CATTIVO
CATTIVO, an installation made up of hundreds of music stands, brings a community of a highly musical kind to the stage. Through a staging that resembles an intense soundscape, the objects become subjects. This allows Marlene Monteiro Freitas to affirm her unbounded musicality.
Festival Brandhaarden
Continuously accessible between 12:00 and 20:00
CATTIVO
In CATTIVO, Marlene Monteiro Freitas transforms the music stands into more than just supportive objects. Following her earlier experiments with these elements in Bacchae - Prelude to a Purge (2017), the music stands now take on a central role. Commissioned by BoCA and presented worldwide in 2019, the installation combines various interconnected forms and dimensions, evoking the likeness of puppets. These stands serve as expandable bodies that not only carry sheet music but also express emotions and make their own choices. -|- The installation creates a symphonic community where different instruments, rhythms, and melodies come together. With their human-like characteristics, the stands take on a life of their own, functioning as a stage, garden, or dollhouse. Freitas challenges the audience to view these objects as lively beings capable of expression and interaction. CATTIVO explores the boundaries of animal, plant, and fantasy worlds, offering a unique experience that invites reflection on the underlying themes of creation, connection, and the multifaceted nature of human experience.
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
Team André Calado, Andreas Merk, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Miguel Figueira, Tiago Cerqueira, Yannick Fouassier
Production P.OR.K – Soraia Gonçalves, Joana Costa Santos (Lisbon); BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts (Lisbon)
Distribution Key Performance (Stockholm)
Coproduction Teatro Nacional São João (Porto, PT); São Luiz Teatro Municipal (Lisbon)
Acknowledgements Alexandre Mota, Armindo Neves Ruivo ANR, Auto Coelho, Berto Pinheiro, Bruno Leonel Marques, Cláudio Silva (Salpinxancient greek trumpet), Eurico Gonçalves, Gliding Barnacles, Jorge Gomes, José Capote, Lourenço e Letra, Márcio Oliveira.
