lasted six months, and gave rise to Lebanese Letters.
The play is a monologue that features Mossri playing Mahfouz. The play’s director, Marcelo Lazzaratto, explains that the character recounts his experiences coming into Brazil, how he was treated in the ship, his struggles settling in São Paulo, his being addressed as a ‘Turk,’ among other things. The play, according to the director, also toys with the similarities between actors and travelling salesmen. “Every actor is a travelling salesman,” says Lazzaratto. With his letters, Mahfouz tries to persuade his wife who stayed in Lebanon to move to Brazil as well. “He finds himself in love with Brazil,” Mossri says.
Director and actor alike claim that although it’s about the Lebanese, the play deals with immigration as a whole. “It’s a bit of every immigrant’s story,” says Mossri. According to Lazzaratto, during the open rehearsals, people from backgrounds other than Lebanese said they identified. “In a world that is more and more global, it’s important to discuss coexisting with differences,” says the play’s director.
Rehearsals began in October last year and the season at Sesc is the play’s first, but Mossri has plans of staging it in other cities and doesn’t rule out going to festivals abroad, in Arab countries such as Morocco. By the way, his second project, which also relates to Arabs, is to translate his grandmother’s letters and make a play out of them as well.
Apart from directing, Lazzaratto is also in charge of lighting. The play features stage design by Renato Bolleli, soundtrack by Gregory Silva, costumes by Fause Haten, assistant directing by Wallyson Motta, vocal training by Rodrigo Mercadante, visagism (makeup, hairstyling etc.) by Nael Kassees, photography by Felipe Stucchi, executive production by Anayan Moretto, and direction of production by Henrique Mariano. The play will be showing until May 30th.
Sesc Ipiranga
Rua Bom Pastor, 822 – São Paulo – São Paulo
March 20th to May 30th. Fridays at 9:30 pm and Saturdays at 7:30 pm
Price: from R$ 6 to R$ 20 (US$ 1.8 to US$ 6 at current exchange rates)
Duration: 60 minutes
Rating: All Ages
There will be no showings on April 3rd and May 1st
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
