Bacchae - Prelude to a Purge
In Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge, Marlene Monteiro Freitas presents a disturbing and fascinating experience at the intersection of music, dance, and theatre. This absurd carnival, brimming with life and spiced with the sounds of Brazilian funk and Ravel's Boléro, explores the depths of the human psyche and the complexities of desires and contradictions.
Festival Brandhaarden
Run time 135 minutes
Genre Dance
Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge
This immersive performance challenges the audience and performers to grapple with the emotional chaos evoked by Euripides’ Bacchae. Surrounded by the pulsating rhythms of five trumpet players, the dancers create a visual and auditory spectacle that both entices and unsettles the spectator. This exploration invites us to engage with the dark and luminous sides of humanity.
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The combination of clownish elements and decadent variety creates a dynamic dialogue between the allure of the performance and the underlying social themes. Freitas’ bold and original approach results in an unforgettable experience. Critics have praised the performance: “A spectacle that leaves you with a lasting sense of wonder,” says one reviewer. Another highlights, “Freitas creates a world where delirium and beauty go hand in hand,” underscoring the profound reflection on the human condition.
Press
DanceTabs
“What is most impressive is that none of this feels random or self-indulgent. There is a strictness and a sense of order and ritual behind this madness.”
The Stage
“Freitas’ seemingly inexhaustible imagination, and that of her performers, comes to the fore in this chaotic beauty.”
Marlene Monteiro Freitas
Marlene Monteiro Freitas (1979) is the figurehead of the new Portuguese dance scene. She is known for her abundant and expressionistic pieces, inspired by the carnival of her Cape Verdean youth, which combine grotesque figures with a powerful visual language that flirts with the extravagant worlds of fashion and pop culture. Freitas' work, situated at the intersection of dance and theater, is both visually captivating and thematically profound, addressing social issues and offering timely political commentary. Her performances are characterized by a unique blend of slapstick and serious undertones, with music playing a prominent role.
Born in Cape Verde, she was a co-founder of the dance group Compass and studied at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, the Escola Superior de Dança, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. As a co-founder of P.OR.K., a production organization based in Lisbon, she has revitalized theatricality in dance. In recent years, she has transitioned to larger venues, where she often appears on stage as part of her performances, which always begin with an image that she envisions in her mind.
Freitas collaborates with a diverse group of creators from around the world, giving her work a dynamic and innovative quality that challenges and inspires audiences.
photo ©Bea Borgers
Brandhaarden
Brandhaarden is an international theatre festival that brings performances from notable foreign theatre makers to Amsterdam. The festival provides a unique overview of a single creator, house, writer, region, or theme. In previous editions, we highlighted directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau, and the collective Rimini Protokoll, writer Édouard Louis, the Southern European region (Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece), and city theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin, and Peter Brooks Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.
Credits
Choreograhpy Marlene Monteiro Freitas
With Andreas Merk, Henri “Cookie” Lesguillier, Cláudio Silva, Flora Détraz,
Gonçalo Marques, Hsin-Yi Hsiang, Johannes Krieger, Lander Patrick,
Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Micael Pereira, Miguel Filipe, Tomás Moital, Yaw
Tembe
Light and scenography Yannick Fouassier
Costumes Marlene Monteiro Freitas with the support of Andreas Merk and
Yannick Fouassier
Sound Tiago Cerqueira
Stools João Francisco Figueira, Luís Miguel Figueira
Stage management André Calado
Research Marlene Monteiro Freitas, João Francisco Figueira
-|-Production P.OR.K – Soraia Gonçalves, Joana Costa Santos (Lisbon, PT)
Distribution Key Performance (Stockholm, SE)
Co-production Teatro Nacional D. Maria II (Lisbon, PT);
Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, BE), Steirischer herbst Festival (Graz, AT) & Alkantara (Lisbon, PT) with the support of the NXTSTP- Culture Programme of the European Union; NorrlandsOperan (Umeå, SE); Festival Montpellier Danse 2017 (Montpellier, FR); Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy (Annecy, FR) & La Bâtie-Festival de Genève (Geneva, CH) within FEDER fund for Interreg France-Suisse 2014-2020; Teatro Municipal do Porto (Porto, PT); Le Cuvier – Centre de Développement Chorégraphique (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, FR); HAU
Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin, DE); International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg, DE); Athens and Epidaurus Festival (Athens, GR); Münchner Kammerspiele (Munich, DE), Kurtheater Baden (Baden, CH); SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht, NL); Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich, CH); Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national (Montreuil, FR); Les Spectacles Vivants / Centre Pompidou (Paris, FR)
