© Patrícia Almeida

RUI CATALÃO – Inside words

CCL – Centro Cultural de Lagos
Fri 16 AUG, 18h30

“Character”, in English, can mean both personality, and a portrayal of a person in a work of fiction.
If we imagine a solo titled “My Character”, the conditions are created for a part that may be a psychological portrait in first person (“who I am”), but that also denounces the fictional device (“who I represent”).
In Portuguese, personality and character, as being and acting, are antithetical terms.
The aim of this work is to blend the line that separates them.

Author and Performer: Rui Catalão
Light design: Eduardo Pinto
Photography: Patrícia Almeida
Production: PI – Produções Independentes / Tânia M. Guerreiro
Co-producers: Centro Nacional de Dança de Bucareste (Roménia), Atelier Real, Galeria Zé dos Bois (ZDB) e PerFormas.
Project Financed by Secretaria de Estado da Cultura / DGArtes.

I was born in 1971, Cacém, in the suburbs of Lisbon. Using autobiography, the recent history of my country and an anthropological insight as tools to create fiction, my stage-work deals with memory, chance, fragility, transparence and the way the perception of a given body is affected through storytelling. In the last three years I presented the solos Inside words, Av. Dos Bons Amigos, Goya’s Manifesto, and Melodrama for 2 actors & 1 ghost (Teatro Maria Matos, Lisbon); Untitled, Still Life (with João Galante-Ana Borralho), Domados, ou não (with the students of Balleteatro school).
I also wrote the piece Esther adapted from the old testament (comissioned by Culturgest Panos’ program for juvenile theatre companies). In Romania, where I lived and worked during 2006-2009, I staged the live-movie Atît de frageda and Follow that summer, also presenting two series of improvised work: Acum totsi împreuna and Rui (2008-2009 Centrul National al Dansului Bucuresti). Editor of the book “Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Lisbon” (to be puplished later this year). Critic of literature, I write for the daily Público. Screentwriter of the movies To die like a man (dir. J.P. Rodrigues) and The golden helmet (dir. J. Cramez). Actor in The face you deserve (dir. Miguel Gomes).
As a dramaturgist (and sometimes performer) I worked with the choreographers João Fiadeiro, Miguel Pereira, João Galante-Ana Borralho (Portugal), Eduard Gabia, Mihaela Dancs, Manuel Pelmus, Madalina Dan (Romania), and Brynjar Bandlien (Norway).