Ode
to Persephone is a 7-act monologue which incorporates a chorus of three
silent sculptors and includes a deconstructed dedicatory celebrating transgressive
and non-transgressive women. Important set directives include a window
or roof railing and the work space for the development of the three sculptors'
works during the play. In the four staged versions of this play we have
opted to work with clay, which is a prime material that can be molded
silently. At each presentation a new sculpture should be started or finished.
Ideally, the audience's perspective should not only be frontal and an
intimate venue is more coherent with the play. The sound design can vary
but it should preferably use female vocals. Costumes can also vary, but
the color black should prevail and the character should wear heavy leather
boots.
The
play is full of greek mithology references and some scenes are fully constructed
from this place. Its content refers to desire and questions the freedom,
manipulation and projection in relationships, but it also touchs in themes
like child sexual abuse, the problem of illegal abortion (abortion is
illegal in Brazil) and infant marginality.
The
play was influenced by the myth of Persephone, the virgin whos was abducted
by Hades, the god of hell and lord of the dead, who transforms her into
the queen of the underworld.
For
more information regarding the general content of the play, please click
on the Related Links on the right hand side. An excerpt of the play is
available in Portuguese.
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