THE PAIN

from La Douleur by Marguerite Duras

“The speech produced by this fragmented text is the one of a tragic hero. The foundations of the first tragedies are set: the actress is alone on the stage, masked (from a living mask, not an immobile one), and she talks about events that we don’t see. We don’t watch her story, we hear her telling us about it, and she moves like dancing, and it’s a grotesque dance, the dance of a body tortured inside.”

Maurício Ayer | Researcher of Marguerite Duras’s work

Article for the Société Internationale Marguerite Duras | 2017

The monologue with the actress Rita Grillo, directed by Vanessa Bruno, was created from the book "La Douleur", by Marguerite Duras. A compilation of texts written after the war about the period when her husband, involved with the Nazism resistance, was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. THE PAIN presents the point of view of a woman who waits for a man and who is able to remain long days waiting in lines and corridors, searching for news about him. The play is fragmented into memories, hallucinations and everyday actions. The creation - through Marguerite's literature - becomes a living testimony, a kind of confession about the war. The play turns into a testimony from actress Rita Grillo, who, in the end, talks about her own pain. The rehearsals where supported by the “Klauss Vianna Technique” (TKV), a work conducted by the Movement Director Livia Vilela.

Rita Grillo translated de book “La Douler”, by Marguerite Duras, in 2014. THE PAIN debuted in 2016, at SESC Consolação, in São Paulo, along with another monologue from VULCÃO, PULSE. In 2017, the show performed two seasons (January and October) at Pequeno Ato Theater, in São Paulo, with crowded sessions in all presentations. In the same year it also performed at SESC São Caetano.

CAST AND CREATIVE

Idealization and Performance

Rita Grillo

Director

Vanessa Bruno

Assistant Director and Movement Director

Livia Vilela

Light Designer

Aline Santini

Soundtrack

Edson Secco

Costume and Set Design