Senior Citizens’ Theatre: performance of the play ‘Food’

"And you? What are you hungry for? Where did you come from? How did you end up here? What do you remember? What do you still want to build? What’s your best recipe? What’s your favourite dish? How do you experience life? These are some of the reflections in this adventure called THEATRE. In this production, the food sown and harvested by women from the interior of Bahia is brought to life through the alchemy of the magical master chef – a citizen of the world – who transforms the raw ingredients into entertainment, art and a gateway to anywhere. From all corners of the world, from different generations, cultures and histories, we have come here to enrich a diverse Brazil. We are Europeans, Asians, Africans and Latin Americans. We feed on memories and mishaps. We are brimming with life experience and flambéed with hope, solidarity, a desire for freedom and for a better world.”

When we launched our Community Centre for the Elderly (CCI) last October, we could not have imagined that in less than nine months we would be staging a play written and performed by the participants in our Senior Citizens’ Theatre workshop.

By the end of last year, we had already organised a ‘Maturity Soiree’ , in which the older adults – in solo and group performances – sang, danced, recited texts and spoke about their lives to an audience of nearly 50 people. But taking that as a starting point to create a play from scratch was a huge challenge, and we weren’t sure if we’d be able to pull it off.

Luckily for us, Yara Toscano, the teacher and theatre director in charge of the workshop, rose to the challenge, and the The elderly participants threw themselves heart and soul into this adventure, prepared to embark on this six-month process without knowing how it would turn out.

The play ‘Food’

Drawing on the artists’ own experiences and ideas, the script for the play was developed over the course of the first term in the Senior Citizens’ Theatre workshop, which takes place every Thursday morning at our Community Centre.

Encouraged by the success of the 2018 Maturity Soiree, all of us – the British Foundation team, teacher Yara and the older adults – wanted to repeat and improve on the experience. And, after a few discussions and rehearsals, it became clear to everyone that the project should go beyond simply staging an existing play. With this in mind, we decided that the script would be created by the participants themselves, based on their life experiences and the messages they would like to convey to the audience.

This decision proved to be a huge success: with their own script, everyone’s motivation increased and various stories began to be shared with the aim of turning them into scenes for this play, which was still in the making. It fell to the Director to bring it all together into a cohesive and captivating story, with the help of Lucas Marques, the Musical Director who joined the project and was responsible for the band and the play’s music.

Rehearsals for the Senior Citizens’ Theatre

Most of the rehearsals took place at our Senior Citizens’ Community Centre, at Cultura Inglesa in Butantã. For six months, we met on Thursdays, from 8.45 am to 12 noon, to refine the script and rehearse the scenes.

Over time, the play began to take shape and reach its final form, in which Songs, lyrical scenes and profound messages came together to convey an idea of “hope, solidarity, a desire for freedom and for a better world”, as the synopsis of *Comida* states.

These rehearsals showed us that the play could only be staged in a professional theatre. For this reason, we appeal once again to Cultura Inglesa, our partner from the very start of the project, which provided us with the theatre at its Pinheiros venue so that we could hold the final rehearsal and performance of the play.

This final rehearsal took place on Thursday, 18 July, and allowed the actors to familiarise themselves with the new stage and understand the dynamics of the performance. Yara took the opportunity to make some final adjustments, and we were assisted by Cristiano Andrade, who is in charge of the venue, to test the lighting, set design and other details.

Crédito das fotos: Alberto Travassos
Ensaio da Peça "Comida" | Teatro da Terceira Idade da Fundação Britânica de Beneficência
Para mais, veja o álbum do ensaio no Facebook

The performance of ‘Comida’

20 July arrived and, with it, the performance of our play. Those involved arrived early to rehearse one last time and get their costumes and make-up ready. Despite the nerves and anxiety, everyone was really excited and happy about the occasion, as you can see from our photos in the dressing room:

Crédito das fotos: Alberto Travassos e Magali Gonçalves 
Peça "Comida" | Teatro da Terceira Idade da Fundação Britânica de Beneficência
Para mais, veja o álbum da peça no Facebook

And at around 5.15 pm, the play finally began! An audience of around 75 people, consisting mainly of guests of the performers and the British Council, were already in their seats, ready to watch the premiere of the show and the Our actors’ first time on a theatre stage.

During the performance of ‘Comida’, which lasted around 45 minutes, we saw the result of this incredible project! The play was wonderful and received a standing ovation from everyone present. It was an inspiring afternoon, which confirmed that we are on the right track with our Community Centre for Older People.

Crédito das fotos: Alberto Travassos e Magali Gonçalves 
Peça "Comida" | Teatro da Terceira Idade da Fundação Britânica de Beneficência
Para mais, veja o álbum da peça no Facebook

Special thanks

We would like to thank Cultura Inglesa, whose support is essential to the existence of this project. A special thank you goes to the Social Projects teams at the Butantã and Pinheiros branches, because without them this presentation would not have taken place.

We would also like to thank Director, Teacher and Workshop Leader Yara Toscano and the Musical Director Lucas Marques, who embarked on this adventure with us and put a great deal of hard work and dedication into creating “Comida”. And who, on the day, were supported by the invaluable help of Carlos Carvalho, Cristiano Andrade, Erika Dantas, Marília Toscano, Mirela Duarte, Neide Dantas and Patrícia White.

We were assisted by a number of volunteer photographers and videographers in documenting the performance; without them, we would have no photos or videos of this special moment. Our heartfelt thanks go to Alberto Travassos, Ana Toscano, Heryck Monteiro, Magali Gonçalves and Osmar Araújo. We have them to thank for the photos published in this article and on our Facebook page, as well as a video of the play which will be released shortly. And without Anne Speyer, this article would never have been translated and published in English, so we thank her too.

And finally, we must thank and congratulate all the participants in the Senior Citizens’ Theatre. It is inspiring to see them every day, unafraid to learn new things: Alice Silva, Ana Barreto, Ângela Dias, Cleonice Nunes, Eliene Guimarães, Geoffrey Moss, Gloria Naranjo, Irene André, Leonilda Morioka, Lucia dos Santos, Marina Souza, Marjorie Shafferman, Nair Kokubum, Pamela Ford, Rene Cunha, Romano Perilla, Ron White, Rosa Nakahara, Rosana Lucky, Talita dos Santos, Vitor Guimarães and Yoshihiro Nakahara.

Like our page on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest news! And subscribe to our newsletter if you’d like to receive more information about our work by email!