On one side, a wall of people; on the other, a wall of stones,asif caught “between the sword and the wall,” a stage. In this enchanted valley, a miniature spectacle is crafted to fit into vast spaces. It takes the shape of a fable, as a result of the accumulation of many tales — some of love, others of war — some of journeys, others of beasts. These are weapon-tales that ensure the survival of their narrator, in a duel between imagination and a petrified heart. These are lament-tales that honor the absent, in a duel between life and death, prison and freedom, vice and virtue, reality and desire. In this architecture of stone-upon-stone, and person-upon-person, an imaginary mirror. An artifact of multiplication, projection, alienation, and enchantment that, night after night, will turn the stage into an onion. Layer by layer, cloaked in scents and invisible splashes, the “storytelling mouth” offers itself to the sword and the wall, adding yet another tale to the infinity of tales. — Marlene Monteiro Freitas