brillium. Nobody would suspect, but this is a word full of dreams: the dreams that the ten young people of Casa da Rapariga de Faro already brought and those who are now creating, during the workshop “Teatro d'elAs”, which is being promoted by Teatro das Figuras in partnership with the Association for the Protection of Girls and the Family.
These “heroines”, as Rui Gonçalves nicknames them, laugh, play and exhibit the joviality typical of their age. But the easy laughter of aspiring actresses – and playwrights, as they are also the ones who write the story – does not reflect the difficulties they have gone through and the complicated life stories that accumulate in this rehearsal room.
Maybe that's why dreams are so important. “We always wanted to open restaurants, hotels, beauty salons or anything like that. And everything we wanted to create we always called it brillium. When Rui invited us to choose a name for the Theater, it was right away: brillium! (general laughter)», he told the Sul Informação Antigone – since we are talking about heroines.
In this article, it is worth noting that the only real name is Rui Gonçalves, trainer of this long-term workshop and member of the programming team of Teatro das Figuras. Participants in the initiative will remain anonymous. AND brillium, as you can see, is only part of the common imagination of these young women.
“These girls, to me, are heroes. There are very complicated life stories here. Most of them were removed from their families and, just because of that and because of the burden that this represents, they are heroes, for supporting everything and continuing to move forward», framed Rui Gonçalves.
Knowing or not the names of the protagonists of this story is, moreover, not important. Because this is, above all, an inside job that has to serve the participants themselves and not the general public.
«I have noticed that the theater is also serving, for them, as a form of catharsis. They expose their stories and it's already happened that we all end up crying. In the beginning, we did some group dynamics and it ended with a tear in the eye. This space of catharsis was necessary and the theater is a magical tool for people to download everyday situations and others that have dragged on for a long time», he added.
Antigone confirms that the workshop sessions have had this power. “There were many things, although we lived together, that we didn't know about each other. With this, it helped us to express our feelings and communicate, rather than immediately going into attack mode. There is already a little friendship growing there. It has been very good, very pleasant», said the young user of the Casa das Raparigas de Faro.
Brites – and why not a Portuguese heroine? -, who also comes forward to assume the role of spokesperson for her colleagues, reveals that, in recent weeks, the Brilios have already learned a lot, such as “voice warm-up and relaxation. It's been good, we've learned a lot of things. This helps us to understand each other better and to release the bad energies».
“I can say that, since we started rehearsals, I've learned a lot, it wasn't just them who learned. Of course they learned some theater techniques, voice warm-up, diction, projection, but I have learned a lot from them at the human level», said Rui Gonçalves, who insisted on taking on this training, who it is for him “an enormous learning opportunity”.
«I like to think that this is also a family, group space. This is a bunch! I'm with them as if they were my family – although I haven't known them for a long time – and, as far as I'm aware, they also go towards that», considered the trainer of this workshop.
More than a final presentation, whose realization will be “entirely up to them”, the objective of this workshop is to give the participants tools that they can use in their daily lives.
Even so, Rui Gonçalves liked to continue the project, so that “this is not another of the hundreds of workshops that are held and that end up dying there. I will be very happy if any of them want to continue doing theater».
Until June, the brillium will work to put together a show from one end to the other. “Whether there is a presentation to the public or not will be their decision. But, even if that doesn't happen, the workshop will proceed as if that were the final objective. We will do everything the same until the curtain is almost opened».
Brites, on the other hand, has no doubts that there will be a final presentation.
«Having so much work and not presenting… but they have to pay! (laughter). It has to be something ours, but what it will be, we won't say, it's a secret», assured this heroine of modern times, with a smile on her lips.
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