Shaking the foundations of time and space

Theatre is a political art by nature. Through its discourse and action, it tries to discover ideas and devices to trigger relations with current social problems.

There is no better way to start than by rereading history and searching for a new interpretation of the meaning of myths, to boldly launch into another form of writing, that fills the space between fiction and reality in "Cosmos".

Within this year’s edition, and along this path, we will rediscover classical references that serve as the basis for new stories of life, which have recently been emerging without asking permission in this period of major transformation. Tita Maravilha presents us with a tropical approach to Chekhov’s universe, starting with "The Three Sisters". And nothing will be the same.

In this speculative sense, between what we are, feel and project, we will not be able to escape the delirious journey of Platform285, enveloped within the commodification and capitalism of affections. "all you can eat" is a transdisciplinary show, that combines theatre, performance, installation, dance and a live concert. It seeks to reclaim the right to leisure, as we discover we’re increasingly imprisoned, productive and profitable.

This edition is also about being a spectator. A theatregoer. A cinemagoer. And how being a spectator can correspond to a state of assimilation or a conditioned state of development. In this regard, Teresa Coutinho will perform "Solo" that addresses the feminist condition, that characterises and inspires her.

In this year’s edition, the theatre will also embrace experimental and poetic exercises that propose a gaze influenced by the architecture of the place: how to produce a sketch of a building that will foster permanent emancipation of the bodies that inhabit it, while giving them back the possibility of a joint existence? This question is posed to us by the silentparty. The discovery of other possibilities will therefore be explored.

At the end of this year’s edition, we capture humanism and existentialism as an inexhaustible source for the formation of a sensitive field, in Luís Mestre’s "Midsummer Night", inserted within the Tetralogy of Seasons: two millennials and a woman who have experienced two asymmetric crises within a decade; a financial crisis and the pandemic. They have never met. They are in the middle of a hot summer and want to feel a welcoming lightness, something that they lost early in their short lives.

It is necessary to shake profoundly in order to feel things more intensely. That is the proposal for this year’s edition of the Gil Vicente Festivals.

Rui Torrinha