Fernanda Mandagará

The show Roberto Zucco was born at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul as one of my final productions (before the graduation show) in 2005. This piece was also the graduation work of the director, Felipe Vieira. This show was a beautiful exchange between the director and the actors, and became a professional show after a successfully gig at the University's Theatre. Roberto Zucco was presented in  two gigs in Porto Alegre city and was also part of the International Theatre Festival Porto Alegre em Cena and the Theatre Festival Palco Giratório in 2006.

The production was staged in a Brechtian way: the actors were all the time on the stage and you could watch their transformation from one character to the other. Even though the show was text-based, there was a lot of physical theatre in it, always exploring a dark humor, typical of Koltes' plays. 

I've learn so much with all these talented people. We were a big cast with a big heart.

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With this show I was nominated Best Supporting Actress for the "Prêmio Açorianos" most important theatre award in south Brazil.  

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Synopsis

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Robert Zucco is based on the real-life story of a young man who murdered his father, was locked up, but escaped and went on a killing spree. It's an unusual topic for a comedy, but then this is a very unusual play. The script is stilted but articulate, and continually flips from excellently witty comedy to matter-of-fact brutality. Unexpected characters spout eloquent philosophy in a way that feels distinctly french. 
Koltes does not try to explain or excuse his anti-hero. Zucco is a cipher, by turns a cold-hearted killer and an inoffensive, quietly charming, boy. His strongest characteristic is a lack of identity. Koltes first got the idea for the play from seeing a wanted poster in the Paris metro in which four completely different pictures of the suspect were shown. Zucco worries that he might forget who he is, and when asked to identify himself, he gives no name but lists the people he has killed.
Zucco moves through a city of unpleasant people - pimps, bad parents and uncaring bystanders - all of them trapped in cold and loveless lives. Koltes is much harsher on these characters than on the murderer. The result is a strange and very interesting piece of theatre. 

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