The Companhia de Teatro de Almada, celebrating 50 years of existence, opens for the first time in Portugal the Israeli author Hanoch Levin who through Shitz speaks of the possibility of a dystopian world in which morals do not exist.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he staging is by Toni Cafiero and features in the cast with André Pardal, Diogo Bach, Erica Rodrigues, Pedro Walter and Ariel Rodriguez (piano). Shitz opens on April 30, at Joaquim Benite Municipal Theater, at 8:00 pm, day 2, at 11:00 am, and will remain on the scene, from Tuesday to Saturday, at 9:00 pm, and Sundays, at 4:00 pm, until May 30 .
«In June 1967 the Six Day War broke out, an event that marked a turning point in the history of the State of Israel. After a few weeks, the Israeli army attacked three Arab armies – Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian – by surprise and, in less than a week, won and conquered vast territories.
This unprecedented victory has unleashed a feeling of superiority and arrogance in Israeli society, and few have dared to think and speak differently. One of them was Hanoch Levin (1943 1999) who, through his plays, would become a controversial author, due to the way he satirized the Israeli euphoria, destroying the myths of heroism and sacrifice for the country.
With Shitz, Levin mixed two known genres of his creation for the first time: family comedy and political satire. Written in 1974, it is a “two-war” play: the Six-Day War, which was followed by a post-war period that provided many Israelis with opportunities for rapid enrichment and, for Levin, was the beginning of a marked decline. moral.
And the Yom Kippur War, which broke out in October 1973 and is in Shitz the backdrop for one of the most moving monologues in the history of Israeli theater: a vehement accusation of the brutality and levity with which the State treats the lives of its citizens. . Shitz was taken to the scene several times in Israel (in 1975, staged by Levin himself).
In 2015 it was performed at the Israel Opera with music by the Israeli composer Yoni Rechter. » (Mulli Melzer, editor of Levin’s work)
