“Mixtape # 1” debuts in Portugal and brings memories of the “Luso-bourgeois” people – Showbiz
In “mixtape” or “the remix of the memories of the Portuguese-bourgeois people”, the Portuguese-descendant playwright and director Pedro Martins Beja “pulls the ribbon back” to reveal the memories of a nation that lives in another country, and where it will be possible to see, on stage at Teatro Carlos Alberto, starting on Thursday, scenes from the history of Little Red Riding Hood, with incursions into the Colonial War and the miracle of the roses of the Holy Queen.
In an interview with journalists, after rehearsing the play for the press, Pedro Martins Beja explained that the idea was to remember the past based on the ‘mixtape’ (remix) of various views of ‘Luso-bourgeois’.
“I was really interested in being able to reunite the children of the past because I had childhood memories of returning to Portugal in the summer by car, listening to them like cassettes”, he says.
Fado echoes on a husky radio, television advertisements, pig slaughter parties and stories of witches and werewolves are some of the themes of the tracks that make up a ‘tracklist’ of this cassette that travels to the “roots of the ‘Portuguese-bourgeois’ people”, which currently representing one-sixth of the population of Luxembourg, reads in the press kit delivered to the media.
«The conflict between the past and the future, old and young, patriarchy and emancipation is a ‘leitmotiv’ of the show, which does not only take up as personal memories of the director, but which serves as a starting point to aggregate the contributions of the cast composed by ‘Luso-bourgeois’ and Portuguese actors.
Portuguese actor Jorge Mota revealed that the show had “a month of rehearsal” and that it was his first “incursion as an emigrant”, as he went to work in Luxembourg for a month and a half, “full of expectations for going to do a show in a country where the Portuguese have a huge expression”, but where it is still felt that there are some “stereotypes” in Luxembourg society about the Portuguese people.
The Luxembourgish actress Hanna Sofia Lopes says that “it is always complicated when you are born in one country and the parents are from another country”.
“Although, in Luxembourg, a foreign community is very important, almost half of the population of Luxembourg is of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish origin (…), one person is not just one person, but one always feels that there are elements that make you feel a little different”, knowledge.
The show “The Lost Beginning: Mixtape # 1” explores “fulfilled dreams”, “broken illusions”, the repressed, the unconscious, the disturbing, the demystification of the concept of homeland, “sector Portugal not as a real place, but as a projection, the country far from childhood imagined by words and children”.
In addition to the links between Portugal and Luxembourg, a play also addresses themes that go beyond this context, including the xenophobia suffered by those who decide to emigrate.
After the recent tour of “Castro” to Luxembourg, this show is yet another reflection of the cooperation program between the São João National Theater and the Luxembourg National Theater.
The show, which lasts an hour and a half, for over 12 years old, has, in its interpretation, Hanna Sofia Lopes, Fábio Godinho, Jorge Mota and Marcus Steinekellner.
The scenography and costumes are by Matthias Koch, the music and sound design are signed by Marcus Steinekellner and the lighting design is by Daniel Sestak.
The dramaturgy is the responsibility of Florian Hirsh and the translation is signed by Helena Tropa.
The show takes place at Teatro Carlos Alberto from December 16 to 18, at 7:00 pm, and ends on December 19, at 4:00 pm.