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After the Silence

 
Alec Martin Review by Alec Martin 4 Published: 24 Aug 2024 The Studio Show Dates: 21 Aug 2024-24 Aug 2024

Very early in After the Silence, Juliana França’s character relates her experience of being taught about Brazil’s history in school. The educational system delivered a fantasy version of the country’s past, portraying a melting pot of racial harmony. She knew another history though—a darker history in which racism and the legacy of colonialism were, and still are, wreaking havoc on communities, families, and individuals. It inspired her character to become a teacher herself and to ensure that the harsh reality Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian people have faced, and continue to face, is heard.

A powerful meditation on community, resistance, and the ongoing struggle for recognition and truth

It’s a useful lens to understand what is a sophisticated, multi-layered, sometimes hard-to-pin-down piece of multimedia theatre. As the excellent França, along with the equally strong Gal Pereira, Caju Bezerra, and Aduni Guedes, weave through tales of oppression and injustice, backdropped by three large screens showing the English surtitles of the Brazilian script and film footage from the actual 1984 documentary Cabra Marcado Para Morrer and fictionalised documentary footage the company shot with some of the real people of the Chapada Diamantina region, we learn about this unheard history of violence and iniquity.

At the narrative heart of writer and director Christiane Jatahy’s work are two murders, one historical and one fictional, but both representing the silencing of those trying to fight for the powerless. It’s a testament to the production that real-life documentary sits so neatly with the fictionalised account. Lines blur between the educational and the polemic; between documentary and fictional film; between reality and drama; and between the tangible and the transcendent. Through it all, the portrayals continue to feel almost entirely authentic, and the cast do a great job of traversing their roles with subtlety, grace, and at times, prodigious emotional power.

After the Silence navigates a vast dramatic terrain, shifting from the didactic tone of a lecture to the mystical intensity of a jarê possession. The fluid movement between different forms and moods allows the play to capture the raw emotional reality of lives marked by the weight of a colonial legacy and the unhealed wounds of violence for which justice may never be served. Despite its complex structure, the production remains deeply rooted in the authentic human experience, offering a powerful meditation on community, resistance, and the ongoing struggle for recognition and truth.

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The Blurb:

UK PREMIERE

Director Christiane Jatahy fuses the qualities of cinema and theatre to explore structural racism and the legacy of slavery in her native Brazil.

After the Silence follows the struggles of three Afro-Brazilian women as they fight for their community, their land and their people. Christiane Jatahy’s powerful play is loosely based on Itamar Vieira Junior’s best-selling novel Torto Arado and the 1984 film from Eduardo Coutinho Cabramarcado para morrer. Both of which focus on violence and repression in Brazil.

Slavery and colonial violence are often relegated to the past; however, their repercussions are still deeply felt today. The impact tremors throughout society’s structures built on systemic racism and entrenched social inequalities.

Jatahy’s final play in her trilogy blends documentary footage from the Chapada Diamantina region, where the novel Torto Arado is set. On top of documentary filmmaking, Jatahy combines theatre with installation and breathes new life into a traditional art form. As a result, she creates something new, cerebral and captivating.

Supported by Consulate General of Brazil in Edinburgh and Instituto Guimarães Rosa

A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance.

Christiane Jatahy Writer & DirectorThomas Walgrave Set & Lighting DesignerPedro Faerstein Photography & CameraVitor Araujo & Aduni Guedes Original MusicPedro Vituri Sound DesignerPreta Marques Costume Designer

Cast Caju Bezerra, Aduni Guedes, Juliana França & Gal Pereira