OLGA
The play, OLGA, is a monologue written by Edelweiss Ramos, which recreates fragments of the life of the Jewish revolutionary, Olga Benário, who was condemned to death in a Nazi death camp in Germany. In Camila Bauer's staging of the script by Edelweiss, we visit a series of memories during Olga's last night, depicting her as a mother, a wife, a Jewess, a revolutionary, an asocial, a political prisoner. Taking this emotional journey with the character, face to face with the audience, allows the strength and resolve of this woman, who challenged the system and became an icon of resistance, to come through. The concept was created alongside Anita Prestes, the daughter of Olga Benário and Luiz Carlos Prestes, who also approved the script by Pedro Bertoldi and Edelweiss Ramos, which tells her mother’s story.
The performance of Olga is a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust on the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The scenery by Ronaldo de Almeida and Diego Stefani places the actress in a confined space of 2m x 2m, surrounded by pillars and barbed wire in reference to the extermination camp. The thrust stage format enables the audience to be up close. Liane Venturella's costume was inspired by the clothes worn by prisoners in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, which were recycled from other uniforms worn by previously exterminated prisoners. Ricardo Vivian's lighting was designed as part of the set, with the entire electrical system installed into the structure of the stage. In this way, the light becomes an integral part of the staging and a fundamental part of the play’s visual concept. Álvaro RosaCosta's soundtrack is based on his research into the sounds in concentration camps. It is a dive into uncertainty, surrounded by barbarism.
OLGA, A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
A young German revolutionary sent to Brazil in 1934 to ensure the safety of Luís Carlos Prestes on a mission from the Communist International. Olga was arrested in Brazil and deported to Germany, where she remained as a Nazi prisoner for 6 years and, being Jewish and a strong political campaigner, was executed in the gas chamber at the age of 34, in 1942.
AWARDS
Olga was originally conceived as a short sketch and won 14 awards at festivals in Rio Grande do Sul, including Best Performance, Best Performance by Popular Vote, Best Actress, Best Script and Best Set
PHOTOS
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TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Conception and performance: Edelweiss Ramos
Director: Camila Bauer
Text: Pedro Bertoldi e Edelweiss Ramos
Soundtrack and Sound Design: Álvaro RosaCosta
Piano: Simone Raslan
Set design: Ronaldo de Almeida e Diego Stefani
Lightning design: Ricardo Vivian
Costumes and make-up: Liane Venturella
Photographer: Tom Peres e Vilmar Carvalho
Graphic design: Jéssica Barbosa
Production and Realization: Projeto Gompa
TEASER
PRESS
REVIEWS
ANTÔNIO HOHLFELDT - JORNAL DO COMÉRCIO"On one side, we have the persevering activist, who does not stray from her ideologically formed principles, which predate her own approach to the Communist Party in Moscow. On the other, the woman, in love with Luiz Carlos Prestes, who, like her, is in prison and experiencing a completely new experience: motherhood. Indeed, it is known that Olga was handed over to the German political police by Brazilian political police officers even though she had announced that she was pregnant with a child conceived in Brazilian territory, which, under international law, to which Brazil, as a signatory, would be prohibited. Olga gave birth to the child in prison, breastfeeding her for a time, when the girl was taken from her. An international campaign prevented the girl from disappearing, and she was eventually handed over to Luiz Carlos's mother, outliving her own mother, Olga. Today, Anita Leocádia, her daughter, is a university professor and continues to be an activist in our country, where she lives."