The Jew

Most likely the best Portuguese play of the 20th century.

In 1966, in the midst of the Salazar regime, Bernardo Santareno worked on the homonymous novel by Camilo Castelo Branco (E-Primatur, 2016), which was inspired by the story of the 17th-century Portuguese playwright António José da Silva, known as "the Jew," and created what has been considered, over the years, probably the best Portuguese play of the 20th century.

By telling the story of the playwright António José da Silva, Bernardo Santareno creates an allegory of the Salazar regime and its persecution of any form of free speech. The Inquisition, the court, the rabble of informants and the like who condemn António José da Silva to the stake have an obvious parallel in the actions of the PIDE and in ideological and political censorship, as well as in the oppressive regime.

If Camilo had created a period novel that was a grand family saga about a country of extremes but also about oppression, Santareno created an eminently political play in the pure sense of the word.