Marlene Monteiro Freitas

NÔT

Dates:

Fri 20.02.26

20:00

Sat 21.02.26

20:00

On-Site Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible
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Accessible Services

Content Notes
Sensory Stimuli
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Duration

1h 30min

Sensory stimuli & Content notes

High volume, use of strobe light, stage fog, interaction with the audience, choking sounds and use of artificial blood

After show talk

The performance on Friday, February 20 will be followed by an after show talk with Marlene Monteiro Freitas and Alexandra Balona. On site, the publication Troubling the Stage: The Choreographic Work of Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Lenz Press, 2025) by Alexandra Balona will also be available for purchase.

A scene from NÔT: Two performers sitting between two beds on a dark stage. The performer on the left is masked and dressed in white. A cup can be seen in one hand, the left hand is raised in the air. Next to them is a small person with their head thrown back, blowing water into the air. In the background are three musicians dressed in black, standing in front of a grid wall with spotlights visible.

1 / 5 © Fabian Hammerl

In her new work ›NÔT‹ - after the Cape Verdean Creolean term for ›night‹ - Marlene Monteiro Freitas takes the audience to an enchanted place where art becomes a tool for survival. 

Inspired by the fairy tales of 1001 Nights, she deliberately breaks with classic narrative styles and translates the energy of the constantly interrupted, interwoven sequence of stories into movement. She transforms the stage into a space in which opposites collide: life and death, vice and virtue, dream and reality. Masks resembling those in the Cape Verdean carnival, mechanical movements and live percussion all combine to produce a unique performance with a haunting aesthetic. 

Marlene Monteiro Freitas, who, together with Florentina Holzinger, will take on the artistic co-direction Berlin's Volksbühne in 2026, is famous for her works, which are as rigorously formal as they are expressive and for which she has received the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale, among other awards.

Choreography Marlene Monteiro Freitas Assistant Choreography 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 Light, Technical Management Yannick Fouassier Costume MMF, Marisa Escaleira Sound Rui Antunes Stage management Ana Luísa Novais Special Space Props Cláudio Silva Set Design Internship Emma Ait-Kaci Artistic Consultancy João Figueira, Martin Valdés-Stauber Production P.OR.K

Coproduction Festival d’Avignon, Berliner Festspiele, International Summer Festival Kampnagel, MC2: Maison de la Culture de Grenoble - Scène nationale, Le Quartz - Scène Nationale de Brest, La Comédie de Clermont- Ferrand scène nationale, Maison de la danse, Lyon – Pôle européen de creation, La Comédie de Genève & La Bâtie-Festival de Genève, Teatro Municipal do Porto, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, PACT Zollverein Residenzen O Espaço do Tempo, Alkantara, OPART, E.P.E./ESTÚDIOS VICTOR CÓRDON, Onassis AiR, MC2: Maison de la Culture de Grenoble - Scène nationale, International Summer Festival Kampnagel Institutionally supported by Dançando com a Diferença Acknowledgement Carlos Duarte, Atelier MC2 Grenoble The dramaturgical research of NÔT was supported by Onassis AiR in 2025.