Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Between Colonial Past and European Future: Identity Crises in Recent Portuguese Drama

2006; University of Toronto Press; Volume: 49; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3138/md.49.1.98

1712-5286

Carolin Overhoff Ferreira,

European Cultural and National Identity

National Identity Crises and Portuguese Contemporary Drama Two of the most interesting Portuguese plays of the 1990s are preoccupied with the representation of adolescents and the way in which they try to construct their identities: Universos e Frigorificos [Universes and Refrigerators] (Pires) and De miragem em miragem se fez a viagem [From Mirage to Mirage] (Pessoa). Although there are only very few studies on contemporary Portuguese drama, the young authors of these dramas can be considered promising examples of a new generation of dramatists. Carlos Porto mentions Carlos Pessoa next to other recent and noteworthy authors like José Jorge Letria, Hélio de Correia, Francisco Pestana, and Abel Neves. Porto’s claim that Pessoa is gaining in importance has proved correct, since the plays that he usually produces and directs with his company A Garagem / The Garage, founded in 1990, are being shown at all the important Portuguese national theatres and cultural centers and have also been published. The career of Jacinto Lucas Pires, who only started out in 1997, has progressed remarkably, as the staging and uncommonly quick publication of his plays confirm.