Alice de Sousa Awarded For Championing Portuguese Culture

In recognition of her work in the championing Portuguese culture in London and of twenty five years of a career as an actress, producer and writer, Alice de Sousa artistic director of the Greenwich Playhouse and Galleon Theatre Company and CEO of Galleon Films, was presented with an award on 12th March 2009 at a Gala organised by 'Jornal As Noticias' Regent's College London.

The ceremony was generously attended hundreds of people and headed by the Portuguese Ambassador, the Portuguese Consul and by leading representatives of the Portuguese industry and community in Britain. The Gala was intended to celebrate twelve individuals/organisations which had distinguished themselves in service and representation of the considerable Portuguese community resident in Britain.

Alice de Sousa received an award in recognition for her numerous theatre productions which have introduced to London audiences unfairly neglected Portuguese literary masters, legends and true stories. Over one decade and within an international and versatile repertoire of work Alice de Sousa has created opportunities, through lovingly produced theatre plays, for the celebration on London's vastly cosmopolitan theatre scene world premières of her translations/adaptations and original texts of great Portuguese works. These projects have included 'The Pilgrim' by Almeida Garrett; 'Cousin Basilio' and 'The Maias' by Eça de Queirós, 'The Heiress of the Cane Fields' by Julio Dinis; 'The Crime of the Old Village' by Bernardo Santareno; 'Thankfully there is Moonlight!' by Sttau Monteiro; and two original stage plays written by herself: 'Inês de Castro' and most recently in January-February 2009 the hugely acclaimed and sell out world première of 'Aristides - the Outcast Hero' .

"Alice de Sousa is surely London's leading exponent of Portuguese culture" - Time Out

As an actress, Ms. de Sousa has played leading roles in some thirty plays including Anne Boleyn in Anne of the Thousand Days; Hermione in The Winter's Tale; Ophelia in Hamlet; Marina in Pericles; Elvira in Blithe Spirit; Millamant in The Way of the World; Celestina in Celestina (de Rojas); the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi; Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth; Dona Madalena in The Pilgrim; Hedda in Hedda Gabler; Maria Eduarda in The Maias; Goneril in King Lear; Joana in the World Première of her translation of The Crime of the Old Village; Matilde in her adaptation of Sttau Monteiro's Thankfully there is Moonlight!; and for a second time the title role in Hedda Gabler. As a producer, created over seventy internationally acclaimed professional professional theatre productions. As a writer for stage and screen she has written several successful scripts.

For Galleon Films Ltd. she is currently developing four feature film projects. The first, her own film adaptation and modern re-working of John Webster's classic The Duchess of Malfi, is shortly due to go into production.

Awards: In 2009 won the award at the Gala ‘Jornal as Noticias' and was listed in the USA's Presidential ‘Who's Who'; in 2007, was short listed for the illustrious award ‘Prémio de Talento 2006' by the Portuguese Foreign Office ‘Gabinete de Estado das Communidades Portuguesas'. In 2004 was awarded by the American Biographical Institute's the ‘Great Women of the 21st Century award'; and in 2005 won the medal for ‘Woman of the Year 2005'. (These awards recognised the impact on society of the work of 1000 prolific women world wide.) In 2001 and 2005 won the Arts Council Playwrights Bursary.

 

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