Theater in the mountains and in the distilleries shows why «fire doesn't have four letters»

“These trees have gone through hell and now they are resurrected”, says “Manuel Monteiro”, with a suffering face, who claims to have “two children and six fires of life”. Manuel Monteiro is a fictional character, one of the two main lines of «Medronho #1 – the fire doesn't have four letters», the show that this year opens the season of yet another «Lavrar o Mar» in Monchique.

But Manuel Monteiro is, deep down, just any Monchique man. It could even be José Paulo, the owner of Quinta da Lameira, where this Wednesday, the 7th, the presentation of the new programming cycle took place, and which, in the great fire in August, saw his arbutus plantations burn, the the result of years and years of investment and effort.

“The farm is alive and will continue”, José Paulo had already said, when he received guests from the production of “Lavrar o Mar” in the ancestral home of his family, which miraculously escaped the flames.

The tone for this year's program was set, divided, as always, between the neighboring municipalities of Monchique and Aljezur. The great August fire took Giacomo Scalisi and Madalena Victorino, the thinkers of this «till the sea», changing the perspective of programming, which now, «due to circumstances, starts calling for a compliment at the end – we talk about what ends as a way of talking also about what begins when something ends». Or, as “Manuel Monteiro” says, looking out the window at the black hills of fire, “when everything turns green, the birds will return”.

The presentations of «Medronho #1 – the fire doesn't have four letters» begin this weekend, on the 10th and 11th of November, and continue on the following weekend, on the 17th and 18th, on that same farm in Lameira, among the black trunks of the burnt trees and grass that is already breaking out, with the first rains.

And what will this first show be? Giacomo Scalisi, the director, explained that it will be the continuation of the family saga that has been built over these three years, "a Romeo and Juliet Monchiquense" that came out of the imagination of writer Sandro William Junqueira.

This time, the fiction features a son, Ezequiel (played by actor Pedro Frias), and a father, Manuel (actor António Fonseca). «Each one tells his story of fire, speaks of that great mourning that is lived in the mountains, of that anger. There are two voices, two stories, two versions. Anyone who comes to see the show will discover why fire does not have four letters».

But there is "bad news": although the theme is again the arbutus, which is even in the title, this time, in this show, "we are not going to drink arbutus", announced Giacomo. "Everything burned and for about four years there will be no production of arbutus brandy here," he lamented. And that is translated into performance.

At the press conference in the dark warehouse where the alembic of Quinta da Lameira is located, Madalena Victorino stressed, in turn, that «this third edition of Lavrar o Mar gives us the opportunity to deepen the work» that has been done. “We are going to move towards a level, a sensitivity, which in daily life is not possible”.

For this «Medronho #1 – fire doesn't have four letters», recalls the director, «Sandro and Giacomo walked the mountain in search of words».

O Plowing the Sea project, in the 2018/2019 season, it starts with this outdoor show (bring comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing in case of rain), but there will still be half a dozen other performances, until next May, ranging from theater to music, dance and gastronomy (and mix them up) and even the new circus, in several aspects. It is once again integrated into the 365Algarve program, also with the financial support of the Directorate General of Arts, CRESC Algarve 2020 and the Municipalities of Monchique and Aljezur.

The objective is to bring the arts to these low-density territories, involving the local community, but also creating a cultural program that makes them attractive. One of the objectives, explained Madalena Victorino, is to «dialogue with tourists», but with «an idea of tourism that is not banal».

"Here we don't have a theater, but we have nature." And this is the privileged stage of Lavrar o Mar.

Rui André, mayor of Monchique, expressed his "huge satisfaction" with the continuation of the project and recalled how important it was, when there was not even the money from 365Algarve, his municipality and the neighbors of Aljezur and even Odemira had decided to "support these two creatives, these amazing people».

The objective, added the mayor, is "to make this event an anchor for other projects", which make culture a "vehicle for local development".

«This project has been much more than simple shows, which we watch, we go away and there is almost nothing left. This stays with the people who watch and it stays mainly with the community, which participates”, he guaranteed.

Rui André also hoped that «these cultural moments can strengthen the connection with our heritage and our products», in order to «create an emotional connection with the new generations, so that it is not just about making a product like the arbutus and being rather an act of love».

José Gonçalves, mayor of Aljezur, where the program will head at the end of November, with regard to the Sweet Potato Festival, began by stressing that, "if Lavrar o Mar ended tomorrow, it would have been worth it" . But he vowed to continue and for a long time.

"These territories of ours are privileged: we have problems, but we have things that are nowhere else." And it is on this raw material that Lavrar o Mar lives.

What happens in the municipalities of Aljezur and Monchique, from October to May, for the third consecutive year, shows «that good things don't just happen in Lisbon or in Faro, also happen in this territory», added José Gonçalves.

Fátima Catarina, vice president of the Algarve Tourism Region, highlighted the "unprecedented partnership between Tourism and Culture" that the 365Algarve program allowed, an aspect that would later be highlighted again by the Secretary of State for Culture, who was also present at the event. original press conference for the presentation of Lavrar o Mar.

«The 365Algarve is a fantastic program that combines tourism and culture in low-density territories», underlined Secretary of State Ângela Carvalho Ferreira, adding that Lavrar o Mar is «a very important project for the non-desertification of these territories, so that everyone we can create a more emotional connection, more down to earth with its know-how», be it the art of producing medronho brandy, or sweet potato and its recipes.

To begin with, the medronho (or its absence) will be the motto for the first show, which, through the voice of two actors, takes the theater to the mountains and to the distilleries, this year strangely silent and cold.

Actor António Fonseca spoke to Sul Informação about this different spectacle, “made in a mountain range, in the open air”. “This is done in the mountains, in dialogue with what is there, the concrete: air, trees, ashes, stones, but also the stories”. It will be, explained the actor, "a show with the mountains and not the mountains".