PREMIERE
EUNICE CORREIA / CIA. MEFISTEATRO [PORTUGAL]
Sementeira - Alentejo New Creations Exchange presents:
espantos
30 May · 9.30 pm
CARVOARIA
Age Rating: 12+
Duration: 50 minutes
A Sementeira is an initiative by Antípoda A.C., co-produced by O Espaço do Tempo, Alma d’Arame, Pó de Vir a Ser and CAE Portalegre, in partnership with Um Colectivo and the municipalities of Viana do Alentejo, Mértola and Portalegre.
Funded by the Government of Portugal / Directorate-General for the Arts, Évora City Council, the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation and CCDR Alentejo.
Among shared memories and simple, deeply human stories, the figure of an elderly couple emerges, who have lived in isolation on a hill for far too long.
Childless and with few family ties, Espanta and Espanto spend their days playing pranks on one another, turning their routine into a game that helps them withstand the loneliness. This is interrupted by the arrival of a young postman, who speaks in his own poetic language; realising he has never delivered post to that house, he decides to begin an exchange of anonymous letters. Contact is established through the spoken word, as the couple cannot read or write.
Blending the work of the actor with puppetry, Espantos constructs a poetic universe where body, memory and identity coexist.
The show presents itself as a gesture of listening and reciprocity, where youth and old age come together to celebrate the persistence of the human spirit.
Eunice Correia
Eunice Correia (Lisbon, 1990) is an actress, puppeteer, creator and director.
She holds a degree in Artistic Studies – Performing Arts from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lisbon and lives in São Cristóvão (Montemor-o-Novo).
She began her professional career at a very young age at RTP, working in voice-over and dubbing, lending her voice to various characters in children’s and young people’s series and programmes. In 2008, she joined the voice cast of the video game God of War III. In theatre, she has built a career as an actress and puppeteer. Since 2017, she has been the artistic director of Cia. Mefisteatro, a company with which she has developed original work in the fields of theatre and puppetry, directing productions such as Circo Crepúsculo, Três Estranhas Estórias, Iomik and O Bater dos Umbrais.
She has collaborated with organisations such as Marionetas de Lisboa, Teatro da Cornucópia, Teatro Salomé, Teatro Estúdio Fontenova, Folia Marionetas and Teatro Figura. She has worked with José Ramalho, Moncho Rodriguez, Tito Celestino da Costa, José Maria Dias, Rosa Dias, Lourenço Vaz Gil, Manuel de Almeida e Sousa, José Neto and Joaquina Chicau. In street theatre, she has been working continuously since 2014 with Companhia Tentart, and occasionally with Anymamundy – Teatro de Rua.
Her work combines performance, playwriting and puppetry, with a particular interest in collaborative processes, contemporary creation and engagement with local communities.
Cia. Mefisteatro
Mefisteatro company was born in Moita and emerged from a fusion of the performative and literary work of André Consciência with the scenic and theatrical creation of Eunice Correia, embracing a magical and dreamlike, raw and critical imaginary. André Consciência’s symbolist, modernist and cubist influences and his sound design converge in Eunice Correia’s expressions of theatre as an actress and as an actress of figures, which go through a variety of languages, always trying to include in the creations the relationship between actor and object/puppet, thus bringing this poetic dimension to various audiences – in a show or workshop, allowing a direct sharing with the most curious and daring. The result is a world of diversity, between the obscure and the luminescent, emphasising the poetry of creating.
© Sérgio Marques
