‘The Last Days of Mankind’ or the war of Karl Kraus – Vision

"This drama, whose breadth, measured on the scale on earth, would fill ten evenings, is intended to be represented by a theater of the planet Mars. The public of our world would not have the strength to endure it," wrote the playwright Karl Kraus (1874-1936). The laborious adaptation of the 700 pages of The Last Days of Humanity, a giant collage of scenes, places and characters made by the austrian author along the First World War, not move him to the Teatro Nacional São João (TNSJ).

The audience disappears to give place to a huge square, where strolling the cast of 21 actors, directed by two directors, Nuno Carinhas, Nuno M. Cardoso. It is the first one who says: "This is not located in the history, unfortunately, has echoes very much present. That is why it interests us."

from that conflict despontaria, in the opinion of Kraus, a world in perpetual war, as if suffering from a chronic condition. The author wanted to name the un-nameable, making the quotation of voices and documents of the time the main weapon of his satire. The piece does not suffer from major developments in dramatic or follows a linear narrative, although it is guided by the chronology of the conflict, from the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914), the fall of the Central Powers (Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918).

With the exception of António Durães (the focus solely to the role of Eternal Discontent, the alter ego of the author), the other 20 actors unfold in the interpretation of the 200 characters in the show. "Are the demiurge of the text, there are no large buildings of character, are completely sprayed in different voices", explains Nuno Carinhas, also responsible for the costumes and the scenography. In the air hangs the smell of the shroud, as described by Karl Kraus, in this adjustment of accounts with the Humanity.

The show is divided into three parts (each about 2 hours), autonomous but interdependent: This Great age (27 and 30 oct; 4, 9, 12, 17 nov); war is War (oct 28; 2,5,10,13, 18 nov); and The Last Night (29 oct; 3, 6, 11, 16 nov). In a special session, on the 19th of November, you can watch the show in full.

The Last Days of Humanity > Teatro Nacional São João > Pc. of the Battle, Port > T. 22 340 1910 > 27 oct-19 nov, wed 19, thu-sat 21, sun 16h > €7,50 €16 (signature trilogy €20)