São Paulo – From this Saturday (11th) to the next 25th, the city of São Paulo will host the presentations of the multimedia show Card Games, by the Canadian director Robert Lepage. The show consists of two different plays which address issues such as history, politics, magic and the universe of card games with the Arab world running as an underlying theme. The presentations will take place at Sesc Santo Amaro.
“This project was born from a simple idea, with actors and technicians playing cards. Then, Lepage researched the origin of the games and found out they came from the East, from the Arab world. From there, he started to turn to this universe,” explains Emerson Pirola, assistant in charge of the theatre area at the management of Sesc’s Cultural Action Program.
The shows were designed according to the card suits. The first two parts, which will be staged in São Paulo, are Card Games: Spades and Card Games: Hearts.
Card Games: Spades explores the theme of war. The six-actor play juxtaposes two desert cities at the moment the United States invade Iraq.
On one side is the American city of Las Vegas, which the director portrays as a caricature of the Western World, and on the other the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, bombed by the then American president George W. Bush in the name of democracy. The characters, like the city that keeps on having fun in the midst of war, face their personal battles in hopes of solving their own contradictions.
In the second part, Card Games: Hearts, the plot links Algeria, France and Canada. The character Chaffik is a young Maghrebi taxi driver in Québec, in 2011, who delves into his genealogical past to untangle questionable events linked to the disappearance of his grandfather and the origins of his family.
Another character in the plot is Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, a renowned French magician, who is sent to Algeria by the French government, in 1856, to challenge the spiritual and magical powers of the marabouts (hermits considered to be saints by the inhabitants of the Northwestern region of Africa). Chaffik and Robert-Houdin are connected by a familial, political and artistic network.
Pirola explains that each suit represents a symbolism which is portrayed by the director in the plays. “Spades are linked to the military universe; Hearts represents the sacred, the magic; Clubs represents labour, the workers; and Diamonds the economic realm and trade.” The plays themed around Clubs and Diamonds are still in planning phases.
Lepage is known for producing shows which mix performing arts, such as theatre, dance and music, with digital arts, such as cinema, video art and multimedia. The lines in the shows are in French, English and Arabic and subtitled in Portuguese, and will be displayed in four screens scattered around the presentation space.
The plays staff, combined, is composed of 12 actors from several countries such as Germany, Spain, England, Switzerland, Australia and Canada. The performances take place in a 360-degree circular stage which is broken into multiple spaces.
Never seen before in Latin America, the two plays were staged in Germany, Spain, England, Switzerland, Australia and Canada.
Service
Card Games: Spades
On October 11th, 12nd, 14th and 15th (Saturday at 9pm, Sunday at 6pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, at 9pm).
Card Games: Hearts
On October 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th (from Wednesday to Saturday, at 8pm).
Tickets range from R$ 18 to R$ 60 (roughly US$ 7.54 to US$ 25.15) and can be purchased in the ticket offices at Sesc or online at www.sescsp.org.br. Sesc Santo Amaro is located at 505 Amador Bueno Street.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
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