Salazar's Angels of Death

Then, suddenly, they stand in my cell again. They put a pistol to my temple. Cock the hammer. They play their antics with me. Laughingly. Pretending. Then suddenly they pull the trigger. I flinch. Desperately. I close my eyes in a flash. With fear. My whole body trembles. But they laugh again. You were lucky; they sneer and jeer. There was no bullet in it. This time!

"Miguel Oliveira's play is intense. It brings the injustice and brutality of the dictatorship to the stage, giving a voice to the victims of torture and violence who suffered under the regime. It is an unbearable text that shows the hopelessness, the bitter suffering, and the failure of a group of young dissidents who, in the midst of arbitrary rule, find the courage to demand freedom for themselves and their country." Susana de Abreu, former university lecturer in literature

Miguel Araújo Oliveira was born in Hamburg in 1979. He is the author of several monographs featuring writers such as John Dos Passos, Günter Grass, and Ödön von Horváth. Ever since the launch of Oliveira's collection of poetry, "Sem Título," he has been considered a major figure in present-day Madeiran literature. A selection of his poems was included in several anthologies of contemporary Portuguese poets. Oliveira has been invited to teach as a professor at several universities in Lisbon.