The Teatro da Rainha, in collaboration with Teatro das Beiras from Covilhã, is set to premiere Peter Weiss’s play with initial performances scheduled in Nadadouro on the 3rd and in Carvalhal Benfeito on the 4th of the month. Subsequent shows will be held from the 15th to the 21st at the ancient Casa da Cultura ruins in Caldas da Rainha’s Parque D. Carlos I.
“Noite dos Visitantes” marks director Fernando Mora Ramos’s return to a script he first engaged with in 1978 at the Évora Cultural Center, then under the aegis of Mário Barradas, who translated the play for the current production.
The drama represents Peter Weiss’s foray into reviving popular theater, drawing inspiration from puppet theater, Grand Guignol, and Japanese Kabuki, shared Teatro da Rainha in an announcement about this family-friendly production.
The narrative is described as a rhymed verse parable, rich in caricature and “clownesque” elements, blending playfulness with rigorous pursuit of an antinaturalistic style.
The plot unfolds with actors portraying Gaspar Rosa Rosinha, who intrudes on a peasant family. Frederico, the head of the family, concocts a tale of a buried chest of gold to distract the intruder. Rosinha directs him to find the chest, while the mother and children are left pleading, “Spare us, for pity’s sake,” to the “terrible visitor.”
Complications arise as another thief invades the home. Upon Frederico’s return with the purported gold-filled chest, a fierce battle ensues between the thieves, leaving significant casualties, as the synopsis outlines. Ultimately, two children survive to open the chest, discovering their scant means for future rebuilding.
In a press statement, Mora Ramos describes the play as addressing themes of greed, imperial violence, power dynamics, sexual harassment, and torture, juxtaposed with cunning, strategy, and deception employed by those weaker in their struggle for survival.
A politicized and documentary playwright, Weiss (1916-1982) crafts in this play “an allegory of imperialist plundering,” which, according to the Caldas da Rainha company, gains renewed relevance amidst contemporary invasions and occupations.
The theatrical offering promises “deep physicality and humor,” with Mora Ramos’s direction introducing a musical and rhythmical layer that is “expressively emphasized.”
Performers Fábio Costa, Hâmbar de Sousa, and Tiago Moreira from Teatro da Rainha, alongside Benedita Mendes, Miguel Brás, and Sónia Botelho from Teatro das Beiras, execute the production.
The play’s staging involves scenography by Fernando Mora Ramos, lighting by William Alves, sound design by Tiago Moreira, costumes by Rafaela Ciríaco da Graça, with João Nuno Henriques overseeing sound operations and musical instrument performance.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Teatro da Rainha will inaugurate an exhibition on the 5th at Céu de Vidro, featuring photographs, posters, soundtracks, and scenographic and costume sketches from its first five years of activities and productions staged at Parque D. Carlos I, Largo Rainha D. Leonor, and the forecourt of Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo.
