Skip to content

Conteúdo principal

Blackface at Teatro Viriato

ALKANARA - On the left side of the photograph, Marco Mendonça appears in the foreground, wearing a red waistcoat. He's standing, his hands are crossed in front of his body and he's looking straight ahead. On the right, out of focus, is a suspended screen showing a black and white image with no definition. In the background are long curtains, coloured blue by the projection of the lights - ©Diana Tinoco
@ Diana Tinoco
  • 27.09 2024
  • Teatro Viriato
  • ages +14
  • 1h30min

Marco Mendonça’s one-man-show is a musical lecture-performance that shifts between stand-up, satire, documentary theatre, and autobiography. Through images, videos, and comedy sketches, he takes us on a journey through the long and painful history and legacy of blackface.

Blackface – a racist theatrical practice in which performers wear makeup to portray a caricature of a black person – is used to degrade, objectify and dehumanise black people, portraying them as unintelligent, lazy, and untruthful, among other negative attributes.

Historically blackface provided comfort and comic relief for its audiences. Here, it reflects the presence of racism in Portuguese traditions, right up until the present day.

Credits

Created and performed by Marco Mendonça Creative advisor Bruno Huca Dramaturgy advisor Gisela Casimiro Music and sound design Mestre André Video Heverton Harieno Lighting design Rui Monteiro Technical direction and lighting operation Manuel Abrantes Set Pedro Azevedo Stagehand Daniela Cardante Costumes Aldina Jesus Production Alkantara - Sinara Suzin and Carolina Gameiro Coproduced by Alkantara, Teatro do Bairro Alto and Teatro Viriato Coproduction residency O Espaço do Tempo Residency support Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre Audiodescription script FrancoAcesso Thanks to Ana Cristina Mendonça, André e. Teodósio, Artistas Unidos, Bernardo Peixoto, Catarina Amaral, Cidália Espadinha, Cleo Diára, Eduardo Mendonça, Eduardo Molina, Gio Lourenço, Isabél Zuaa, Márcia Mendonça, Marcos Cardão, Maria Jorge, Nádia Yracema, Nuna, Nuno Lopes, Soraia Tavares, Raquel S., Tiago Bartolomeu Costa and Vanessa Coelho

Marco Mendonça

Marco Mendonça was born in Mozambique in 1995 and lives in Lisbon since 2007. He graduated in theatre at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema. He works regularly with the company Os Possessos. He was a trainee at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, where he worked with João Pedro Vaz, Tiago Rodrigues and Faustin Linyekula. He was part of shows by Liesbeth Gritter (Kassys), Tonan Quito and Mala Voadora. He debuted as author and co-creator, alongside João Pedro Leal and Eduardo Molina, in "Parlamento Elefante", a project that won the Amélia Rey Colaço scholarship. In...

Related articles:

Voltar ao inicio
This website is using cookies to provide a good browsing experience

These include essential cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site, as well as others that are used only for anonymous statistical purposes, for comfort settings or to display personalized content. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to allow. Please note that based on your settings, not all functions of the website may be available.

This website is using cookies to provide a good browsing experience

These include essential cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site, as well as others that are used only for anonymous statistical purposes, for comfort settings or to display personalized content. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to allow. Please note that based on your settings, not all functions of the website may be available.

Your cookie preferences have been saved.