"Castro" or probably the best love story ever told takes to the stage at TNSJ

The National Theatre São João (TNSJ), takes to the stage the performance "Castro", directed by Nuno Cardoso, on 20th August, at 9pm. The performance will be on show till 12th September, in different timetables and encompassing all the necessary measures to fully include all types of audiences, namely Portuguese Sign Language, audio description and English subtitles. There will also be an after show talk, on 30th August. All pandemic preventive measures are in place, in compliance with the DGS.

The Theatre reopened on 1st June, alongside its two other poles - Teatro Carlos Alberto (TeCA) and Mosteiro de São Bento da Vitória.

The "Castro" performance displays a timeless love story inspired by the love of Inês de Castro, a Galician noblewoman and King Peter I of Portugal. The couple fell in love, but their union was forbidden by his father King Afonso IV, who had Inês murdered.

This might as well be one of the best love stories ever told and Nuno Cardoso will take it to the stage at TNSJ almost five centuries after the tragedy was first put in paper (1598), by António Ferreira.

The TNSJ artistic Director grants the contemporary trait to this classic artwork, thus marking his debut in classic Portuguese dramaturgy. The play features "the quest for power, vice and chaos, or even impunity and presumptuousness, as the blindfold that gets that ancient light darker", as stated by TNSJ to VIVA!.

By staging "Castro", Nuno Cardoso "joins three characters - Inês de Castro, infante Pedro and rei Afonso IV - as a sort of place-characters that inhabit a space, where convergences and divergences are overlapped", explains Ricardo Braun.

"Castro" takes to the stage on Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 7pm, on Thursdays and Fridays, at 9pm and on Sundays at 4pm.

The session on the 30th August features an after show talk and on 6th September there will be Portuguese Sign Language interpretation and Audio description.

Ticket price ranges from 7.50 and 16 euros.

The TNSJ has adopted a thorough contingency plan regarding Covid-19 preventive measures, namely the rigorous disinfection and hygiene procedures in all rooms and common spaces, the reduction of room occupancy to 200 people; also, specific signs are available to help comply with social distancing measures and hand sanitizers are provided. The use of facemasks extends to audiences and crew.

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