The show “The Three Brothers”, by Victor Hugo Pontes and with text by Gonçalo M. Tavares, is one of the highlights of the Macau Arts Festival, it was announced today.
With a bigger budget than last year’s, the 34th edition of the Macau Arts Festival (FAM) is bringing in more foreign names this year and is betting on reinterpreting classics.
From Portugal comes the show “Os Três Irmãos”, by choreographer Hugo Pontes and with an original text by writer Gonçalo M. Tavares.
This project, which combines dance and acting, is “a visceral journey” of three boys who are confronted with the absence of their parents, “trying to survive each other’s existence”, announced the Cultural Institute (IC) at the presentation of the FAM program, which this year runs from May 3 to June 7.
The Portuguese band Capitão Fausto will also be in the area for the Sino-Portuguese concert “Semeando afetos musicais” (Sowing musical affections), alongside the “captivating David Huang, a popular voice” from Taiwan, said the IC.
This year, the FAM has a budget of 24.9 million patacas (2.8 million euros), two million patacas (227,000 euros) more than last year, an increase justified by the president of the IC by the end of the pandemic.
“We’re experiencing difficulties related to the anti-pandemic measures and we haven’t been able to invite many artistic groups, but this year we’re counting on the participation of more artists from abroad,” said IC president Leong Wai Man during the presentation, highlighting the arrival of more than ten groups from abroad.
Dedicated to the theme of “Feeric Encounters”, this edition features 19 programs, including theater, Chinese opera, dance, music and virtual arts, “reinterpreting classics in innovative ways”, said Leong Wai Man.
The event opens on May 3 at the Macau Cultural Center’s large auditorium with “The Jungle Book Reimagined”, a production by British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan and an adaptation of the classic “The Jungle Book”, written by 1907 Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling.
Returning to Macau, the Australian company Circa brings “Laguinho dos Patos”, a circus theater production inspired by Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake” and Hans Christian Andersen’s tale “The Ugly Duckling”.
Meanwhile, the winner of Spain’s National Dance Prize, Marcos Morau, in collaboration with the Lyon Opera Ballet, France, presents a reinterpretation of “Sleeping Beauty”, in a “reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky’s iconic score” transported to the present day, noted IC.
Another work to be honored at the 34th edition of the event is Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, with Teatro Sardinia’s physical theater piece “Macbettu” transposing the classic “into the ancient Sardinian culture and language”.
In “The Fury of What I Think”, “six exceptional actresses and a seductive dancer explore the world and the words” of writer Nelly Arcan (1973-2009), in a work by Canadian director and actress Marie Brassard, the FAM program also states.
The organization has also invited Teatro Baj, from Poland, which is bringing its baby theater production “O Livrinho” to Macau.
As far as local groups are concerned, “Anamnese no: XXXX”, a play by the Dirks Theatrical Art Association recreated from “Equus”, a work by British playwright Peter Shaffer, wants to get the audience thinking, through the integration of real-time video technology.
Dóci Papiaçám di Macau, a regular at the festival, will take to the stage with their play in Patuá, the Macau Creole, “Unga Istrêla ta vem” (A star arrives), which will show the audience the meeting between Délia, a substitute drama teacher, and Giselda, a former VIP gambling promoter on the verge of poverty.
FAM returns this year with Festival Extra, an extension of the main initiative, with a total of 23 programs, including sessions with artists, backstage visits, lectures, workshops, exhibitions and screenings of international shows.
