Arrival at the Libera Università di Alcatraz

It seems easy to be supportive... #1

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How do they laugh in Africa? #2

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Simone, do you want to go to Mozambique? #3

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I am going to Mozambique! But to do what? #4

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The meetings #5

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Where do I start? #6

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Meeting with

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The first contacts with Mozambique #8

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Agenda first mission in Mozambique #9

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First mission: arrival in Maputo #1

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But where am I? #2

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Meeting with Alvim Cossa #3

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Teatro do Oprimido Show #4

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Meeting with the Machaka Association #5

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The Show by the Machaka Group #6

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Manuela Soeiro and the Avenida Theater #7

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Gonçalo Mabunda #8

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Meeting with the Luarte Association #9

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Luarte Show #10

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Maputo - Pemba Journey #11

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Vitor Raposo #12

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Pemba – Palma Trip #13

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Visit to the village of Quionga #14

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Visit to the village of Quirindi #15

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That wonderful beach! #16

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Visit to the village of Pundanhar #17

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The Mamãe Kit #18

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Visit to the hospital in Palma #19

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Return to Italy #20

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The project continues! #1

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How many meetings are we going to have?!? #2

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Agenda second mission in Mozambique #3

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Second mission in Mozambique, arrival at Pemba #4

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Felix Mambucho #5

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Performance Vitor Raposo and the Tambo Tambulani Tambo company #6

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Pemba – Palma Trip #7

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Performances at Palma, on with the casting! No, stop! #8

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Grupo do funzionarios #9

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Performances (and casting) in the village of Pundanhar #10

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Performances (and casting) in the village of Quionga #11

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Selecting the actors for the Italian stages #12

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Are you ready to come to Italy? #13

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The return to Italy and end of the second mission #14

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Preparing for the first training period at Alcatraz #1

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Arrival at the Libera Università di Alcatraz #2

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We begin! #3

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Mario Pirovano #4

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Acting with Mario Pirovano #5

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Arms going up on their own! #6

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A dive into the theatre #7

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Let’s tell a love story! #8

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Being an actor is hard work #9

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What days! #10

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O falso médico! #11

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We all go shopping! #12

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The performance takes shape #13

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We need an ultrasound! #14

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Rome has never been so beautiful! #15

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Second training session: the first day... #1

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The return of the Mozambicans #2

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A tragic day #3

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Memory tests with Mario Pirovano #4

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Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals… and that script in 3 languages… #5

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First reading of the script in Swahili #6

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Just for a change, we rehearse... #7

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That damned video! #8

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In and around Perugia #9

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The last rehearsals #10

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Action! #11

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Changes to the show? Change the title?!? #1

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Confusion in Fatima’s House #2

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Preparation of the stage design #3

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Ready to go (again)? #1

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Arrival at Pemba #2

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At Palma under the palm trees (wet!) #3

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First day of the tour: Mute #4

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Second day of the tour: Pundanhar #5

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Third day of the tour: Quionga #6

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Fourth day of the tour: Palma #7

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Fifth day of the tour: Olumbe #8

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Thank you Mozambique, thank you so much! #9

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After working for weeks to prepare the documents they need to leave Mozambique and enter Italy, and preparing all the logistics needed for their stay, the moment has finally come!
I’m at Fiumicino Rome airport, Terminal 1, and in a few minutes the “Theatre is good for you” company, composed of 5 amateur actors from the District of Palma and two professional actors from Maputo, will appear behind the sliding doors. During the journey they were accompanied by Iacopo and the rest of the video troupe, Paolo and Daniele. Maybe I didn’t need to come to Rome but I don’t want to miss their faces, their reactions to their first impact with Italy.
There they are!
Arlete, Safina, Ana Bela, Felix, Adelino (junior), Adelino (senior) and professor Agostinho, impeccably dressed in a jacket, shirt and tie.

I’ll leave you for a few minutes, I want to welcome them one by one…

“Ahora” (already speaking Portuguese) we’re on the bus. I see them smile at me and at themselves, see them watching the view as it slides past the windows, and then see them fall into a deep sleep.

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They are all sleeping, the only words we managed to exchange were that they are fine and that they are exhausted.
Their journey began days ago, almost a week, first from Palma to Pemba, then from Pemba to Maputo for the visas, and then from Maputo to Italy. I think they feel as we did the first time we arrived at Mozambique: you create an idea and then you find that the reality is completely different; an adventure begins that seems to be a film in parts.

We wake them at Casa del Diavolo in Umbria, I tell them they need at least 24 hours to get rid of the tiredness of the journey, to relax. They are as polite as ever and also very formal, but I can see they are tired.
We eat and then rest (even if the person writing this got up at 5.30, nothing in comparison to them but it was 5.30 just the same, according to some it’s a violation of human rights…).

A long chat with Jacopo Fo before dinner, now we are all here, Italians, Mozambicans and all those involved in the project who didn’t have the chance to go to Mozambique personally. They want us to tell them about the project again, they ask questions, we laugh, Jacopo tells us about the outline of some of his theatre plots and other short traditional stories, we clarify what the objectives of the training period would be.

What will we be eating?
Black Venus rice with prawns and rocket, chicken kebabs with courgettes, fruit salad, vegetables and cheese, aubergines au gratin, raw vegetables, shortcrust pastry packets filled with spinach and ricotta cheese, and zuppa inglese. I thought that food might have been a problem…but after seeing the empty plates, I’m sure it won’t!