Brazilian film and theatre director Christiane Jatahy brings her theatrical work to the UK for the first time in this arresting performance of Dusk, based on Lars von Trier’s film Dogville.
Attempting to escape the oppressive, quasi-fascist regime of her country, a young Brazilian woman Graça flees her homeland. She finds refuge in a community of theatre artists staging Dogville and tackling the question: to what extent is our society tolerant of the Other? At first, Graça is enthusiastically welcomed by the group. However, she later falls victim to exploitation and experiences racist and xenophobic attitudes — recurring themes in Jatahy’s work.”
Dusk was my first encounter with Edinburgh’s International festival and what an encounter it was! Firstly I had been to the Lyceum before for many different shows , it is a large space- but it has never felt so intimate. Christiane Jatahy-Direction, Staging and Adaption- was electric in her craftsmanship of the space. The stage it’s self was fairly minimalist however every single prop, set piece and clutter had a reason for being there. The furniture morphed to make the space feel larger or more cramped. Living rooms became kitchens, and bedrooms without anything ever being moved on or off stage. The ever changing room was always different yet never unfamiliar. For this simple yet highly imaginative detail of theatre artistry I was immediately impressed.
There were some stellar performances in this production. The principal character Graça was stupendously played by Julia Bernat. A beautifully haunting portrayal of a woman pushed to her limit. The standout moment was when she just sobs, her emotions just let loose and the pain flowing like a river that’s broke its banks. Raw and personal.
Another stand out was Valerio Scamuffa, he has a chilling look in his eyes that really struck my core. Gorgeous use of darkness in his facial expressions.
The story itself was heart breaking and Jathay really nailed the theme of exploitation of immigrants and the true hardships that people fleeing their home country endure. Her use of both film and theatre together was truly amazing, it added so many layers to the show which just pushed the creativity over that jaw-dropping line. Simply magnificent to behold this absolute wonder.
With all the positives of this performance I do have one draw back, the subtitles. This performance is primarily in French, to people like me who are not fluent in French there were subtitle screens on the stage and by the sides of the auditorium. This was very useful in understanding the show however, now and again the subtitles would freeze and jump. I missed some key moments because of this. My one other note would be to maybe highlight the lines to signify different people speaking, it was difficult to understand who was saying what when they spoke over each other.
With that being said I would definitely recommend catching this one at the Lyceum this EIF
Check it out at the Lyceum from the 6th-8th August.
https://www.eif.co.uk/events/dusk#dates-and-times: Dusk (Lyceum Theatre) l Review by Marcus Lundie
Theatre Scotland 
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