Sousa Bastos by Paula Magalhães

The fifth volume of this collection is dedicated to António de Sousa Bastos (1844-1911), a name known above all for his legacy as a historian and memoirist, author of reference works such as the Dictionary of Portuguese Theater or the Artist’s Portfolio. But despite the undeniable value of this legacy, there is a whole life dedicated to the theater that Paula Gomes Magalhães shows us in this biography, the fruit of her painstaking research.

Journalist, publisher, editor, bookseller, author, playwright, rehearser and entrepreneur – these are the many roles played by this leading figure in Portuguese theater. An appreciator of a theater that above all valued the feisty and entertaining component of the show, Sousa Bastos specialized in a new genre, the “Revista”, establishing a format that has come down to the present day, with few changes.

Alongside Sousa Bastos’ professional history, the pages of this book reveal his personal journey, his loves and dislikes, and the moment when, choosing the Spanish actress Pepa Ruiz, he fell in love with the young actress Maria da Conceição – the future Palmira Bastos – and began an intimate relationship, in theater and in life, that would last until the impresario’s death.