The historian Isabel Castro Henriques, who holds a doctorate in African History, is the historical consultant for the play set “63 years after the importation of slaves to the metropolis was prohibited,” according to the company founded and directed by Pedro Saavedra.
The importation of African slaves to the then-called metropolis was prohibited during the reign of José I, by a decree from Marquês de Pombal dated February 12, 1761.
The play’s action takes place around 1824, on an old estate in Alentejo where a family of descendants of freed slaves “has made the house of their former masters their own,” says O Fim do Teatro.
On a gray day, a girl appears at the door claiming to be the widow of Rómulo Bensaúde, having fled from Brazil to seek “refuge and a new life.”
“A story of collective liberation, but also about the individual imprisonment in which the young woman Cândida lives with her colonial past,” initiating a “struggle between the past and the present to understand to whom the property ‘O Cicómero’ truly belongs,” the company adds.
‘Cicómero’ is, according to O Fim do Teatro, a corrupted name of an ancient tree planted in the middle of a 19th-century agricultural estate in Alentejo, creating “the best witness to one of the darkest chapters in Portugal’s history,” states the company directed by Pedro Saavedra.
“For most of us, Portugal was the first country in the world to abolish slavery [ultimately abolished in 1869], for most of us, slaves no longer exist,” and “for most of us, the past has passed, but for some of us, history is not well told,” the company emphasizes.
Co-written and performed by Catarina Matos, Iza da Costa, Miguel Ponte, Pedro Barbeitos, Pedro Saavedra, and Sara Ferrada, the play also features joint authorship and voice by Alice Marcelino.
The set design is by Luís Santos, assisted by Luís Monteiro Costa, with costumes by Chissangue Afonso, who also makes them along with Sandra Guerreiro.
‘O Cicómero’ is the eighth creation by O Fim do Teatro, featuring lighting design by Paulo Sabino and illustration by Rui Guerra, and will be repeated on Saturday, also at 9:00 PM.
