Victor ou as Crianças no Poder

Everything happens in the space of a single evening, from 8 p.m. to midnight, in the Paumelle family apartment, in Paris. The day is the 12th of September 1909, Victor celebrates his 9th birthday and thunderously declares: “I won’t wait even a single year to become an adult. I made up my mind to become somebody, and I’m doing it now!” Victor ou as Crianças no Poder [Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir/ Victor, or Power to the Children] – a Dadaist amusement written by the poet and playwright Roger Vitrac (1899-1952), which premiered in 1929 under the direction of Antonin Artaud – is a defiant protest against all social and family conventions. Mounted by Artistas Unidos and Os Possessos, this play marks the 10th anniversary of the latter company, one of whose founders, João Pedro Mamede, is also its stage director. A mix of parody and intimate tragedy, Victor ou as Crianças no Poder is a masterwork, a precursor to the theatre of the absurd. “Come here: you know I’ve got a great story to tell you, don’t you?”