BWW Reviews: Companhia Hiato Brings Creative O JARDIM to Kennedy Center

Leonardo Moreira's Portuguese language O JARDIM (translated as "The Garden") is perhaps one of the more creative entries in the ongoing Iberian Suite festival at Kennedy Center, which celebrates artistic offerings in Spain and Portugal and countries - such as Brazil - which share language and cultural attributes with them. There are several things that make Companhia Hiato's O JARDIM, first staged in Brazil in May 2011, unique and worthy of attention.

Although there is an underlying concept - that of family memories - the theatrical piece is actually comprised of three complementary stories, which the audience witnesses at different points in the evening. The order in which audience members see the three stories is dependent on where they are sitting in the theatre. Upon viewing all three and the final segment which brings all of the stories together in more of less the same "space," it's fairly easy to see how they relate to one another. Moreira has done a commendable job to make the stories seamless, yet keep the audience engaged until the end to fill in the gaps. They can stand on their own, but are so much more fulfilling when examined as a whole.

Without giving too much away - because this kind of show is probably best experienced cold and in person - the three stories involve a daughter grieving the loss of her mother with a friend who is like family because she's worked for the family for so long; a relationship coming undone; and two sisters caring for their father, afflicted with dementia, and preparing a birthday celebration for him before he enters hospice care. Each of the players - portrayed equally well by Aline Filócomo, Edison Simão, Fernanda Stefanski, Luciana Pres, Mariah Amélia Farah, Paula Picarelli, and Thiago Amaral - bring up memories, whether personally experienced or passed on, real or imagined, permanent or lost - in a common place. The common place is a garden. Through various clues, we learn the connections between the people and the memories.

Boxes, some of which contain symbols/artifacts of the memories discussed, separate the areas of the stage ("the garden") where each of the stories are being played out and also act as temporal barriers as each story relates to an experience of one member of one generation of a particular family at a single point in time. The way the set (Marisa Bentivegna) allows for simultaneous action brings me to the second reason why the show is conceptually unique. In the case of the production at Kennedy Center, the audience sits on the Eisenhower Theatre stage watching the action unfold directly in front of them. This creates a sense of intimacy and enhances opportunities for the audience to personally reflect on the challenging emotional situations that are being presented directly in front of them in a powerful way. Not everyone is witnessing the same situation at the same time, which reinforces the personalized nature of the stories and the memories - both painful and joyous and a mixture thereof - that are discussed and experienced.

It's possible that once you strip away the staging concept and Moreira's use of simultaneous storytelling we would be left with what would be akin to your everyday family drama stretched across generations. Those are commonplace in the theatre, as are stories of people coming to terms with challenging life changes. However, even if it were presented in a linear fashion on a proscenium stage, it's likely the play would still be compelling to watch because the stories are well-written and likely personally relatable. The stories we witness are based on personal experiences of the actors, so that allows for some authenticity of emotions and storytelling that might not be as present if the stories were completely fictional.

All in all, it is a satisfying evening of the theatre.

O JARDIM - presented in Portuguese with English surtitles - played the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on March 18-19 as part of the Iberian Suite festival, which runs through March 24. For additional details on the festival, see the Kennedy Center website.

Photo: Courtesy of Kennedy Center website.

To post a comment, you must register and login.