Amateur theatre and cultural intervention in Torrão (1944–1982): the work of Vicente Rodrigues between dictatorship and democracy

Abstract

This article examines the work of Vicente Rodrigues and the practice of amateur theatre in Torrão (1944–1982), within the context of Portugal’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. Based on the author’s archive — programs, manuscripts, typescripts, and correspondence — the study reconstructs the cultural dynamics of the village, characterized by the annual presentation of dual performances that combined social dramas with locally authored revue theatre pieces. The analysis identifies three phases: an early stage of apprenticeship (1941–1944), a period of consolidation (1944–1973), dominated by social and family dramas, and a final phase (1973–1982), in which politically oriented texts emerged, enabled by the weakening and subsequent abolition of censorship. The study demonstrates how Rodrigues, through revue theatre and comic devices such as punning and paronomasia, built a camouflaged discourse of resistance that engaged a rural and low-schooled community, while stimulating collective reflection. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital and Bakhtin’s theory of laughter, the article concludes that Rodrigues’s theatre expanded the cultural and social capitals of the Torrão population, reinforcing democratic awareness and the role of amateur theatre as a practice of cultural intervention.