14 — 17.05
On stage are white fences and unmade beds. Eight performers, at the same time dancers and drummers, bring this strange, frenzied and liberating fable to life. For NÔT – "night" in Cape Verdean Creole – Marlene Monteiro Freitas drew inspiration from the tales of One Thousand and One Nights: stories about love, freedom and war. She uses the ambiguity present in these stories as a creative engine for a performance that once again showcases her unique choreographic style: intense performative presence, powerful aesthetics, grotesque and carnivalesque elements, fragmented movements, nonsensical language.
Monteiro Freitas creates a chaotic world ruled by (patriarchal) terror, in which movements arise from obedience and coercion. For the first time, she works with masks, placing even more emphasis on the expressive physicality of the performers. The overwhelming soundtrack, with live drums, sets the rhythm of the performance and brings even more chaos. NÔT unfolds as an artefact of multiplication, projection, alienation and enchantment. It is a disruptive, explosive, and energetic spectacle, both in form and content. How to survive when you can only rely on yourself? Will we make it through the night?
"Enough to wake the wildest dreams and fantasies", Agnès Izrine, 2025, La Terrasse
"An inventive and delirious envisioning of the Thousand and One Nights.", Fabienne Pascaud, 2025, Télérama
14.05
- 20:00 → 21:30
15.05
- 20:00 → 21:30
- + aftertalk & book presentation "Troubling the Stage" moderated by Alexandra Balona (EN)
16.05
- 20:00 → 21:30
17.05
- 18:00 → 19:30
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Kaaitheater, Théâtre National
Choreography: Marlene Monteiro Freitas | Choreography assistance: Francisco Rolo | With: Ben Green, Henri “Cookie” Lesguillier, Joãozinho da Costa, Mariana Tembe, Marie Albert, Miguel Filipe, Rui Paixão, Tomás Moital | Set design: Yannick Fouassier, MMF | Lights and technical direction: Yannick Fouassier | Costumes: MMF, Marisa Escaleira | Sound: Rui Antunes | Stage management: Ana Luísa Novais | Special stage prop: Cláudio Silva | Set design internship: Emma Ait-Kaci | Artistic consultancy: João Figueira, Martin Valdés-Stauber
Production: P.OR.K | Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Avignon, Berliner Festspiele, Kampnagel International Summer Festival, Culturgest, MC2 - Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, Le Quartz, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, Maison de la danse Lyon, La Villette, La Comédie de Genève & La Bâtie - Festival de Genève, Onassis STEGI, Teatro Municipal do Porto, PACT Zollverein Residencies: O Espaço do Tempo, Alkantara, OPART, E.P.E./ESTÚDIOS VICTOR CÓRDON, Onassis AiR, MC2 - Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, Kampnagel International Summer Festival
Institutional support: Dançando com a Diferença | Acknowledgements: Carlos Duarte, Atelier MC2 Grenoble | The dramaturgical research of NÔT was supported by Onassis AiR in 2025