/// In collaboration with Unfinished Histories: Recording the History of Alternative Theatre 1968-88
10 March 2015
ONE-DAY EVENT AT EXETER
Please email Ana Martins if you would like to attend
either all or parts of this event
ALL WELCOME!
The banning of New Portuguese Letters (1972) by the censors of the Portuguese right-wing regime and the ensuing trial of its authors (the “Three Marias”) led to the organisation of a massive international solidarity campaign between 1973 and 1974, which transformed the book into a second-wave symbol of “sisterhood”. We aim to discuss instances of fragmentary readings, translations and theatrical performances of parts of the book as the privileged mode of listening to its political transgressions and theoretical innovations during the solidarity campaign period.
A conversation with
Natasha Morgan (actor)
Anne Engel (actor)
Sue Jones-Davies (actor)
Susan Croft (curator)
Hilary Owen (U. Manchester)
Vanessa Pereira (U. Hull)
Luísa Marinho (film director)
Interviews
Roundtable discussion
Reading of 1970s original script Mariana's Lament
Music & Drama room, Devonshire House
(9h30 - 16h00)
The Link Fund
The Impact Fund
Two of the three writers of New Portuguese Letters speak about writing and feminism in Portugal
Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa became famous in the early 70s, when in 1972 they published New Portuguese Letters. The book consists of letters, essays, poems, and fragments that portray Portuguese society, but specifically the condition of women in Portugal under Portuguese dictatorship. The book was deemed "pornographic" and censored within weeks of being published and the authors faced jail terms of up to 2 years. An international wave of solidarity supported the book and the three authors until the 1974 April revolution, when they were acquitted of all charges.