Them you went to Brazil, invited to do a show.
GS: I went to Brazil in 2001, only to stay for three months and ended up staying 10 years.
Why you decided to stay for so long?
GS: I stayed because they only not only liked Guida, but I loved the life in Rio de Janeiro. Say what they say about Brazil and the Brazilians, they are like the Portuguese, there is good and bad. I did not stay there because of my mother, she has 93 years and would not give me the displeasure of staying there. I come every year, in August. She even went there five times, every two years, in the summer of Brazil, because it was winter in Portugal, but with that age she said enough to travel. Last year she had a small stroke, it scared me a lot and decided to come and packed in a week.
Did you notice any difference between the Portugal of 2001 and the current year at the artistic level?
GS: Still speaking of Brazil, life is easier, there are fewer difficulties than in our country. I usually say, Sh... for Sh ... I prefer Brazil that is hot. I like a lot of heat and so I decided to live there so long. I did my performances in Portuguese. You cannot imitate the Brazilian.
But they say they do not understand us.
GS: They understand beautifully. I think the cultural reality of Portugal does not go to Brazil. They still see us as bakers, grocers and carpenters. We, on the other hand, see only the reality of the slums. But they understand us perfectly. They use a lot of the gerund and there may be a failure in communication. It's like the dialect of the Azores, the Algarve and the Minho, there are expressions that the people of Lisbon do not understand. The reality of both countries is the fault of governments, was never transmitted. We send the top performers and here we see artists like Teló, which is not the artistic reality of Brazil. In terms of theater, I must say that I only saw good performances in London, New York and Sao Paulo. The best theater in the world is in these three cities. The best in terms of Portuguese language is in Sao Paulo, which is the great cultural capital of Brazil. There is everything, experimental theater, musicals, etc.. I saw great plays. I attended a magnificent assembly of the tragedy of Dona Ines de Castro, by the author, the Jew, Antonio Manuel da Silva. I was predisposed to despise the show, I thought what impudence! Get out there ashamed of myself. They had an overwhelming production. In the end, as I was an artist and they knew, I went backstage to greet them and really noticed that the wardrobe was sumptuous. I asked where they had arranged these tissues, they told me that the head of wardrobe came to Europe to search for fabrics, took photographs and a Brazilian factory produce them all for the play. This is extremely important in cultural terms.
They can be self-sustaining?
GS: Yes, it has always public and the theater is huge. The play was a huge success in Rio de Janeiro that is a city that is not much in terms of cultural theater. In Brazil, they highly value the culture. Whether is music, either in representation, are amazing and the audience goes, this is a great advantage. You asked me what I noticed different in this ten years, I thought that culturally we are in miserable. In Lisbon, there is no public, theaters close. There are actors out of work doing workshops to survive and the government continues to pretend they are attentive, but their only concern is the troika and nothing else.
In your performances you noticed this? Your audience comes back again?
GS: I noticed that they were waiting for me. During one week the shows sold out and I'm talking about audiences with five hundred places. I noticed that the name was not forgotten, although I had never thought to go back to Lisbon and I just could not get my mother to stay there because she is Portuguese. Someone had to take the plunge, it could only be me, and I changed it all. The public is not on the twenties, is of 45 years or older, who have purchasing power. Young people rediscover a character who did not know. My transvestite is different from all others because I was the only actor who took a verbal dialogue with the viewer. Most are playback transvestites in the years 1975/76/77 it was a model that resulted, but then ran out. I write my own lines and if not ask someone to do it. I am currently rehearsing a play written by me, I think in October or November I debut it.
But Guida is alone on stage?
GS: No. I'll be on stage with a fellow transvestite. It is the story of two ex-friends with their problems and their past. In principle it will be the Mario Viegas Theatre, or the theater Oeiras, but I was more inclined to the first space, whose director who I really like, is from Madeira, Juvenal Garcês.
