Bidspirit auction | SANTARENO (Bernardo). O CRIME de

SANTARENO (Bernardo). O CRIME de Aldeia Velha: peça em 3 actos. Lisboa. 1959. - SANTARENO (Bernardo) O CRIME de Aldeia Velha: peça em 3 actos . Lisboa: Edições Ática, 1959. 244 pp.; 195 mm. The Crime of Aldeia Velha is inspired by a true story that occurred in 1934 in the parish of Soalhães, Marco de Canaveses: a young woman accused of being possessed by the devil was burned alive by a group of devout women from the village. Santareno transformed this episode into a play of intense dramatic violence, centered on the character of Joana, the most desired and envied girl in the region, whose beauty and temperament become the pretext for the collective lynching. The work explores superstition, religious fanaticism, social hypocrisy, and the brutality of village morality, in a style that combines elements of popular theatre with a dense psychological analysis of the characters. The play premiered on December 18, 1959, at the Teatro Experimental do Porto, in the Teatro Nun'Álvares, the same year it was published. In 1964, the play was adapted for film by Manuel Guimarães. The Crime of Aldeia Velha concludes the first cycle of Santareno's theatre, begun with A Promessa (1957), and is considered one of the masterpieces of 20th-century Portuguese dramaturgy. First edition. ⚑ Auto-translated via Google Translate