From “Once upon a time…” to “…and they lived happily ever after!” there’s a world in watercolours tones we know well even before our first whys. It is with this colour palette that we use to unleash our imagination, magical ingredients to use to our taste that, in our eagerness to learn sciences and letters, we have forgotten. A long long time ago, very far away, in a distant kingdom of a distant land, there are castles with distressed princesses, dungeons which enclose seven-headed dragons and giants with only one eye, tiny houses made of candy, coal mines where only a midget can fit, enchanted forests, fairies with magic wands, witches with cauldrons, and they say we can even find some talking animals for a good conversation…
“Make a Tale” is this colourful imaginary which evades from the plane surface of story books to disturb our routine. The primary audience are the children, those who believe one can be happy forever… But considering streets have no doorways like a fairground to control maximum height, the show has no age limit and enjoys, a lot, this mix of people.
Once upon a time there was an enchanted prince mature enough to get married. A bawl is organized, as usual in the enchanted royal families, pompous and filled with princess candidates. The timely intervention of a fairy (a good one) creates a carriage from a pumpkin and a silk dress from a bunch of old rags. All this plus a pair of beautiful eyes triggers passion in the prince who was supposed to get married. But this enchantments thing is always temporary and later that day, at midnight sharp, silk goes back to rag and carriage to pumpkin…
From the enchantment and the passionate night of dancing there remains, on the long palace staircase, only a little glass slipper. And it is with the little slipper around his waist, embellishing the memory of Cinderella from last night, that the Prince turns to the fairy godmother of the castle. The young man, sure that the beauty he has fallen in love with is nowhere near his kingdom, asks the Fairy to send him far away, where he can seek out more certainty the one he wants to make his princess.
These magical journeys, however, are no better finished product than the enchantments for royal ball, and the young Prince brings Little Red Riding Hood with him by mistake… The little girl, already known to be quite distracted, can’t even tell what’s happening to her, but this time it will be difficult to bring lunch to the granny who lives alone on the other side of the forest.
+INFO
Clube Desportivo da Arregaça | Coimbra
20 December 2003 | 4:00pm
PREMIERE:
Figueira da Foz | Public Promenade
[preview at Figueira da Foz’s Public Promenade on 15 August 2003]
[open rehearsal at Praia de Mira’s Public Promenade on 25 July 2003]
TOUR:
Coimbra | Municipal Culture House
11 December 2003
This is how the audience finds them, each one on his own side: The Prince, eager to find his beloved, tries the glass slipper on all the damsels he meets in the streets, still a little surprised by the height of the houses, the noise of the horseless carriages that give off dark smoke; Little Red Riding Hood, disorientated, completely lost, since the forest that separates her from her grandmother’s house has suddenly changed, the trees are now straight and grey, there are few animals in sight and nothing indicates that the wolf is about to appear.
But among the passing people, Little Red Riding Hood meets Prince Charming, who is trying on the lost slipper on as many feet as he can. Little Red Riding Hood’s curiosity is enough to get her lined up to try on the glass slipper. This meeting of the characters leads to confusion when they realise that they have in common, at least, some coloured cushions that surround their feet, like special shoes to soften the steps of those who leave a room occupied by a child who has just fallen asleep for a good story.
From this meeting until each one clarifies who is who in storytelling, it’s a dwarf’s step, in this case each one becomes a storyteller on his own behalf. Once the introductions are made we have: a Little Red Riding Hood that needs to go back to the forest to win the race against the Wolf to his grandmother’s house and not to hear a scolding from his mother for being late for dinner without fulfilling the mission of bringing the lunch to his grandmother; and a Prince charmed by Cinderella’s beauty that he has to find through a puzzle game that involves fitting the little glass slipper on the right foot.
This story doesn’t seem easy to solve, but in this far away that are our streets the two watercolour characters have everything they need to cook a potion that will take them out of there.
Discussion and Ideas Alexandre Lemos, Ana Val-do-Rio, Mário Montenegro
Cast Alexandre Lemos, Ana Val-do-Rio
Playwright, Direction and Wardrobe Alexandre Lemos, Ana Val-do-Rio
Drawings and Ilustrations Ana Madureira
Stage Photography Francisca Moreira
Hair Design Carlos Gago
Sewing Fátima Lemos
With the Support of
Câmara Municipal de Coimbra
MAFIA – Federação Cultural de Coimbra
Escola Secundária Infanta D. Maria
Ilídio Design
- Productions
- Make a Tale
- Make a Tale (tour)
- Clipping
- "Faz que Conta" [Diário de Coimbra]
- "Faz que Conta" para os mais pequenos [Jornal As Beiras]
- Festa de Natal dos Bairros Municipais [Programa Festa de Natal]
- Festa de Natal dos bairros municipais [Diário de Coimbra]
- Moradores dos bairros camarários de Coimbra fizeram a festa [Público]
- Marionet apresenta teatro para a infância [Jornal A Cabra]
