THEATRUM MUNDI

     Volterra 1981

     Blois-Malakoff 1985

     Holstebro 1986

     Salento 1987

     Bologna 1990

     Brecon-Cardiff 1992

     Londrina 1994

     Umeå 1995

     Copenhagen 1996

     Montemor-O-Novo 1998

     Bielefeld 2000

ISTA PRODUCTIONS

    Shakuntala

    The Jungle Book

    Orô de Otelo

Performer: Augusto Omolú
Musicians: Ory Sacramento, Jorge "Funk" Paim, Cleber Conceição da Paixão
Director: Eugenio Barba
Assistant director: Julia Varley
Music: traditional drum rhythms from Candomblé ceremonies and fragments from a recording of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Otello".
Premiere: ISTA Londrina, 11 - 21 August 1994

The performance is based exclusively on the codification of the Orixá dances as manifestations of the human passions while the performer enacts the main episodes from the play. The performance, slightly re-elaborated, took the title Orô de Otelo in 1996.

Reading Shakespeare's "Othello", the performer, an elegantly dressed black man, gets carried away by the story.
The performer enacts the main characters - Othello, Desdemona, Iago, according to the words which are sung in Verdi's "Otello". The performer changes from one character to another, building dialogues between them, but also reacting to the characters he interprets.
Verdi's opera music is commented on, backed up or counterpointed by the traditional rhythm of the Candomblé drums.
The performance is based exclusively on the codification of the Orixá dances: all gestures, steps and movements originate from the dances of the saints and gods of the Candomblé religion. Orô is a word used to indicate a ceremony.
In the performance the Orixás are different manifestations of the human passions which animate the main episodes of the play.
The dramatic events evoked by Othello's story slowly drive the performer into a xiré. During the xiré in a Candomblé ceremony the drums greet and call the different Orixás so that they can descend and ride the devotee who is dancing.
The performance finishes with an avania, the final dance and salutation rhythm, as all the Orixás leave.