Teatro Municipal do Porto invites the city for a new season of dialogue with the world

From September until December, the new season’s programme of Teatro Municipal do Porto (TMP) promises a reunion with old acquaintances (national and international) and an investment in a (increasingly) younger creation. Rivoli and Campo Alegre will host new shows by Dimitris Papaioannou, Milo Rau, and Victor Hugo Pontes, in a total of 11 world premieres and six national premieres.

TMP’s reunion with the city is scheduled for mid-September in a two-fold dimension: in and out closed doors. In a weekend thought out in a complementary, as has occurred in the last years, the rentrée will be comprised by two shows: one of them will take place in Praça D. João I, the other in Grande Auditório do Rivoli.

Thus, on September 15th, the city is invited for a presentation that calls for contemplation and (re)connection with the city. “Dialogo Terzo: In a Landscape” is the third chapter of a project by the Italian company CollettivO CineticO, led by the artists Francesca Pennini and Alessandro Sciarroni. A choreographic piece, the homonymous composition by John Cage, aims to “ease the mind”, in a meditation to ease the daily hassles.

In the same opening weekend, particular emphasis on the reassembly of “Gust9723”, choreographic work by Francisco Camacho created originally in 1997 and which has now a new cast of local performers.

Welcome old acquaintances

Aiming to accompany some of the most stimulant names in the international scene, TMP promotes new encounters with artists that marked viewers in the last seasons.

In this regard, particular emphasis goes to the screenwriter and theatre director, Milo Rau’s comeback to Porto, who aims to recreate the classic “Antigone” under the point of view of the 21st century. In “Antigone in the Amazon” that will premiere on November 17th and 18th, a manifesto supported by indigenous people, activists and actors from Brazil and Europe, is created.

On November 30th, December 1st and 2nd, a national premiere will be shown, the recent play by Dimitris Papaioannou. “INK” is formed by two performers that go from a duet to a duel. A choreographic study about the limits of reality, with outlines of science fiction and horror.

Cristina Planas Leitão and Drew Klein, artistic codirectors of TMP, consider that “all locations and spaces are explored as a possibility to bring forward dialogues between Porto and the world with a sense of time and relation”. In this set of proposals, they take on “a sense of courage in their content or form that generate a new expectation in relation to the mission and the role of a municipal theatre”, they confirm.

National artists do not miss the roll call

In TMP’s new season, the national emphasis continues to be one of the dominant features of the programme. From easily identifiable names to new names that promise to generate curiosity, the first four months of the new programme are scheduled with shows for everyone.

Emphasis on the most recent show by Victor Hugo Pontes, “Corpo Clandestino” that will take place on September 22nd and 23rd, in Teatro Campo Alegre (in the year which the choreographer marks 20 years of his career).

The line-up also consists of the premieres of “Justiça”, by Joana Providencia/Teatro do Bolhão (November 3rd and 4th), of “unravelling”, by the company Visões Úteis (December 7th and 8th), of “Revolução de uma pessoa que sempre fez o que quis”, by Nuno Preto/Colectivo Espaço Invisível (December 15th and 16th), and “O que é um problema?”, by the ballerina and choreographer Beatriz Valentim (November 17th and 18th).

TMP will continue to host, during this time, some of the festivals and cycles created by the city, such as FIMP – Festival Internacional de Marinetas do Porto, Festa do Cinema Francês and Mostra Estufa (under the responsibility of Erva Daninha).

The regular cycles keep their periodicity, with new recitals by Novos Talentos, new sessions from Quintas de Leitura, and new concerts for Understage.

“We believe that the theatre is a live forum for the many complexities that constitute our society, in a space to discover new languages, to enjoy a collective joy and defy our understanding of the world we share”, Cristina Planas Leitão and Drew Klein state. “We believe in theatre as a tool to create new languages in today’s day and age – poetic, but daring”, the artistic codirectors of TMP conclude.

The programme of the new season can be found here.