Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists

  • Theatre

Tiago Rodrigues

Portugal / Création 2020

From age 16

What is a fascist? Is there a place for violence in the struggle for a better world? Can we violate the rules of democracy when we seek better ways to defend it?

Catarina and the beauty of killing fascists, 2023 © Joseph Banderet

Presentation

She's going to have to kill ‘her first fascist’. It's an imperative rite of passage in a family whose mission, from generation to generation, since the birth of fascism, has been to eradicate as many representatives of it as possible. Catarina, your turn!

Summer 2020. A day of celebration, beauty and death. The family gathering takes place in a country house in the south of Portugal, very close to Baleizão, the village where Catarina Eufémia was murdered, an icon of resistance to the Estado Novo, the corporatist, dictatorial, fascist regime that had been in power in Portugal since 1933 and ended with the Carnation Revolution in 1974. The house is charming, the atmosphere light, but the intention deadly. One of the youngest members of the family is ordered to kill a man, a fascist, who has been kidnapped for the purpose. But Catarina categorically refuses, setting off a latent conflict between the members of the family. Tiago Rodrigues raises some burning questions: what is fascism today? To what extent can we break the rules of democracy in order to better defend its causes?

Distribution

With Isabel Abreu, Romeu Costa, António Fonseca, Beatriz Maia, Marco Mendonça, António Parra, Carolina Passos Sousa, João Vicente.
Text, direction Tiago Rodrigues
Artistic collaboration Magda Bizarro
Stage design F. Ribeiro
Light Nuno Meira
Costumes José António Tenente
Sound design, original music Pedro Costa
Choirmaster, vocal arrangements João Henriques
Voices-over Cláudio de Castro, Nadezhda Bocharova, Paula Mora, Pedro Moldão
Choreography Sofia Dias, Vítor Roriz
Weapon coordinator David Chan Cordeiro
Translation Thomas Resendes
Surtitles Patrícia Pimentel

Production

Production Teatro Nacional D. Maria II (Lisboa)
Executive production
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).
With the support of Almeida Garrett Wines, Cano Amarelo, Culturgest
Thanks to Mariana Gomes, Rui Pina Coelho, Margarida Bak Gordon, Rita Mendes and the team of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. We also thank Sara Barros Leitão, Rui M Silva and Pedro Gil who, even though they are no longer on stage with us, will always remain Catarina.
Music from the show: Hania Rani (Biesy et Now, Run), Joanna Brouk (The Nymph Rising, Calling the Sailor), Laurel Halo (Rome Theme III et Hyphae) et Rosalía (De Plata).

Created in September 2020 at the Centro Cultural Vila Flor (Guimarães - Portugal)

Nominated for Best International Show at Catalonia's ‘Premis de la Crítica’.
UBU Award 2023 for Best Foreign Show in Italy.
Voted Best Foreign Show 2023 by the Critics' Union.
Virginia Reiter Award for Best Foreign Actress for Beatriz Maia, in the role of Catarina.

Practical infos

Pictures

Audiovisual