Agenda Municipal / Theatre Shadows_premiere
Sat 15 Nov
Narciso Ferreira Theatre programme
Riba de Ave | Narciso Ferreira Theatre – 18h00
Free admission | Company: Mexe Cultural Association
Shadows is a multidisciplinary artistic creation project that explores and reflects on the invisibility of the role of female workers in Portuguese industry in the 20th century. Through movement and video, it seeks to give voice to stories that have been underestimated and relegated to secondary roles in industry, honouring their contributions and inspiring change in the present. The show draws on the experiences of female workers during the Estado Novo to reflect on the historical invisibility of women's work.The result of a participatory process in industrial contexts, the show combines memory, body and territory, prompting reflection on the place of women in industry over time.
Based on the languages of movement and video, the project stems from encounters with the community of Riba de Ave and other locations in Famalicão — territories shaped by industry and the female workforce — and from the sharing of experiences in artistic experimentation sessions and community assemblies. These experiences weave the matrix of a creation that crosses the past with the present, demanding visibility for stories that continue to echo in the working realities of the present.
More than an evocation, “Sombras” is a political and sensitive statement: a space for listening and confrontation that challenges the erasure of female workers and the way we construct collective memory. The marks of this silence persist in the social imagination and continue to shape power structures. By looking at the past, space is opened up for action in the present and for projecting a more just future, both on and off stage.
Shadows is one of 45 projects supported in 2024/2025 by the “Arte pela Democracia” (Art for Democracy) programme, an initiative of the 50th Anniversary of 25 April Commemorative Commission in partnership with the Directorate-General for the Arts.
Artistic Credits
Artistic Coordination: João Ferreira
Artistic Direction: Daniela Cruz
Co-creation: Beatriz Rola, Daniela Cruz, David Calhau João Ferreira and citizens of the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão
Musical Direction: Beatriz Rola
Percussion: David Calhau
Collaboration: Associação Joanense Unidança
Production Direction: David Calhau
Research Assistance: Beatriz Sarmento
Co-production: MEXE Cultural Association, Famalicão City Council - Há Cultura and Teatro Narciso Ferreira
Partners: Santa Maria da Feira City Council, Porto City Council - Cultura em Expansão
Support: Directorate-General for the Arts / Art and Democracy Programme
Acknowledgements: Riba d'Ave Retirees Association, Associação Joanense Unidança, Textile Industry Museum - Bacia do Ave, Castelões Social Centre, Sporting Clube de São Vitor
35 readings