The first to take the stage, in the dark, will be António Olaio, Ana Borralho & João Galante, Ana Deus, Viviane, O Meu Pipi, Margarida Guia and Carlos Vaz Marques. This Thursday, the 3rd, they will be in the small auditorium of the Municipal Theater of Portimão, while the next day, Friday, it will be the turn of Teatro Lethes, in Faro. In common they have Project Tell and a performance in the dark, about 10 minutes long.
These are the basic ingredients of the Tell performance festival, which, for four weeks – on Thursdays in Portimão, on Fridays in Faro – will make 28 creators go on stage (seven per night) to do who knows what. It's just that, even with more obvious names like Viviane or Ana Deus, it's not clear if what they're going to present in the 10 minutes each will be (only) music.
Anabela Afonso, director of the Municipal Theater of Faro (TMF), recalls that the Tell Project is an idea of Cassiopeia, a producer from Porto, to which Sérgio Marques and Ana Pereira are linked, with whom TMF has had close ties since Faro National Capital of Culture 2005.
«It was from this contact and the complicity they have with us and within the Algarve Cultura network, which connects us to the Municipal Theater of Portimão, that we decided to move forward with this project that goes far beyond the logic of conventional shows». The fact is that these 70 minutes on stage will be a «real challenge for the spectators and for the creators themselves who will be presenting their performances there».
Of these guest creators – seven per night – «most are artists from various fields, but there are also writers, people connected to the radio», reveals Anabela Afonso.
It will be, as Susana Lopes, from the production of the Municipal Theater of Portimão (Tempo), “a very original and daring project”. Because, underlines the person responsible for the Portimonian part of Tell, «the performances will be done completely in the dark and so there is a great deal of challenge here».
In addition to “national” names, some of whom have already participated in previous Tell Project presentations in Porto, the Algarve partners – TMF and Tempo – also had the task of suggesting names for the list of creators.
Susana Lopes, from Tempo, recalls that Migas, a musician from the Portimão area and vocalist of the La Plante Mutante group, was a suggestion by the Barlaventino theater, as was the choreographer Cláudia Dias.
Em Faro, Anabela Afonso reveals that Nuno Aires, vice-president of Tourism in the Algarve, and Anabela Moutinho, president of the Cineclube, were suggestions from the TMF, as well as Carlos Norton, a musician and radio worker.
And why the invitation to names a little unexpected in these wanderings, such as Nuno Aires and Anabela Moutinho? “The idea is to create imbalances, so that the thing is not so obvious. Sometimes the most surprising things come from people we least expected creativity from. In this aspect, it is also a challenge», stressed Anabela Afonso.,
"Even in the case of an actor or a musician, the challenge is to take advantage of the fact that he is in the dark to do what he has never done on stage," he added.
Because of all these ingredients, expectations for Project Tell are very high, on the part of its producers and the public itself.
«In fact, it is a very original project, which also has this side of involving people from here with people who are well known at national level», stresses Susana Lopes. "But there is actually a strange side that I'm not sure how it will work."
Anabela Afonso, for her part, says she is “prepared for the most diverse reactions. The project itself foresees a lot of variation within what is presented: there are seven different performances per night and, even from night to night, there will be no repetitions».
And the TMF director repeats that “although some artists are well known to the public, it may even happen that what they are going to present now will be something different”. "Look at the case of Lara Li: people will see her sing and it may even happen that she doesn't sing."
This is because, underlines Anabela Afonso, «the role of the arts is also this: to agitate, not to take the easy way». But "obviously we hope the public will like it," he stresses.
Susana Lopes recalls that, in previous Project Tell presentations, the first night was weaker in terms of audience, "but then word of mouth worked and the rooms were full."
In short: what will the public be able to find in Tempo or Lethes, during the four weeks of November? «Sound, word, text, Or even, who knows, silence». Let's find out what they have to say in the dark?
The creators of the Algarve edition:
Cotton (Pacman)
Ana Borralho & João Galante
Ana Luena
Anabela Moutinho
Antonio Olaio
Antonio Julio
Carlos Norton
Carlos Vaz Marques
Claudia Dias
chulage
David dos Santos
Flávia gusmão
Agnes Vincent
Joana Craveiro
Joclécio Azevedo
Lara Lee
Leonor Keill
Daisy Guide
Mauro Amaral
Crumbs
Michael Bonneville
Nuno Aires
My Pipi
Susana Rabbit
Valter Hugo Mother
Viviane
Joe Eduardo
And students from Tomás Cabreira schools (Faro) to
D. Martinho Castelo Branco (Portimão)
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