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In Leipzig in 1930, Bertolt Brecht’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny was disrupted by Nazi supporters protesting against what they regarded as politically and morally offensive material. Unsurprisingly, Brecht is frequently referenced in Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists and, like Brecht’s work, Tiago Rodrigues’ drama proves to be both intelligent and incendiary. The play’s central premise is that a Portuguese family has created a rite of passage in memory of a woman who was murdered by Fascists. On turning 26, members of the family are expected to kill a selected fascist. The family members all take the name Catarina in memory of the murdered woman, and now it is the turn of one of the great-granddaughters of the family matriarch to carry out the ritual killing. When she hesitates to follow the family tradition, what ensues is a multi-layered exploration of resistance to authoritarianism and the morality of killing in the name of political resistance. The dense dialogue is thoughtful, complex and often fascinating. However, it can occasionally be difficult to follow, particularly with the actors speaking Portuguese and the audience relying on surtitles. Balancing appreciation of the skill of the performers with following the argument is no mean feat, and the two-and-a-half-hour running time without an interval, which may be intended to sustain the intensity, can also challenge concentration. Nevertheless, the strong ensemble handles the demanding dialogue with conviction, and Isabel Abreu is particularly compelling as the mother, combining maternal authority and tenderness with an increasingly desperate determination to persuade her daughter to uphold the family tradition. Her visceral performance gives emotional weight to ideas that might otherwise remain largely intellectual. The potential victim’s silence for most of the play adds another dimension to the daughter’s position. His inability to participate in the discussion emphasises both his helplessness and his humanity, complicating the family’s abstract arguments about the necessity of violence to combat fascism. When he finally gives voice to his beliefs, it is a powerful and disturbing moment that dramatically changes the dynamic. However, the full force of this moment is somewhat attenuated by the distance created by the Portuguese language and setting. That distance allows the audience to consider the play’s ideas without the immediate identification that might arise from a contemporary British or American setting. Translated into English and relocated to a British or American context, the play’s questions about the rise of fascism, resistance and political violence could acquire a sharper immediacy, engendering the kind of passions that provoked such a fierce reaction to Brecht’s work in Leipzig in 1930.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo © Carlos Fernandes
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