A stage and 28 creators who were given a challenge: do you have something to say in the dark? This is the starting point for the Tell project, which, in November, will pass through the municipal theaters of Faro and Portimão, but also through the streets of the Algarve.
Tell is, thus, a festival of performances (seven per night) of short duration (10 minutes) in the dark, «a game with a pre-defined obstacle and equal for everyone, which exposes the endless variety of solutions and ways of “playing” , of “illusioning”», explain its promoters.
In each session, contemporary dance, jazz, light music, visual arts, theatre, cinema, literature are possible… «More than artistic areas or disciplines, we will have crossings, testing of limits, experiences and experimentation».
On the stages of Tempo and Teatro Lethes, Ana Deus, Anabela Moutinho, António Olaio, Chullage, David dos Santos, Lara Li, Margarida Guia, Nuno Aires, Susana Coelho, Valter Hugo Mãe, Viviane, Zé Eduardo, Migas, will pass by Carlos Vaz Marques, Leonor Keill, Cotton/Pacman, O Meu Pipi, Ana Borralho & João Galante, Flávia Gusmão, Miguel Bonneville, Joana Craveiro, António Júlio, Carlos Norton, Joclécio Azevedo, Ana Luena, Migas, Inês Vicente, and students from alternative curricular path of the EB 2,3 D. Martinho de Castelo Branco School (Portimão) and also of the Tomás Cabreira Secondary School (Faro).
«The Tell project was born in Porto in 2008 and has always involved artists from all over the country. In 2010, one of the artists was from the Algarve and insisted that the project be brought here. We went to talk to the municipal theaters of Faro and from Portimão and we advanced», he explained to the Sul Informação Sérgio Marques, project coordinator.
"Our idea is to do it in places with insufficient cultural activity", such as the Algarve, he added.
Since then, «joint work has been carried out by the team of the Tell project and by the artistic directors of the two municipal theaters», in such a way that Tell is now adapted to the Algarve context, involving two cities – Faro and Portimão -, and with the strategy of bringing together in each session seven artists and creators from different areas, registers, schools and generations, offering the public, a diversified proposal, which can range from contemporary dance, jazz and light music, plastic arts, theater, cinema, literature….
The sessions will take place on Thursday, in Portimão, and on the following Friday in Faro, for four consecutive weeks, in the month of November, that is, on the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th, in the first city, and on the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th, in the second.
Thus Tell will be the promoter of 28 original creations, gathered in eight shows, making a total of 56 performances.
A creator from the Azores, ten from Lisbon, eight from the center and north of the country, and nine from the Algarve will pass on the stages in the Algarve. But among these creators who accepted the challenge, there are names that cannot properly be considered as people of the show, such as Anabela Moutinho, president of the Cineclube de Faro, or Nuno Aires Vice President of Tourism in the Algarve.
Sérgio Marques explains that “when we started in Porto, we also challenged people from other areas, such as science or social workers. This challenge "Do you have something to say in the dark?" it is valid for creators, but also for thinkers, for everyone who thinks they can say something in the dark».
“People think Tell is the English word for 'tell', but it isn't. The name Tell came from the legend of William Tell, the famous archer who was forced to demonstrate his skill and art by shooting an arrow into an apple placed in the head of his own son. The 28 breeders are challenged to demonstrate their expertise», underlined the project coordinator.
But Tell goes beyond the municipal theaters of Faro and from Portimão. To publicize the shows, «we are going to distribute apples, which are our symbol, in the streets. These apples will be offered to people wrapped in the festival's promotional flyer». «No one will be indifferent!», guaranteed Sérgio Marques.
This distribution will be made in the two cities and also in the neighboring areas, "in the very style of the sound car, a fair vehicle, parked or in motion", which "spreads - through streets, squares, alleys and bus stops -, small poetic-musical programs in which the enjoyment of purely sound materials will be the object of privileged attention. What are you able to say outright?”, explains Regina Guimarães, responsible for the texts for this aspect of the project.
«Tell is a project for the formation of audiences, to seduce people with very different shows, with many records in one show. The public that is going to see Pacman is not expecting to see a dance performance afterwards,” added the coordinator.
Sérgio Marques who, in Faro National Capital of Culture 2005, he was one of those responsible for programming in the cinema area, he knows the terrain, the equipment, the people and the logistics of the Algarve very well.
And he even has curious and attentive ideas about the region. «The Algarve has a different characteristic, which is that it is a space for circulation. Basically, it is a big city with several centers, among which people circulate».
Therefore, he considers, «the Algarve has a very strong potential and asks for itinerant circulation projects. People are used to getting around and that's a very good feature to pick up on».
In November, the Tell performance festival will take the stage at Tempo and Teatro Lethes. Tickets for each day of the show cost seven euros, one euro for each artist who performs on that day.
What if we're going to find out what they have to say in the dark?
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