Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

Supported by Arts Council England, Brazilian Embassy in London, Lyric Hammersmith, Varig, Parasol, Jungle Drums and BCA.

Dende Collective cook up a sensual feast of samba, shadows and seduction in our physical adaptation of Jorge Amado’s classic of magic realism.

Written in 1966, Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos by Jorge Amado is one of the most important novels in Brazilian literature and has been adapted to cinema (1975 cult film with Sonia Braga as the main character) and Television and has been seen on stage in Brazil, USA and Canada. This is the first time Amado's novel is adapted to the British stage.

DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS was originally presented on 6 Nov 2004 as the result of a one week research at Lyric Hammersmith as part of theMIX season. It was later developed into a full show and presented at the Lyric Hammersmith Studio thanks to the support of the Arts Council England and the Brazilian Embassy in London.

Tropical theatrical magic in evidence here to warm even the most wintered of audiences' hearts.

- Time Out

The story of Dona Flor

DONA FLOR takes place in the Brazilian city of Salvador. It tells the story of a woman torn between the ghost of her passionate but relentlessly unreliable first husband, Vadinho, and the second - the attentive, studious yet sexually redundant Teodoro. It is a tale of passion, love, culinary delights and Brazilian mysticism. At the end Dona Flor finds a creative way of dealing with her divided loyalties for the two men managing to unite her contradictory desires.

The author

Jorge Amado, the most popular writer in Brazil, wrote over 25 novels, which have been translated into 48 languages and has figured on the bestseller lists in 52 countries. His novels portray the life and customs in the Northeastern region of Brazil, especially of his native state of Bahia, helping shape the outside’s view on his homeland. Bahia was the first area of Brazil colonized by the Portuguese where slaves came through its port of Salvador. This area of Brazil is greatly influenced by African culture, something that marks it out from the rest of Brazil. The region has its own particular kinds of food, music and art. The region’s geography and its mixture of races and cultures gave Amado’s writing a distinctive taste. Dona Flor and her two husbands remains his most popular novel outside of Brazil and is widely available in English.