Burnt Pictures

De Afonso Nilson

Burnt Pictures is a dramatic comedy for two actresses, in which the theme of resentment is exaggerated until the edge of violence. In the plot, the Madam, in plain physical and emotional decay, hopes to attend the release of an old lover's book. Odete, the humble and semi-illiterate maid, in an attempt to help the woman prepare for the event, finds herself coerced and insulted by the Madam, who is unable to accept the degeneracy of age and the errors of the past and lives the fullness of her resentment.
The unequal struggle between these women and the intellectual and emotional discrepancy of the conflict triggers dramatically comic situations. The excessive and wide-open harassment suffered by the maid contrasts with her tender understanding of the sufferings of the Madam. But her understanding and passivity will not be forever.

The unhealthy relationship with the past is the motto for the comically bitter soliloquies of the Madam. In her bedroom, she tries to find something that encourages her to rebuild herself up, to face her former lover with dignity and confidence, without demonstrating the long-suffering and violent resentment she has kept since the day they separated.

The suggestive ambiance, with expressionistic nuances, points to a pile of shards of glass from picture-frames in the back of the room, suggestively referring to the internal conflicts of the Madam, with her memories piled up in fragments of small hatreds, resentments, and a badly disguised bitterness regarding the choices made in life, choices that made her emotionally into pieces.

• Idioma: Português
• Editora: Editora Proscênio
• Data de lançamento: 1 de mai. de 2022
• ISBN: 9786599760402

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Burnt Pictures

Characters

The Madam: A strong voice from someone used to speaking loudly. Her gestures and magnitude are those of someone whose manners did not need to be learnt in books.

Odete, the maid: Young, but not so much. New in the house, she does not know who she is dealing with.

Ambiance

An elegant and decadent sleeping room. Closet with dresses and scattered clothes. A dresser with a full length mirror. A big, huge pile of shards of glass and pottery.

Single Act

Madam

(staring at the mirror, she feels herself) Sick. A corpse. So many hands have already held you, so many fingers have invaded you and now you tumble left behind. Relentlessly disgraced and evil time that never stops! (takes the picture frame, gazes it long and sadly and, with a shout, shatters it against the wall over the shards of glass)

(Maid comes in, struck and scared)

Maid

Ma'am, is everything fine? I heard a scream.

Madam

Yes, you heard screams. It was my contempt calling you, begging for the horror of your presence.

Maid

No, ma'am, I did not hear my name...

Madam

It is not your name, but what you represent; it is the curse of your existence, it is a cry of mockery,