Manuel d’Deslivres &d’Anse of the 23rd of April, Cervantes, Shakespeare, books … and of Alvaro García de Zúñiga
9:00 p.m., Rua das Gaivotas, No. 6 – Lisboa
Manuel d’Deslivres&d’Anse is a play by Alvaro García de Zúñiga and his Manuels
The International Day of Books started to be celebrated in Catalonia, on April 5th 1926, in Cervantes’ honour, because it is the day of his birth. In 1930, the date was postponed to the 23rd of the same month, the day of the death of Don Miguel. In 1995, UNESCO chose the 23rd of April to signal the international day of books and copyright, not only in honour of Cervantes but also Shakespeare (who was born and died on April 23rd) and of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega disappeared that same day and in the same year of the previous two, in 1616.
April 23 is the day of the patron saint of the country of Shakespeare, St. George, and known in Catalonia, as the day of the rose since 1436. Since that year the tradition of exchanging gifts between people who love and respect each other is maintained in Catalonia, and since 1926, books are exchanged in Cervantes memory.
According to Isaac Newton’s calculations, Jesus Christ died on April 23rd.
For us, April 23rd is most of all the day Alvaro García de Zúñiga ceased to be one of us to shift to another level of existence.
This coincidence definitely sealed the intimate relationship that Alvaro had with his favourite authors, in particular, precisely during his last years, Shakespeare and Cervantes.
For this reason, April 23rd is the day that seems right to announce the formal establishment of the Association blablaLab imagined by Alvaro and myself, shortly after Alvaro moved to Lisbon, in 1996.
Within the scope of the blablaLab association we will seek to continue the research on creation and language(s) that Alvaro was driving; to preserve and disseminate Alvaro’s work, to promote the creation of works that we believe fit into the alvarian universe, and to maintain the circle of friends and productive and creative friendship Alvaro generated around him.
As we did for for Art’s and Alvaro birthday, last January 17th, on April 23rd we organize with friends a reading of Manuel sur Scène (Manuel on Stage), a polyphonic performance, of this format of variable geometry that Alvaro explained as follows: “Manual on Stage is a self-reflexive project that is a result of my other writing (plays, prose, poems) and to me somehow ended the second round of my theatre. The first was ended by Actueur three small texts of “neither drama” that close, so to speak, the cycle of “my theatrical writing.” In this first cycle – which includes the plays “Théâte Impossible” (Impossible Theatre), “Le Théâtre n’est que du Cinéma” (Theatre is only Cinema), “Sur Scène et Marne” (On Stage and Marne) and “Lecture d’un texte pour le théâtre” (Reading of a text for theatre) – the text is the key element on which everything turns and returns at every turn and return. In the period that followed – “radiOthello”, “Frustration Exercises” and “Press Conference” – writing has, in some way, been relegated to a more instrumental function to being the canvas of the treated themes: the notion of foreigner, eroticism, death or power. With Manuel on Stage, the jump is done this time in several directions simultaneously. Incorporating the ability to “go back” through a kind of “manual (of how to stand) on (a) stage,” with permanent use of all my plays and earlier texts but also of any other source that can be proved interesting for the staging of this Manue(a)l. »
So here is the Manuel d’Deslivres &d’Anse of the 23rd of April, Cervantes, Shakespeare, books … and of Alvaro García de Zúñiga !
With:
Leopold von Verschuer, German actor, translator and director, was born in Brussels, lives in Berlin
Fernando Villas-Boas, Portuguese translator and playwrighter, lives in Lisbon,
Fernando Vendrell, Portuguese director and producer, lives in Lisbon,
Fernando Pera, Portuguese producer and university student, lives in Lisbon
Eduardo Raon, Portuguese harpist and composer, lives in Ljubljana
Daniel Schvetz, Argentinian pianist and composer, lives in Estoril.
António Feijó, Portuguese professor and translator, lives in Lisbon
Alínea B. Issilva, Portuguese performer, lives in Lisbon
Heartfelt thanks to all the performers, participants,
to the Praga Theatre Company, Miso Music,
Inês Albuquerque and Ana Paganini
to all for their generosity and support
http://blablalab.net (always under construction)