In a record year for democracy with more than 60 countries and half of the world’s population heading to the polls, Nicosia 2030, candidate for European Capital of Culture, touches the fragility of democracy. Together with the 5th Nicosia International Festival they proudly present the theatrical performance “Catarina and the beauty of killing fascists”, by the Artistic Director of the Festival d’Avignon (France) Tiago Rodrigues (Portugal), at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre on the 10 and 11 December 2024 (20:30). The director and playwright addresses the burning current issue, “what does fascism mean?” and attempts to bring us out of our apathy and poke us to react.
The play
The play features the members of a family in southern Portugal who have the paradoxical tradition, once a year, they abandon their normal lives to kill a fascist. Tiago Rodrigues’ production deals with heavy political issues such as the best means in a democracy to deal with the fascist forces currently on the rise. It questions whether it is morally acceptable to “do evil in order to do good”, which is the motto of the family and whether there is a place for violence in the struggle for a better world. “Can we break the rules of democracy when we seek better ways to defend it?”, asks Rodrigues. All these could easily turn into caricatures, yet Rodrigues refuses to give the audience an easy way out of these moral dilemmas and certainly does not shy away from showing us what he means by fascism.
The production toured all over Europe – Venice, Paris, Athens, Frankfurt, Lausanne, Lisbon etc – and prior to the Nicosia performances it crossed the Atlantic for performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York.
Tiago Rodrigues
Portuguese actor Tiago Rodrigues developed his art as an actor and playwright in Belgium (theatre organization To Stan) at the age of 20. He then founded the company Mundo Perfeito with Magda Bizarro in 2003. As a guest at many national and international theatre organizations he directed many performances. From 2015 to 2021 he was director of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon. In September 2022 he became Director of the Avignon Festival, on whose stages he directed several plays including Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” (2021), “By heart” (2023), “Hecuba, not Hecuba” (2024). His last one was also presented at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (2024).
Awards
“Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists” won the UBU 2023 Best Foreign Performance Award in Italy, the Best Foreign Performance Award from the 2023 Critics’ Union in France and the Best Foreign Actress Award from the Virginia Reiter Premio for Beatriz Maïa, in the role of Catarina. She was also nominated in the Best International Performance category of the Premis de la Crítica, in Catalonia.
Reviews
“The performance does not leave us alone, it does not allow us to adopt the usual “passive” role of the spectator: It provokes our active participation, it desires our reaction, it depends on it, it stands open to the renegotiation of its stakes and is not completed until after we too have taken our own position”, Louisa Arcoumanea, www. lifo.gr.
“It achieves such a level of perfection that it could be described as a manifesto summing up the importance of theatre in today’s society. Can theatre liberate us from our apathy? Can theatre make us think about creating a better model of society? Tiago Rodrigues, who wrote and directed the play, unleashes the critical thinking that we have too often seen reduced to false neutrality when confronted with current social contexts and pushes us to react.”
Laura Cappelle, The New York Times, October 20, 2022
Credits
Production by Teatro Nacional D. Maria II (Lisboa)
Production management: Festival d’Avignon
Co-production: Wiener Festwochen, Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione (Modena), Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie & Théâtre Garonne Scène européenne Toulouse, Festival d’Automne à Paris & Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Teatro di Roma – Teatro Nazionale, Comédie de Caen, Théâtre de Liège, Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), Le Trident – Scène nationale de Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Teatre Lliure (Barcelona), Centro Cultural Vila Flor (Guimarães), O Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo).
Supported by Almeida Garrett Wines, Cano Amarelo, Culturgest
Copyright Spectacle/ Show: © Filipe Ferreira; Tiago Rodrigues © Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Written and directed by Tiago Rodrigues
Artistic collaboration: Magda Bizarro
Scenography: F. Ribeiro
Lighting: Nuno Meira
Costumes: José António Tenente
Sound design, original music: Pedro Costa
Choir director, vocal arrangements: João Henriques
Voices-over: Cláudio de Castro, Nadezhda Bocharova, Paula Mora, Pedro Moldão
Choreography: Sofia Dias, Vítor Roriz
Arms Coordinator: David Chan Cordeiro
Translation: Thomas Resendes (French), Daniel Hahn (English), Vincenzo Arsilio (Italian), Igor Metzeltin (German)
Subtitles by Patrícia Pimentel
Cast: Isabel Abreu, Romeu Costa, António Fonseca, Beatriz Maia, Marco Mendonça, António Parra, Carolina Passos Sousa, João Vicente.
Thanks to Mariana Gomes, Rui Pina Coelho, Margarida Bak Gordon, Rita Mendes and the team of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. Also to Sara Barros Leitão and Pedro Gil who, who were part of the original production team.
Duration: 2:30΄
In Portuguese with subtitles in Greek and English.
Children under 16 years of age are not allowed.
“Catarina and the beauty of killing fascists” includes strong language, violence, and loud sound effects.
As part of the Nicosia 2030 for Democracy actions, it also presents the art exhibition “Art in Democracy”, at the Nicosia Municipal Hall (Eleftherias Square). The exhibition includes artworks from the European Parliament’s Contemporary Art Collection and is a unique tool for reflection on the role of democracy, highlighting the fundamental democratic principles and values through the work of contemporary European artists. The exhibition will remain open until 15 December 2024 and then from 8 to 31 January 2025, Tuesday – Sunday 14:00 – 18:00 p.m.
Tickets:
Available online via Soldout Tickets: bit.ly/NIF24_tickets, at Stephanis stores, and the Nicosia Municipal Theatre box office (Monday – Friday 10:00-13:00).
Ticket price:
ZONE A: €60/ €55
ZONE B: €50/ €45
ZONE C: €40 / €35
ZONE D: €25/ €20
Information: 22797979 (Monday – Friday 10:00-13:00) & bit.ly/Website_NIF2024
Festival identity
Organisers: Nicosia Municipality, Nicosia For Art
Institutional Sponsor: Ministry of Culture, Republic of Cyprus
Bronze sponsor: Onassis Stegi
Media sponsors: DIAS Publishing House, SIGMA TV, LOVE Radio
Also read: State Literature Awards Ceremony for the publications of 2023
