The habit and the standard force us to wait until the theatre’s doors are open, at the beginning of each show, so that we can sit in the audience to look at the stage. It tends to be a two-dimensional path and a unilateral perspective. But what if the stage is any floor we step on and the actors are found among us? We are taken by the distress of not knowing where to put our own feet. However, since we were indeed in a theatre, they quickly started to be led by something like a mermaid melody. Or is it the unexpected Tinker Bell the one taking us to the Neverland? As she flies, the course quickly ceases to be two-dimensional. The ground takes several different directions and the space starts to metamorphose itself like in Relativity (1953) of Escher, as if we were going through a full-scale cut that got dislodged from the main building after an explosion. Taken by “a rhapsodic journey through the territories that defines the theatre as a scenic, sociological and architectural space,” we, little by little, start to get acquainted with its entrails, as if we were inhabiting a huge beast in a digestive process.

From 29 to 31 May, at 7:00 pm, Gustavo Ciríaco allows us to discover Teatro Nacional D. Maria II Cortado por todos os lados, aberto por todos os cantos [Cut by all sides, open by all corners], leading us to explore its hidden spots and demystify the often-rigid boundaries between architecture, theatre and city.

Cortado por todos os lados, aberto por todos os cantos is part of the Alkantara Festival, present in Lisbon until 9 June, as pointed out by the online program.