We at the Nightclub Suffer Together by Diego Bragà
Produced by Alkantara
Broken hearts, Latin Americans, African Americans, and immigrants pulsed in a loop during the disco era of the 1970s. They all died. This is war. Miss Universe takes refuge in a bunker that was once a disco —in the height of fascism— in Copacabana, where she encounters gay ghosts. From a real archive —her uncle Richard Wagner’s— merging into fiction, WE AT THE NIGHTCLUB SUFFER TOGETHER is a hyper-pOPERA where the bunker becomes a ghostly, utopian disco, reinterpreting homoerotic themes through an androgynous transfeminist lens.
WE AT THE NIGHTCLUB SUFFER TOGETHER is a utopian and ghostly opera for the dance of our ghost-archives and an empowerment of queer ancestral survival tools. It’s a theatrical, operatic gesture, born from a love note received in a nightclub in the ‘70s, to embrace suffering and to usher in a beautiful future ahead.
— Diego Bragà
With this project, Diego Bragà was one of the artists selected for CommonLAB 2024. We at the Nightclub Suffer Together is one of three projects in development produced by Alkantara in 2025.
Performances
14 November (Premiere)
9:30pm — O Espaço do Tempo (XL Box)*
15 November
7:00pm — O Espaço do Tempo (XL Box)*
* Admission is free, but booking is required via (+351) 913 699 891 or info@oespacodotempo.pt
Credits
Direction, libretto & composition Diego Bragà Performers Diego Bragà, Paulo Pascoal, Eric Meireles, João Villas-Boas Musical direction, soundscape Nico Spinoza Musical production Pedro Joaquim Borges Hypeer-pop electronics & beats Diana XL Choreographic support/ movement dramaturg Tânia Carvalho Assistant director Mariana Guarda Light design Rui Monteiro Technical direction Ana Carocinho Set design Carlota Lagida and Martim Paintings Martim Production Alkantara Residency support TalentLAB and Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg Support for creation OPART, E. P.E./Estúdios Victor Córdon Support for dramaturgy CAMPUS/Rivoli, Festival END, Bolsa de Escrita Teatro Oficina Co-production Alkantara, in the context of Common Stories, a Creative Europe programme funded by the European Union Creation grant O Espaço do Tempo, with the support of BPI and ‘la Caixa’ Foundation
Diego Bragà / DIDIRELLA (Belo Horizonte, BR) is a transfeminine artist who moves between queer operas, visceral films, and the invention of beautiful collective futures still to come. A fan of Lygia Clark, Marta Neves, Yoko Ono and Paula Rego. She moved to London at the invitation of Thomas Prattki and graduated from the London International School of Performing Arts. She was fortunate to learn from inspiring teachers, including: Acely Hovelacque, Thomas Prattki, Amy Russell, Denise Pedron, Fernando Limoeiro, Marina Abramović, Meg Stuart, Thomas Ostermeier, Céline...