Episódios da Vida Selvagem (A Nossa Vida) — Mickaël de Oliveira
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In the near future, after repeated natural catastrophes, the world’s population is reduced to its minimum and its existence is conditioned by extreme climatic conditions. Humanity reorganized itself into small communities that politically constituted into city-states. Episódios da Vida Selvagem covers the daily life of political intervention and decision in a city on the verge of experiencing its last catastrophe: disappearance. On hold, the city is faced with an urgent decision between two proposals for the survival of the community threatened by water scarcity.
Written and directed by Mickael de Oliveira, Episódios da Vida Selvagem consists of two episodes: A Minha Morte, premiered on October 1st, 2022 at TAGV (Coimbra), and A Nossa Vida, which will premiere at Cine Teatro Louletano on the 9th of March 2023. In 2023 and 2024, Episódios da Vida Selvagem will be presented in the co-producing cities of Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Loulé, Lisbon, Porto, Viseu, among others.
A Minha Morte
The first episode places us in a city dependent on scarce water supplies and governed by the house of Paul. On stage, the defender of the exodus proposal denounces the individualism of those who leave the city, the corruption of the new government, the passivity of the population and the absurdity of the winning proposal.
A Nossa Vida
In the second episode, the government discusses the two proposals for the future of the city. Between war or exodus, both options seem to entail high human and moral costs. From technical expositions to the analysis of implications, the political debate reveals family confrontations, personal ambitions and notions of national identity, in a plot and discourse that revisit Greek tragedy.
About Mickaël de Oliveira
Born in France in 1984, Mickaël de Oliveira has a masters in Art Studies by Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra (FLUC) and a PHD in Theatre Studies – Contemporary Dramaturgy – by Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa (FLUL, 2013). He has also developed a post-graduation project about the presence of text in dance and contemporary theatre (FCT, ULisboa, 2016-2022). As a lecturer he has taught Cultural Management at Instituto Politécnico de Leiria and History, Dramaturgy and Theatre Aesthetics in FLUC, ESTC and Universidade Lusófona de Lisboa e do Porto.
In 2009, he co-founded Colectivo 84, to which he serves as artistic director with John Romão, and where his artistic works have come to fruition: “My Death” (2022), “15 Year Party” (2020), “Hantologia” (2019), “Sócrates Must Die” (2017/2018), “The Constitution” (2016) and “Oslo” (2015). In Portugal, his shows have been at Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II, Teatro Nacional São João, Teatro Viriato, Teatro São Luiz and Teatro Académico de Coimbra, amongst many others. Internationally, his works have been performed at la Mousson d’Été festival (France), Théâtre de Liège and KVS (Belgium) Teatro Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain), and others.
He has won several awards, including the Maria Matos New Dramaturgy Award (2007, Maria Matos Teatro Municipal, Lisbon), and Honorable Mention of the António José da Silva Award (Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II / FUNARTE, Brasil) and Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores (SPA). Most of Mickaël’s works can be found in volumes of his “Complete Works”, published by Editora Húmus (Volume I, 2015 and Volume II, 2022).
Mickaël is also the artistic director of END festival, a festival that promotes playwriting and dramaturgy in the context of the performing arts since 2010, having already had five editions. He was co-director of Teatro Académico Gil Vicente, in Coimbra, between 2011 and 2015, where he was in charge of programming. In 2021 he was also an associate artist at Teatro Viriato.
