Two actors, two musicians, a dancer, a plastic artist and 50 meter rolls of paper are the ‘recipe’ for ‘Caldeirada’, an environmental intervention piece that opens on the 19th in Góis, in the district of Coimbra.
The idea for the show came to director Frédéric da Cruz Pires based on a fado by Amália Rodrigues.
“It came about on a trip, when I was listening to the radio and I heard the fado ‘Caldeirada’”, the head of Leirena Teatro told the Lusa agency.
The lyrics tell the story of a group of fish that get together, taking advantage of being in a stew, to discuss the effects of man’s action on the oceans. And inspired the new intervention theater play for the environment.
“The music is from the 1970s”, when, even then, “the way the oceans are treated” was worrying.
Amália’s fado set the tone for the multidisciplinary creation of the theater group from Leiria, with six performers: two Portuguese and classical guitar performers, a dancer and an artist, “who designs and makes the props live”.
“They are all in the same playing area, with a scenic object – rolls of recycled cardboard, each roll of which is 50 linear meters – in which we involve the actors, the body, the paint, the music, musical instruments and this scenic object ”, described the director.
The objective is “to travel from the depths of the sea to the coast, inside a boat, to the trawl”.
“It’s a game, a dialogue between these various forms, but it’s an unusual dialogue. All situations are unusual, some are even ridiculous”, imagined to “talk about a serious subject, which is the way we treat the ocean”.
Leirena addresses “not only the greed that exists around the economy of fish and the sea, but also the way fishing is done, from trawling, which decimates all that is fish, from the smallest to the largest, and the flora itself”.
“That’s why, on stage, everything starts out tidy, everything very beautiful, as if we were in paradise”.
But, in the end, “everything is really a big stew”.
There are 50 minutes of a “very physical show”, which will have translation into Portuguese Sign Language, audio description and inclusive room sheet, in addition to the possibility of mediation sessions for students.
After Góis, where it premieres at the Casa da Cultura on the 19th (free admission, upon collecting a ticket at the Municipal Tourism Office), “Caldeirada” goes to Viana do Castelo, where the show is presented at Teatro Sá de Miranda, on the 19th. may 17.
“Caldeirada” is co-produced by Leirena Teatro with the municipalities of Góis and Loulé, in partnership with Viana do Castelo, through the City Council, the Environmental Monitoring and Interpretation Center and the Sea Centre.
The tour lasts until 2024, when it also arrives in Loulé, in the Algarve. Along the way, performances in Covilhã, Caminha and Vila Praia de Âncora are confirmed.
“This is a show to be performed in conventional spaces, such as theaters, but also in unconventional spaces: on the street and even on the beach. A person can be having the pleasure of sunbathing and suddenly the show is happening”, anticipated Frédéric da Cruz Pires.
