In a small, exposed corner of the Peninsula, facing the sea... Let no one be fooled. Portugal's exposure to the Atlantic led the country to build a colonial empire that lasted close to five centuries and brought it possessions such as Angola and Mozambique. Put these territories on a map of Europe and you will find they occupy three quarters of the continent. No, Portugal is not a small country or at least it wasn't until the 1970s, when the country’s new authorities from the Carnation Revolution recognised the independence of the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Large numbers of Portuguese nationals had to return home at the end of the colonial period and fascist dictatorship. The testimonies of those Portuguese colonists provide the dramaturgical material for Hotel Europa, which works with autobiographies, family and national stories and verbatim theatre techniques (literal reproductions) to speak to us about colonial empires and dictatorships, based on the Portuguese case. And it gives a voice to those silenced, in an attempt to use theatre as a means of recovering some memories and of transmitting others that also speak to us of cultural identities and how they are constructed.
Hotel Europa is a company formed by André Amálio (Portugal) and Tereza Havlíčková (Czech Republic). They have been developing documentary theatre performances that explore the boundaries between theatre, dance and performance. They use in their work an overlap of autobiographical material, family stories, national histories, testimonies, interviews and historiographical research. They deal with unaddressed issues of the recent past such as Colonialism, Fascism and Communism trying to make a bridge between the past and present. In their performances they also address recent matters such as migration, environmental problems and gentrification. The work of Hotel Europa has been performed in Portugal, Brazil, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A Hotel Europa production.
Supported by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, EGEAC, Largo Residências, Liberdade Provisória and Teatro do Silêncio.
Conceived by: André Amálio Performers: André Amálio, Pedro Salvador Co-directing and choreography: Tereza Havlíčková Music composed by: Pedro Salvador Lighting design: Carlos Arroja Stage design: Pedro Silva
