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The Critics School: Theatre Criticism Seminar

The Critics School happened in the city of Guarda and in the village of Vela between December 9 and 14. This initiative was organised by the Guarda International Dramaturgy Center at the Guarda Municipal Theater. It brought together critics, writers, students and translators to reflect on critical thinking in the art, media and academic fields. CID intends to think about dramaturgy and its production through the relationship between the Portuguese artistic universes and those of the cities of New York and Oslo.

Marcos Barbosa, CID’s artistic director, says that this project wants to become the home of writing for theatre in Portugal. The Critics School wants to answer this idea: establish a space for reflection where critics and dramaturgy communicate. The artistic production in Portugal and its critics have a common problem: there’s little room, the market is small. Due to this narrowness (and many other things), there are no material conditions that allow us to find a broad artistic and cultural fabric, with multiple players. How to face this reality? How can we organise ourselves to create more (and new) space(s)? These were some of the questions that surfaced during the event’s lectures/talks. The internal and existential reflection about what criticism is, what it is for, what its place and importance are, were a reason for conversation and discussion. Debating these subjects is essential so that criticism does not stagnate. From the moment we stop problematizing and questioning the way we do criticism, we simply leave it in a drawer, overlooked and sealed, just fodder for a bourgeois and pedantic culture. The Critics School happens in Guarda and that matters in the fight for the decentralization of culture in Portugal. More cities must assert themselves artistically in this country. CID should be praised and seen as an example.

These and other ideas were discussed in lectures/talks led by Rui Pina Coelho — professor at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, researcher at the Centre for Theatre Research of the School of Humanities at the University of Lisbon, director of the magazine Sinais de Cena and a playwright with several published works — and Francesca Rayner — assistant professor at the University of Minho and director of the Degree in Theatre and Performance. In addition to the lectures/talks, the Critics School programme had plays, in particular the premiere of Coveiros by Escola do Largo, Teleculinária, Leitura Cornucópia, Has the American Dream Been Achieved at the Expense of the American Negro?, The Future Show and Infausto by the company Mala Voadora, and Ouro Negro by the company Gambozinos and Peobardes — Grupo de Teatro da Vela.

Rodrigo Fonseca (1995, Sintra). He studied at António Arroio, has a degree in History of Art and a master in Performing Arts from FCSH/UNL. He was co-founder of the publishing house CusCus Discus and of the festival Dia Aberto às Artes. Besides Umbigo magazine, he writes music criticism for Rimas e Batidas. He is a sound technician specialized in concerts and shows and resident artist at the cultural association DARC.

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