Nuno Cardoso

A Visita da Velha Senhora

The visit of the richest woman
2013

In 1956, Dürrenmatt wrote a brilliant play about a ruined city awaiting the visit of the richest woman in the world to instigate its economic recovery. Exactly fifty-six years later, it would be hard to find another text that takes us back, with such great precision, to the ethical and political confusion into which the state of financial need casts a community that has always been guided by conventional values. Claire Zachanassian is the archetype of power, of its discretion and its driving force. She is the face of money, cold and determined.

This staging of The Visit, however, is the face of collaboration and the potentialities of artistic sharing and investment with the aim of constructing a show on a scale that is unusual, especially in these times of crisis.

Two companies and two theatres (so far…) have joined forces, casts, creative and technical teams, to pursue the idea of Theatre as a mechanism, dark and comical, for questioning ourselves.

Credits

Text
Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Translation
João Barrento

Director
Nuno Cardoso

Cast
Maria João Luís, Horácio Manuel, Cândido Ferreira, Luís Lucas, Tónan Quito, Daniel Pinto, João Melo, Pedro Frias

and

António Pedrosa, Carlos Nery, Cristina Gonçalves, Diana Coelho, Helena Marchand, Isabel Millet, Isabel Simões, Iva Delgado, Jorge Falé, Júlia Guerra, Kimberley Ribeiro, Manuela de Sousa Rama, Paula Bárcia, Vítor Lopes (Companhia Maior)

Staging assistant and movement director
Vítor Hugo Pontes
Scenography
F. Ribeiro
Lighting designer
José Álvaro Correia
Original music
Rui Lima, Sérgio Martins
Producers from Ao Cabo Teatro
Carla Moreira,
Hélder Sousa
Producer from Companhia Maior
Luís Moreira

Co-production
Ao Cabo Teatro, Companhia Maior, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, São Luiz Teatro Municipal

Support
CNB – Companhia Nacional de Bailado
Centro Cultural de Belém
Fundação EDP

Acknowledgements

Agostinho Feixeira – Móveis e Velharias Atelier Real
Lisbon City Council
Municipal Directorate of Urban Environment / Public Lighting Division
Celso Costa
Carlota Maricato
Cristina Vidal
Daniela Costa
Dinis Pedroso
Fundação EDP
Mundo Perfeito
M Ventura & Partners
Paula Braga – Centro de Documentação TNSJ Teatro da Trindade – Fundação Inatel

Performances

PREMIÈRE
7 – 27 March 2013
São Luiz Teatro Municipal
Lisbon

FURTHER PERFORMANCES

30 March 2013
Centro Cultural Vila Flor
Guimarães

10 – 14 July 2013
Teatro Nacional São João
Porto

Photos: © Bruno Simão

© Companhia Maior