Agenda Municipal / Theatre Europa Restaurant – premiere
26 and 27 Mar
Poetics of the Word | Theatre Encounters – Chapter 8
Casa das Artes | Grand Auditorium - 21h30
Admission: €8. Students, Pentagon Cultural Card and Seniors (aged 65 and over): €4 | Rating: M/16 | Running time: 105 min | Accessibility: the play features interpretation in Portuguese Sign Language (LGP)
The story takes place in a luxury Portuguese restaurant, but it could be in any other European country. Two Portuguese (a chef and cook) reproduce discourses of fear and exclusion, seeing immigrants as a threat. A Brazilian waiter, newly arrived, faces the precariousness, invisibility and violence of being constantly treated as a stranger. Between the kitchen and the dining room, a waitress begins to question this violent dynamic of treating a human being as different because of their origins. Throughout the service, the restaurant becomes a metaphor for contemporary Europe: a place that depends on the work of immigrants, but resists their presence. Based on real testimonies from immigrants who have recently arrived in Portugal, Restaurante Europa offers a reflection on belonging, borders and humanity – and on the urgency of empathy as we approach the abyss.
Text and staging: Marta Freitas Almendra
Staging assistance: Filipe Gouveia
Performers: Diogo Freitas, Guilherme Oldra, Marta Freitas Almendra, Nádia Matos, Pedro Mendonça
Special guest – live music: Cláudio Tavares
Special guest on video: Real emigrants
Set design and costumes: Catarina Barros
Lighting: Luís Silva
Original music and sound design: Cláudio Tavares
Production: Momento – Independent Artists
Support: Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth and Sport / Directorate-General for the Arts
Financial management: Cláudia Meireles
Co-production: Casa das Artes de Famalicão
44 readings