In 2024, around 60 immigrants, mainly from Bangladesh, were forced to stand against a wall with their hands on their heads for two hours. Images of the incident, which took place on Rua do Benformoso in Lisbon, went viral and sparked public debate about the legitimacy of the action and the exposure of people with no criminal record.
At around the same time, Marco Martins was considering adapting Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which focuses on the conflict between the individual and the collective. The play proposed by Marco Martins and presented in 2025 is based on the testimonies and biographies of these immigrants, who are now involved in the cast.
On the afternoon of 13 December, the director joins the conversation with Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida as part of the Contexto cycle.
Direction and dramaturgy: Marco Martins / Text: Marco Martins, based on testimonies from the entire cast, research by Joana Pereira Bastos and Raquel Moleiro, and works by Henrik Ibsen, Thomas Ostermeier, Florian Borchmeyer, Elias Canetti, Georges Didi-Huberman, Roger Caillois, Hannah Arendt, Cesare Pavese, Hein de Haas, Claire Touzard, Adília Lopes, Robert Peckham / Journalistic research: Joana Pereira Bastos and Raquel Moleiro / With Amin Nurul, Dil Bahadur Ale, Janit Fernandes, Kamal Chowdhury, Kamal Sardar, Niraj Khadka, Rajib Al Mamun, Sabera Parvin, Sharker Nasrin, Shoehl Rana, Rita Cabaço, and Rodrigo Tomás / Assistant director and dramaturgy support: Rita Quelhas / Textual and dramaturgical support: Matilde Campilho / Direction assistance support: Alexandra Petrovskaya / Music: João Pimenta Gomes and Rabih Beaini / Lighting design: Nuno Meira / Set design: Isabel Cordovil and João Romão (xxxi.studio) / Set construction: Artworks / Sound design: Vítor Santos / Technical direction: Pedro Moreira / Movement: Lua Carreira, Maria Fonseca / Movement workshop: Hugo Marmelada / Sound workshop: João Pimenta Gomes / Casting: José Pires / Photography: Beatriz Banha and André Príncipe / Publication texts: Matilde Campilho, Bárbara Reis, and Marco Martins / Publication design: Atelier Pedro Falcão / Translation: Joana Frazão / Arena administration: Marta Delgado Martins / Production management and direction: Sérgio Azevedo / Executive production: Hugo Alves Caroça / This production is developed with the support of Prospero New platform, co-financed by the European Union’s Creative Europe program / Main co-production: CCB / Co-production: Teatro Municipal do Porto, Theatro Circo | Braga 25 – Portuguese Capital of Culture, Théâtre de Liège – Théâtre d’Europe / Support: Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth and Sport | DGARTES – Directorate-General for the Arts, Goethe-Institut Portugal, Artworks / Promotional support: Antena 1
We are preparing a year-long celebration of national artistic creation, in connection with Europe and with the artists and cultural agents from Braga.
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