As formas breves e o teatro mínimo nos Bonecos de Santo Aleixo

Abstract

Since it has traditionally occupied a marginal status within the system of reputed theatrical forms, puppet theatre possesses a repertoire of great interest for a refl ection on what can be understood as «minimal theatre». This paper intends to highlight this notion by focussing on a case study, the theatre of «the puppets of Santo Aleixo». Apart from resorting to a repertoire which covers several forms either derived from farce – typically a short form – or contaminated by it, it is a kind of performance in which the dialogue as a minimal form of theatre or «meaning-form» adopts a predominant role and visibility, thereby hailing the essence of theatre itself in the Aristotelian sense.