In Euripides, delirium, irrationality, hysteria, madness are traversed, from illusion to blindness and from blindness to revelation. Ferocity and the desire for peace, savagery and the aspiration for a simple and peaceful life are articulated. Opposite and contradictory directions, the clash of elements utmost ambiguous, dismembered bodies, social statutes put at strain, faith and beliefs stress tested… Miracles!

This is the moral and aesthetic world that the author invites us to traverse and which we accept, leading us to the depths of the human psyche, under forces beyond reason.

In “Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge”, music, dance and mystery lead us as funambulists over the wire of intensity, in a combat of appearances and dissimulations, polarized between the fields of Apollo and Dionysius.

Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Cape Verde, 1979), studied dance at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), at ESD and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon). She worked with choreographers such as Loïc Touzé, Emmanuelle Huynh, Tânia Carvalho and Boris Charmatz. Among others, her creations include Canine Jaunâtre 3 (2024, for Opéra National de Lyon), LULU (2023, with Theater and der Wien e WienerFestwochen), RI TE (2022; with Israel Galván), ÔSS (2022; for Dançando com a Diferença), the performance Idiota and the exibition X AND (2022; around the painting of Alex Silva), Pierrot Lunaire (2021; with Klangforum Wien and Ingo Metzmacher), Mal-Embriaguez Divina (2020), the installation Cattivo (2019), Canine Jaunâtre 3 (2018; for Batsheva), Bacchae-Prelude to a Purge (2017), Jaguar (2015), Of Ivory and Flesh-Statues also suffer (2014), Paradise-Private collection (2012), (M)imosa (2011; with Trajal Harrell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea), Guintche (2010), A Seriedade do Animal (2009), Uns e Outros (2008), A Improbabilidade da Certeza (2006), Larvar (2006), Primeira Impressão (2005). The common denominator of these works is openness, hybridism, impurity and intensity.

In 2015, in Lisbon, she co-founded, P.OR.K, the structure that since then has been producing her work. In 2017, Jaguar was awarded the SPA prize for choreography and the Cape Verde government distinguished her cultural achievements. In 2018, she was awarded a Silver Lion by the Venice Biennale, in 2020, Bacchae was awarded the Prize for the Best International Performance by Les Prémis de la Critica d’Arts Escèniques of Barcelona, in 2022 she was awarded the Chanel Next Prize and the Evens Arts Prize. Since 2020, she co-curates the project (un)common ground, on the artistic and cultural inscription of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

LIFT, London’s biennial international festival of theatre, has been bringing joyful, daring and unforgettable theatre from around the world to London for over 40 years, using the whole of the city as its stage.

Every two years, LIFT presents a festival full of bold and relevant culture, international perspectives, and thought-provoking performances. Whether it’s a much-loved venue, iconic landmark or unsung corner of London, LIFT gathers Londoners around incredible art.

LIFT’s mission is to create powerful, invigorating experiences that challenge artistic, political and social conventions; to champion artist advancement at home and abroad; to lead sustainable internationalism; and to celebrate and connect London to the world. We engage and create communities around ideas and projects, connect leading artists to locals, connect international artists and local artists to London, and together make incredible art happen.

www.liftfestival.com

Choreography, Costumes, Props & Music Marlene Monteiro Freitas
With Cláudio Silva, Flora Détraz, Gonçalo Marques, Henri “Cookie” Lesguillier, Hsin-Yi Hsiang, Johannes Krieger, Kyle Scheurich, Lander Patrick, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Micael Pereira, Miguel Filipe, Tomás Moital, Yaw Tembe
Light & Space Yannick Fouassier
Stools João Francisco Figueira, Luís Miguel Figueira
Sound Tiago Cerqueira
Stage Manager André Calado
Research MMF, João Francisco Figueira
Production P.OR.K (Lisbon, PT) Carol Goulart, Janine Lages
Distribution Key Performance (Stockholm, SE), Koen Vanhove

Co-production TNDMII (Lisbon, PT); Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, BE), steirischer herbst festival (Graz, AT) & Alkantara (Lisbon, PT) with the support of the NXTSTP- Culture Programme of the European Union; NorrlandsOperan (Umeå, SE); Festival Montpellier Danse 2017 (Montpellier, FR); Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy (Annecy, FR) & La Bâtie-Festival de Genève (Geneva, CH) in the framework of FEDER – programme Interreg France-Suisse 2014-2020; Teatro Municipal do Porto (Porto, PT); Le Cuvier – Centre de Développement Chorégraphique (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, FR); HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin, DE); International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg, DE); Athens and Epidaurus Festival (Athens, GR); Münchner Kammerspiele (Munich, DE), Kurtheater Baden (Baden, CH); SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht, NL); Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich, CH); Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national (Montreuil, FR); Les Spectacles Vivants / Centre Pompidou (Paris, FR)

Residency Support Polo Cultural Gaivotas | Boavista (Lisbon, PT) ; O Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo, PT); Montpellier Danse à l´Agora, cité internationale de la danse ; ICI – centre chorégraphique national Montpellier – Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée / Direction Christian Rizzo – dans le cadre du programme de résidence Par/ICI (Montpellier, FR)

Acknowledgements Cristina Neves; Alain Micas; Bruno Coelho; Christophe Jullian; Louis Le Risbé; Manu Protopopoff; ACCCA – Companhia Clara Andermatt (Lisbon, PT); ESMAE (Lisbon, PT); ESTC (Lisbon, PT)

P.OR.K Associação Cultural is funded by Governo de Portugal – Ministério da Cultura / Direção-Geral das Artes.