It is a “rougher, more mature” “Backpack” that reaches more age groups. The second edition of this Theater Festival for Children and Youth will take place from the 3rd to the 12th of November, in Faro, with theater shows, music and also a new circus.
In an interview with Sul Informação, João de Brito, artistic director of LAMA – Laboratório de Artes e Media do Algarve, which organizes “Mochila”, spoke about the novelties of the second edition.
This year, the festival has «more shows, more parallel activities» and a «more interdisciplinary» programme.
«It's not just the theater anymore: we also have a new circus, music, a conversation. This “expansion” has always been one of our goals», summarized João de Brito.
The artistic director of LAMA also highlights the fact that the shows talk about «very important topics, such as the right to housing, ecology and old age/loneliness».
This year's edition kicks off on November 3, at Teatro Lethes, with the show “The Value of Small Things” (sessions at 14:30 pm for schools and 19:00 pm for families).
This is a creation of LAMA, «about the first confrontation of a wealthy boy with other ways of seeing the world».
On the same day, one of the highlights of this edition takes place: the trip of the “MOCHILA” to Culatra Island. There, Rita Rodrigues will present the show “In search of a grandson” that addresses the theme of loneliness, through a very peculiar character.
Espaço Quintalão – one of the novelties of the 2nd edition – will receive, on the 4th, “Histórias Suspensas”, a proposal for a new circus, from Radar 360º, directed by the choreographer Joana Providência.
The same location will also be the stage for “À Babuja”, by LAMA, on the 5th, and a new circus show with Thorsten Grütjen (Tosta Mista), an artist based in the Algarve, who will show what a “T0+1” is. .
In the DeVIR CAPa space, Teatro Praga will present, on the 5th, “MACBAD”, in an incursion into Shakespeare's “cursed play”.
On the 6th, the IPDJ Auditorium will stage “Xamamã”, a creation for all ages by the Companhia de Actors and, in the Jardim da Alameda João de Deus, it will be possible to watch “Australopitheco”, a show by the Universo Paralelo company that addresses the difference theme.
On the 9th, the character Manuela starts with “A Grande Race”, created by Catarina Requeijo. Also on that day, and until the 10th of November, João de Brito (LAMA Teatro) coordinates PUZZLE, a show created with the Algarve Community and which is presented at the Municipal Library of Faro.
The festival will end with music: firstly, on the 11th, the “Mão Verde”, a project by Capicua, Pedro Geraldes, Francisca Cortesão and António Serginho, will give a concert at the Teatro das Figuras and, on the 12th, there will be a “Concerto para uma tree”, by Fernando Mota, who performs at Jardim da Alameda João de Deus.
Also in this place, and on the same day, João Paulo Santos debuts the new circus show “Une partie de soi”.
Despite being more aimed at children and young people, this is a festival «for the whole family», stressed João de Brito.
“That is one of our goals: to bring families together. The first edition went very well and we felt that people already wanted to know what was going to happen this year”, he added.
Moreover, the “Mochila” Festival will also occupy different spaces in the city, with the performance Gang das Mochilas. From the 3rd to the 10th of November, this gang, made up of around 50 young performers, occupies Baixa and the Faro and also the Forum and the University of Algarve, with small choreographic performances.
The initiative also includes several activities, such as workshops coordinated by Noiserv and Lugar Específico, the conversation “What baggage do we carry on our shoulders to face the future?”, with cultural mediators, teachers and students, and the screening of the film “The Kid / O Charlie's Boy" by Charlie Chaplin.
The complete schedule can be consulted here
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