Teatro Maizum is presenting a staged reading of Afonso Álvares’ “Auto de São Vicente” in the church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora on Friday and Saturday, the theater company announced.
The initiative takes place as part of the commemorations of the 850th anniversary of the arrival in Lisbon of the relics of St. Vincent (1173-2023), adds the company, which has had Silvina Pereira as artistic director since 1988.
Also directed by Silvina Pereira, the staged reading marks the arrival in Lisbon of the relics of Vicente de Zaragoza, who was to become a saint and patron saint of Lisbon.
The author of four hagiographic autos, a type of biography that describes the life of a saint, Afonso Álvares “was invited by the canons of São Vicente de Fora to present the Auto de São Vicente in the adjacent rooms of the Monastery Church, thus celebrating the saint’s intimate relationship with Portugal,” reads the title page of Teatro Maizum’s initiative on the 16th century text.
In “Auto de São Vicente”, Afonso Álvares “puts on stage the martyrdom experienced by the saint”, demonstrating the author’s “dramatic and creative talent”, stresses Teatro Maizum.
Performing the staged reading will be Lita Pedreira, Júlio Martín, João Ferrador, Luzia Paramés, João Didelet, Tiago Almeida, Guilherme de Bastos Lima, Pedro Saavedra, Mário Abel, Ana Sofia Santos, Jan Gomes, Andreia Valles and Vera Freire.
Margarida Rosa Rodrigues, Isabel Fernandes, Mariana Lupi Costa and Inês Lopes complete the list of participants in the initiative.
Teatro Maizum began its activity as a professional theater company in 1982 and, since 2006, has focused mainly on research, training and dissemination of a little-known Portuguese classical theater repertoire, according to the company’s website.
