Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas

Tiago Rodrigues questions the legitimacy of anti-fascist violence. A production for this era in which the far right is on the rise worldwide.

Ubu Award 2022 to the best foreing show.

This is the story of an unusual family: all its members kill fascists. The family tradition dates back over 70 years. They have gathered today to celebrate young Catarina's initiation, involving killing Judge Neto de Moura, a sexist who has been publicly denounced by the feminist movement. But what will Catarina do at the moment of truth?

The Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues uses the real case of Catarina Eufémia, a peasant woman killed in 1954 while demanding labour rights, whose murder was never tried in court, and who is a symbol of anti-fascist resistance and women's emancipation in Portugal. Through her, Rodrigues asks several questions about violence: can it ever be legitimate? Is the fascism's historical violence against women different from the violence of contemporary sexism? And is there ultimately room for violence in the struggle for a better world?


"Le mystère Tiago Rodrigues", by Chantal Boiron (Ubu, European Stages)


WHAT THE PRESS SAID

"One of the 10 best european theater 2022."
Matt Wolf - The New York Times

‘Tiago Rodrigues’ staging is painstakingly orchestrated, the brief scenes link together gracefully and dynamically and his text is peppered with black humour and poetry, but it becomes unbearable with the fascist discourse. […] The viewers can no longer bear these horrors, the insults pile up and spitballs are thrown at the performers. Is the audience disgusted enough with fascism? […] The performers act with precision and talent. Extra kudos to Romeu Costa for his courage, as he risks being eviscerated by the audience.' Claudine Arrazat - critiquetheatreclau.com

‘Even though Catarina always suggests more than it shows, it is conducted by the language in a long, controversial final monologue which verges on overwhelming its own theatricality by pushing the viewers’ experience of reality. It should come as no surprise if part of the audience, feeling trapped like hostages and transformed despite themselves into an audience that is an accomplice to reactionary thinking—or more accurately, agents who are egging on the failure of our democracies—reacts with violence or bewilderment. […] In a profoundly pessimistic gesture, Tiago Rodrigues sets aside facile ways and lets politics insinuate itself wherever it wants. And it insinuates itself enough that a few months ago the party of Giorgia Meloni tried to ban the piece in Italy. QED?’ Mathias Daval – IO/GAZETTE

‘Without any overt didacticism, does this show rejuvenate the experimental nature of the Brechtian Lehrstück, or the immersive nature of Augusto Boal’s “invisible theatre” when reaching the audience? […] What virtue can we assign to the interminable final monologue with the word of fascism unleashed? Certainly, the obvious talent of the actor who performs it, vomiting out his hatred for women, homosexuality, abortion, migrants and democracy, means that he fully fills his role as a provocateur. Some of us take it as a joke while others, fed up, leave the room. We can conclude that beyond any didacticism and any simulation of viewer participation, A Beleza de Matar Fascistas serves the cathartic function of heightening our vigilance over the potential return of the “dirty beast”.’ Christian Drapon – Crayonné au théâtre

‘Tiago Rodrigues asks, what is fascism today? To what extent can the rules of democracy be broken to better defend causes? Is violence a potential tool to defend democracy? The play reveals the doubt about violence, the way to react to extremism and intolerance, to defend democracy. [..] Amidst the burgeoning authoritarianism—although the war in Ukraine, which is like a throw of the dice, is the only immediate reality—this dystopian play set in 2028 is imbued with reality. However, death—the irremediable disappearance of an irreplaceable individual—is a powerful argument against murder, war and violence, even those waged against murderers and violent persons in retaliation. […] It is a play of our era, fun and serious, somewhere between nods to Brecht and our oppressive reality.’ Véronique Hotte - hottello

‘Keeping the paradox alive, this is the challenge to which Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas manages to rise. Inciting the daughter to rise to action, justifying violence given the rise in intolerance, the deviation of democratic rules to save democracy, Catarina’s mother was actually the opposite of what she says, unleashing a fervent defence in favour of the word and its power, of the political need to name things. Those who seek differences, relegate the movement to history or shiver with the word must be met without wavering: fascists. And when the enemy begins the speech, twisting the meaning of words the way all totalitarian regimes do, the violence of the play reaches a paroxysm which weapons, used as toys, would have had trouble starting. We would have liked Catarina to be silenced, we would have liked someone in the auditorium to have said something to her, the hand twitching, asking us why we, so polite, are silent and don’t move. Is the meaning of compromise in the word or the act? Tiago Rodrigues and the Catarinas respond: perhaps somewhere in the middle, in refusing to oppose them.’ Aïnhoa Jean-Calmettes – Mouvement.net

"This Teatro D. Maria II production achieves such a level of excellence that, if some people called it a manifesto, it would be one that sums up the importance of theatre in today’s society. Can theatre release us from our apathy? Can theatre get us thinking about creating a better model of society? We could even argue that these are not ulterior questions but are, in fact, the nature of the very idea behind this work. Tiago Rodrigues, who wrote and directed the play, unleashes critical thinking that only too often we have seen reduced to fake neutrality when confronted with current social contexts and spurs us to react."
intro.pt – Marta Moreira

"Catarina... by Tiago Rodrigues has all the best characteristics of tragedy. It inspires personal sacrifice, it’s dialectic and not didactic, discusses what destiny is best for the collective and is indifferent about what becomes of its heroes. And it’s a timely
reminder of the importance of rituals in forming and maintaining human communities."
Sinais em linha – Rui Pina Coelho


TO LEARN MORE
Le spectacle, contrat imaginaire, by Tiago Rodrigues
Temos medo dos mortos, interview with João Tordo (Anatomia dos Mártires)
Old Europe Is (Not) Dying: Literature, Tradition and Politics in Tiago Rodrigues’ Sopro (and Other Performances), by Rui Pina Coelho