National Theatre São João concludes centennial celebration with online programming

The celebrations that mark the centennial anniversary of National Theatre São João (TNSJ) conclude on 6th and 7th March. The Theatre’s head office takes to the online stage “Waiting for Godot (En attendant Godot), a play by Samuel Beckett. Also, there will be talks, interviews, documentaries and other performances featured during these next two days.

“Theatre begins every day and every evening”, as stated by TNSJ’s news release, with activities kicking off this Saturday, 6th March, at 6 pm, with a talk on the performance “Exatamente Antunes”, by Jacinto Lucas Pires. In addition, there will be time to watch anew the said show, which is based on the novel “Nome de Guerra”, by Almada Negreiros, with a special broadcasting on RTP2.

Beckett’s milestone play “Waiting for Godot” is included in the programming and will let audiences in the apparently meaningless repetitive plot and dialogue between two characters – Vladamir and Estragon – who seem to be waiting for someone or something. This analogy has never been so accurate at times when we all are waiting for the pandemic to end, while we try to make sense of the meaning and meaninglessness of life. Take time to discover this literary milestone, by Beckett, and adapted to the stage by Gábor Tompa, the Romanian stage director who takes on the original screenplay, but concludes the performance with a choir by Fernando Lopes-Graça. “I wanted to expand a bit this play and to include a Portuguese song (…) There are so many miracles happening around us and we do not pay attention: a tree that becomes green, the way that music and art touch people”, Gábor Tompa stated in the news release.

On Sunday, at 8 am, follow Luís Porto in a documentary that presents the centennial building of TNSJ; then, at 10 am, there is a concert- conference on a creation by António Jorge Gonçalves and Flávio Almada on graffiti, themed “Válvula”. And because good things come in small packages, time to celebrate Christmas, at 4 pm, on 7th March, with three very dysfunctional couples and three Xmas meals performing “Comédia de Bastidores”. Celebrations conclude with the performance “O Balcão”, at 10 pm, by Jean Genet, staged last year, for the first time, by Nuno Cardoso, TNSJ’s stage director.

The good news is that celebrations will extend throughout 2021, featuring one exhibition, an international conference and the launch of several books of the “Cadernos do Centenário”.

TNSJ in-house production is delivered by resident actors that will conclude the celebration of the 100th anniversary of São João National theatre, scheduled to happen on 7th March, at 7 pm in the theatre’s online stage, with live broadcasting by Luís Porto. A little earlier the same day, Gábor Tompa’s interview is streamed by São João social media, at 12 noon.

Each show costs 2 euros. See here the full programming and tickets information.