“Cantina” will “feed, entertain and make you think” Monchique

It is a theater show, but also a musical and a dinner. All together in one space. “Cantina” opens already […]

Photo: Kathleen Michiels

It is a theater show, but also a musical and a dinner. All together in one space. “Cantina” opens this Saturday, May 19, at 20 pm, in the old sawmill in Monchique, and promises to «feed, entertain and make people think», guarantees Madalena Victorino, programmer of “Lavrar o Mar”. 

This is the new show by the very rich “Lavrar o Mar”, a program that takes different cultural proposals to two low-density territories: Aljezur and Monchique.

“Cantina” is the responsibility of the Belgian company Laika, which returns to the Algarve after having been in Aljezur for the premiere of “Lavrar o Mar”, in 2016 (who remembers the “Peep & Eat”, part of the Sweet Potato Festival?).

Peter de Bie is the company's artistic director and spoke with Sul Informação even before the premiere of the show. «We (Me and Michiel Soete) started working at “Cantina” in different ways. On the one hand, we took the text “Le Sainte Jeanne des Abbatoirs” (St. Joan of Slaughterhouses), by Bertold Brecht, which talks about a woman who fights against the injustice of the system and who tries to defend the idea of ​​making a better world, bringing together all people. This woman works in a canteen and the idea of ​​building a canteen was born pop-up», he explained.

Photo: Kathleen Michiels

«On the other hand, we started to organize a series of workshops, in Antwerp (Belgium), Malta and Portugal, where we brought people together to cook and discuss themes from the Brecht text. We also talked about the participants' dreams, their personal struggles and injustices. Those workshops resulted in different purposes,” he added.

For the design of the show, “Laika” was in Aljezur, in an artistic residency. Thus, in addition to the members of the Belgian company, seven people from Monchique, Aljezur and Lagos are also part of the cast.

“The residency period, done in Aljezur, was very good and inspiring for us. The main script of our performance was born there», explained Peter de Bie.

But what exactly will this show be? Well, it all starts with typical canteen food, but with a twist. Then, when orders start to come flooding in, the quality starts to decline. There are more and more rules, more and more requests, until it reaches a point where everyone follows the system, without asking any questions. Basically, not enjoying life as it could be», said the artistic director.

There comes a time when the cast working in the canteen “no longer agrees” with what is going on and fights for change. Everyone wants “a better canteen, a world full of joy, where people are more united than ever, sharing both the food and the stories”.

For all these reasons, “Cantina” is an “experience”, a spectacle “in which everyone is a part and in which one eats as much as one laughs”.

Photo: Kathleen Michiels

This will be, in fact, one of the most daring shows of “Lavrar o Mar”. According to Madalena Victorino, one of the responsible for the programming, “there has been a growing adhesion of the public closest to Monchique to the most daring shows in our programming. Almost at the end of this cycle, this will be another one in that category».

And, here, with another flavor, as the company Laika brings this show to Monchique directly from Valletta, Malta, the current European Capital of Culture.

There are still tickets, which can be purchased. on here, but hurry up. The show runs until Tuesday, the 22nd, always with sessions at 20:00.

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