Os Protegidos

by Elfriede Jelinek
translation and dramaturgy by Anabela Mendes
artistic direction by Pedro Alves
original music by Maria da Rocha
 PREMIERE
November 16, 2023 in Theatro Circo, Braga

CO-PRODUCTION
teatromosca, Theatro Circo, Colectivo Glovo

THE PERFORMANCE

“Os Protegidos”, an unpublished text by Elfriede Jelinek, based on a real event — the
presence in Austrian territory, in late 2012, of about 100 refugees of various
nationalities and in search of asylum —, deals with the negligent, cowardly and
inadmissible way in which the Austrian State chose to treat this tragic occurrence, and
the immediate and simultaneous rage of extreme right-wing groups regarding the
presence in Vienna of this group of foreigners. The text has been revised by the author,
trying, in a way, to expand the subject of the play towards other times in the History of
Humanity, creating new possibilities of articulation with the present matter. The
reflective character of the whole seems to support the idea that humanity changes little
or not at all and does not learn from its own mistakes. Essentially, the author exposes
the corrupting processes used by the world's powerful in order to use their influence on
others to achieve benefits they would not otherwise have.

The performance is based on this text by the acclaimed Austrian author, translated by
Anabela Mendes, who also takes on the role of dramaturgist in this project, directed by
Pedro Alves and original music, performed live by violinist Maria da Rocha. The work is
based both on language and on the deconstruction of the conventions of drama (the
unity of time, place, action, the fable, the characters, the dialogue, etc.), creating instead
a kind of orchestration of voices, privileging rhythms and musical sonority games and in
which language enters the scene as a “text surface”, following some notions of
Lehmann's post-dramatic theatre, as well as reflecting on the diversity of points of view
or discursive styles in the same language, text, or utterance proposed by Mikhail
Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva's definition of the word “chora” or the theory of presence
defended by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, exposing, in a very clear way, a set of fracturing
political issues that overshadow contemporary societies.

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CREDITS

Text Elfriede Jelinek | Translation and dramaturgy Anabela Mendes | Artistic direction
Pedro Alves | Cast Philippe Araújo, Cirila Bossuet, Rafael Barreto and João Pedro Leal
and (actress to be named) | Original music Maria da Rocha | Set Design Pedro Silva |
Costume design Catarina Graça | Movement director Esther Latorre and Hugo Pereira |
Vocal director João Henriques | Technical supervision and lighting design Carlos Arroja
| Lighting and sound technician Diogo Graça | Production manager Inês Oliveira |
Directing assistant Maria Carneiro and Milene Fialho | Photography and executive
producer Catarina Lobo | Production teatromosca | Co-production Theatro Circo,
Colectivo Glovo

Running time Approx. | 180 minutes

THE WRITER

Elfriede Jelinek was born in 1946 in Mürzzuschlag in Austria. In 2004, she received the
Nobel Prize for Literature. She studied music at the Conservatory, theatre, and art
history at the University of Vienna. Her extensive work included novels, plays, poetry,
and essays. Her work is characterized as brilliant and controversial. She uses language as
a structural interaction in addressing themes such as pop culture, gender oppression,
female sexuality, economic exploitation, nationalisms, in a tradition of other Austrian
writers such as Karl Kraus or Thomas Bernhardt. Her book The Piano Teacher was
adapted into a film by Michael Haneke, starring the actress Isabelle Huppert. Her
website is an impressive repository of her work. In 2022, she wrote “Ukraine”, a letter to
the Russians.

THE TRANSLATOR

Anabela Mendes (1951) is a Germanist and a retired professor at the School of Arts and
Humanities from Universidade de Lisboa. As of 2018 she became an independent
researcher. She develops her scientific and essayistic activity in the areas of Germanic
Studies, Aesthetics, and Philosophy of Art, Science and Art, Radio Dramaturgy Theory
and, Performing Arts, Long Distance Travel. She is a literary translator and dramaturgist.
She has created artistic and cultural projects in Lisbon, Berlin, Panjim (India) and the
Azores. She has recently carried out, with other researchers and as an autonomous
project, the 2nd phase of action, dedicated to the study of arts and culture in the Bijagós
Archipelago (Guinea-Bissau). It is called the project Bijagós: An ethnicity of homeostatic
living. She has worked as a translator and dramaturgist with Luís Miguel Cintra, Ricardo
Pais, João Brites, Rogério de Carvalho, Sandra Hung, among others. As a translator,
dramaturgist, and theatre director she highlights the projects O Contrabaixo by Patrick

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 Süsskind, ACARTE,
1989; No Alvo by Thomas Bernhard, staged reading with actors Eunice

Muñoz, João Perry and Lúcia Maria, TNDMII, 1990; Wassily Kandinsky's Noite e o Som
Amarelo, CCB, Pequeno Auditório, 2003. She has an extensive published essayistic work,
from which stand out: Elfriede Jelinek, A Morte e a Donzela I / V — Dramas de
Princesas, preface and translation by Anabela Mendes, Lisboa: Teodolito/Edições
Afrontamento, 2019; O giz, o linóleo e a parede - breves considerações sobre uma
cartografia do salto in Elfriede Jelinek's A Parede in: Rui Pina Coelho (Dir. ), Sinais de
Cena - Revista de Estudos de Teatro e Artes Performativas, série II, nº 5, April 2021,
Lisboa: Orfeu Negro; Da intransparência do ser e de como ele desoculta. O batimento
cardíaco em Elfriede Jelinek, essay, in: Amândio Reis (ed.), Literatura e Loucura, Centro
de Estudos Comparatistas, FLUL (in issue).

THEATRE DIRECTOR

Pedro Alves was born in Sintra, in 1979. Co-founder and artistic director of teatromosca,
where he has worked as an actor, director, and producer. He has a degree in Artistic
Studies, in the variant of performing arts, and a Master in Theatre Studies from the
School of Arts and Humanities from Universidade de Lisboa. He has attended training
courses in the areas of cultural management, production, directing, project
management and human resources and socio-cultural animation, among others. He
attended training courses for actors directed by João de Mello Alvim, João Miguel
Rodrigues and Adolfo Simón. As an actor, he participated in shows with texts by Eric
Bogosian, Eça Leal, Sófocles, Stig Dagerman, Lorca, Fernando Sousa, Jean Genet, Oscar
Wilde, among others, directed by Nuno Pinto, Antonino Solmer, Filomena Oliveira, João
de Mello Alvim, Mário Trigo, Rui Mário, Paulo Campos dos Reis, João Miguel Rodrigues
and Adolfo Simón, in the Teatro de Sintra Company, Dante - Compañia de Teatro de
Madrid, Teatro TapaFuros, teatromosca, Teatro Focus etc. He worked with the
choreographers Carla Sampaio, Daniel Cardoso and Célia Alturas. He worked as trainer
and director of the Theatre Group of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Universidade de Lisboa.
He collaborated with Quorum Ballet in several shows as dramaturgist and artistic
director. At teatromosca he directed, among others, “Dog Art”, “Kip”, “As Três Vidas de
Lucie Cabrol”, “Europa”, “Tróia”, “Moby-Dick”, “O Som e a Fúria”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “Kif-
Kif” and the project “MODOS DE VER”. In 2021, he wrote and directed the show
“Maridos” from the film “Husbands” by John Cassavetes.

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About teatromosca

“(…) one of the most interesting, honest and original Portuguese theatre groups.”
in Expresso (weekly newspaper)

teatromosca is a theatre company founded in Sintra, Portugal, in 1999. It has produced

performance with texts written by Eric Bogosian, John Berger, Samuel Beckett, Francisco
Luís Parreira, Gil Vicente, Gao Xingjian, Sharman Macdonald, Jaime Rocha, among
others. It has co-produced projects with Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval, Theatro Circo de
Braga, Casa Conveniente, CAPa, Fundação Cultursintra, Lugar Comum, Festival de Sintra,
Théâtre de la Tête Noire, and others. Recently, it produced the Trilogia Norte-Americana
/ North American Trilogy, adapting to the stage three of the most influential North
American novels (“Moby-Dick”; “The Sound and the Fury”; “Fahrenheit 451”), the
audiowalk project “MODOS DE VER: _ _ _ / WAYS OF SEEING:_ _ _” , the performance
“Anónimo”, by Jorge Palinhos, “O Triunfo das Porcas”, based on the book “Animal Farm”
by George Orwell, or “O Deus das Moscas”, adapted from the novel “Lord of the Flies”
by William Goldin, with the artistic direction of Pedro Alves. In 2019, it premiered the
show “NED KELLY”, created by Pedro Alves. Since 2015, it has been collaborating
regularly with the French company Théâtre de la Tête Noire, directed by Patrice
Douchet, in co-productions and exchanges.
It is the company’s goal to guarantee collaborations with similar artistic and cultural
organisations, as well with other institutions of different nature, established locally,
nationally and internationally. teatromosca has sought to diversify and consolidate this
network, involving partners and co-producers during the project creation process
through their participation in different phases. While seeking to serve a national and
international circuit of project exchanges, the company intends to bring to Sintra other
works and organisations with which it has crossed paths, with whom it has collaborated
or with whom it has artistic affinities. Since 2017, it has been responsible for the
management and programming of the AMAS – Auditório Municipal António Silva
(Municipal Auditorium) in Cacém, a venue with capacity for 188 spectators.
Among other projects, the company organises the annual MUSCARIUM - performing arts
festival in Sintra, tutors the Duas Senas theatre group in partnership with CECD –
Cooperativa para a Inclusão de Mira Sintra, and has a publishing project, moscaMORTA,
which annually promotes the publication of original dramatic texts by young Portuguese
playwrights or other texts related to the performing arts.

TO CONTACT US
teatromosca
AMAS - Auditório Municipal António Silva
Shopping do Cacém
Rua Coração de Maria, nº1
2735-470 Cacém

Website| www.teatromosca.com

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