“Bem grande é o mar e fala dentro dum búzio”. Mar de Miguel Torga

In contrast to the ideology of the Estado Novo, which resorted to themes of folkloric and re-gionalist recreation in order to construct a serene and traditional image of the Portuguese peo-ple based on the candour and simplicity of its inhabitants, and where dramatic and cinematic endings always restored the interrupted harmony and serenity; in Mar (1941), the local poet Miguel Torga (1907-1995) unsparingly depicts the difficulties of the fishing community and the repercussions of the extreme harshness of fishing on the fishing community. Although critics generally devalued Miguel Torga's theatre, the play Mar was staged by three of the leading directors of the mid-20th century, a circumstance that demonstrates the interest of this text, particularly in the relationship between man and the sea, the latter in its capacity as a natural element or landscape.