One of today’s most pressing issues, discussed around the table by some of the brightest minds in our country, to respond to the exaggerations, the hysteria, the political correctness that seems to be the order of the day and has robbed us so much of our precious time. It has been a great nuisance. But not here. Finally, a conversation with another attitude, without arrogance, without violence, so that we can understand well how the band plays, as it has played until now. Yes, because the problem is not the content of what is being demanded. It is the manner, do you understand? It’s the manner.
“We even want to hear what you have to say, but with that attitude, it seems that you’re really asking for it”.
Teresa Coutinho (1988) is an actress, creator and playwright.
She created O ETERNO DEBATE (2020), E COMPARAR-TE A UM DIA DE VERÃO? (2018), WAYS OF LOOKING (2017), AGORA EU ERA (2017) a children’s play, INDICAÇÃO PARA SE PERDER (2014) and the micro-performance AMANHÃ À MESMA HORA (2012).
She worked as an actress with Christiane Jatahy, Ricardo Neves-Neves, Rogério de Carvalho, Raquel Castro, among others. As a staging assistant, she worked with Tiago Rodrigues, Faustin Linyekula, Natália Luiza and Beatriz Batarda.
She was responsible, in 2018, for the international tour of the show Ça Ne Se Passe Jamais Comme Prévu by Tiago Rodrigues.
She was also part of Mónica Calle’s assistance team in the show Virgem Doida, in Paris, programmed in the scope of the festival Chantiers d’Europe 2013.
She was selected for the École des Maîtres 2016, edition directed by Christiane Jatahy. She is the coordinator of the ‘Living Poets Club’ at TNDM II.
Creation and text: Teresa Coutinho
Creation support: Lúcia Pires
Cast: Catarina Rôlo Salgueiro, Lúcia Pires, Maria Duarte, Rafael Gomes, Rita Cruz e Tânia Alves
Light design: Carolina Caramelo
Scenography and costumes: Teresa Coutinho
Executive production: Lúcia Pires, Teresa Coutinho
Production assitant: Vítor Alves Brotas
Project co-funded by COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020 and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund.
It all starts with the preparations for a TV debate, one of those we all are familiar with, with a host and a cast of 3 participants, and a new guest for each new program. This one is about THE TOPIC. The guest tries to speak about THE TOPIC but, although the others agree that THE TOPIC is of utmost importance and that they welcome most of all the plurality of views, their interruptions commenting the new element’s clothes, voice, posture and overall aspect, actually make it impossible. And so it goes, in a crescendo, till the final explosion. Did I mention that the host and the cast are all women? And that the guest is a man? Ooops.
O Eterno Debate is a bright theatrical gem, a comedy driven by a ferociously intelligent mind, a new voice that sweeps across the audience with unspoken words and ingenious irony, while sharply reflecting over oppressing systems and representation’s inequalities and invisibilities in both theatre, media and general society – Teresa Coutinho, its author and director (and also an actress and poet and activist). Watching this will probably make you cry with laughter.
Maria João Guardão
Mickael de Oliveira was born in France, in 1984, and has lived in Portugal since 1999. In 2013, he got his Ph.D. in contemporary Portuguese and European dramaturgy from the School of Humanities – University of Lisbon, where he is post-doctoral fellow researching the presence of literature in contemporary theatre and dance. In 2008, Mickael founded Colectivo 84, the theatre company for which he develops playwriting and directing projects. His work O que é teu entregou aos mortais was distinguished with the Maria Matos New Playwriting Award (Maria Matos Municipal Theatre, 2007), and Clytemnestra received an Honorable Mention – António José da Silva Prize (D. Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon / FUNARTE, Brazil, 2012). Some of his most recent productions include Oslo–Fuck Them All and Everything Will Be Wonderful (co-created with Nuno M Cardoso, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre), The Constitution (2016, Dona Maria National Theatre), and the diptych Socrates Must Die (Socrates’ Death / The Life of John Smith, 2017/2018, Vila Flor Cultural Centre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Viriato Theatre, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre. Mickael has served as the artistic director of END – New Dramaturgy Encounters, a project that aims to foster new Portuguese and international playwriting (1st edition at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Lisbon, Nov. 2010; 2nd and 3rd editions at the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, March, Coimbra, 2015/2019). He was Assistant Professor of Arts Administration and Artistic Studies at the School of Education and Humanities (Leiria), guest Lecturer at the School of Theatre and Film Studies (Lisbon), and guest Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities – University of Coimbra. From September 2011 to August 2015, Mickael was Assistant Artistic Director of the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (Coimbra).
Patrícia Portela is a writer and performance maker born in 1974, living between Belgium and Portugal. She has a BA in set and costume design by the high school of theatre and cinema of Lisbon, a Masters of Arts in scenography and dramaturgy of space from the University of Utrecht and Saint Martins college of art in Antwerp, a post-graduation in theatricality and performativity from APT in Antwerp, a film stage at the European film school in Ebeltoft, Denmark, and a Masters in Philosophy of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Since 2003 she has worked on her own performances and installations in collaboration with international artists. She has achieved national and international recognition for her unusual work and is considered one of the most daring artists and innovative writers of her generation. She won the Revelation Prize in 1994 for her creative work in performance and cinema, the Prize Teatro na Década for T5 in 1999, the Gulbenkian Foundation Prize Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão for the performance Flatland I in 2004 and was one of the 5 finalists of the Sonae Media Art Prize 2015 with her installation Parasomnia, amongst other prizes. She has been invited to participate in the prestigious International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa in 2013 and to be the first Outreach Fellow. She was the first literary resident in Berlin in 2016, sponsored by the Portuguese Embassy in Germany/Instituto Camões. She lectures “dramaturgy and space” and “image” regularly at Universities and cultural centers in Portugal (such as University of Minho or University of Lisbon) and abroad (University of Antwerp, Escola de Escrita in Curitiba, etc). She is the author of several novels, short stories and performances, such as Dias úteis (2016, considered one of the books of the year by several reviewers) or Banquet (finalist at the Novel Prize of APE 2012). She is a chronicle writer for the prestigious Jornal de Letras since 2017 and for the National Radio Antena 1.
Rui Horta was one of the most influencial choreographers of his generation, his work being presented all over the world such as the Theatre de la Ville, that co-produced it for over a decade. He directed S.O.A.P. at the Mousonturm, and created for many companies such as NDT, Cullberg, Geneva, Gotemburg, etc. 
