HELLO MY NAME IS – Porto

AUSTRALIA/PORTUGAL | STAGE PIECE | NATIONAL PREMIERE

There couldn’t have been a better timing. In a time where we watch the rise of new radicalisms from extreme positions, Paulo Castro returns to political theatre – one that has marked his career – with Edward Bond and “Choruses after the Assassinations”. In this present-day it is revisited the recent past, crusher of human liberties and rights, of the traumatic relations, and still not sufficiently discussed, of Portugal as colonizer, symptom of a society that tends to manage in duality: oppressors and oppressed. But nothing is that simple…
In Bond’s play, the British playwright envisions a world of violence to come, 50 years later (the play is from 1998), the result of an ascent of military dominion. The symptoms of that militarized society, one that is oppressive and devastating to human freedom can now be revisited in “Hello My Name Is”, a solo show, performed by actor Rashidi Edward. In this one-man show, Rashidi makes a display of a man who acts many roles – he is the one mourning for someone killed and right after he is the soldier who takes the shot -, using the poetic language of Edward Bond to draw attention to the place each one occupies in the games of tyrannical power, that the recent history of the former Portuguese colonies is just one example.
We are all implicated in the destiny of mankind, says Paulo Castro (as director) and Rashidi Edward (as an actor, born in Congo) in this play, which marks the comeback of the radical and disruptive creator to Portugal, that in 2002 founded the Stone/Castro company, sharing artistic direction with dancer Jo Stone and making Adelaide (Australia) the heart of their work.

Text Paulo Castro, inspired by “Choruses after the Assassinations” by Edward Bond
Direction Paulo Castro
With Paulo Castro (in substitution of Rashidi Edward)
Technical support Eduardo Maltez
Co-production OzAsia Festival, Colectivo 84, Stone/Castro