WAYS OF SEEING: Sintra
Arte Institute suggests “Ways of Seeing: Sintra”, created and produced by teatromosca.
WAYS OF SEEING: Sintra / MODOS DE VER: Sintra
Audio walk for the secret paths of Sintra, the capital of Romanticism
8th of July to 27th of August 2016
Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm
Tickets | Casa das Cenas, Praça da República, 23, Sintra
Price | 10€
Age Clasification | 16
Max. Participants per session | 30
In a time when 20 years have passed since Sintra became part of a World Heritage Site, teatromosca presents the audio walk WAYS OF SEEING: Sintra. Every Friday and Saturday, from July 8th to August 27th, a group of spectators will walk through the most emblematic and unknown places of Sintra, for 3 hours, starting at 7pm. An original soundtrack along the way will guide each group, each person using an MP3 player and headphones provided by teatromosca.
This is the final part of an investigation on the theme Theatre and Literature, one the company has been developing for some years. The performance leaves the conventional stage behind and loses its actors and set, finds itself on the street, in places and non-places of the city. It is a theatre of flânerie, a theatre of closeness in which a soundtrack overwhelms the spectator’s experience. This new creation is takes the audio as a dramaturgical element; the place in question, Sintra and the agency of the spectator-actor as a conveyor of performance. The performance takes the idea of the spectator-reader, now spectator-reader- writer from their previous project, the North-American Trilogy.
The Audio walk is underlined by an epistolary tone. The idea of writing letters as a
recording strategy, as an exercise of perpetuation on the personal and intimate memory, is very well present on the company’s demand for this project. Writing letters as action, as a mean to travel, search, enunciation or as an answer – Writing is the definite exercise of thinking and interpretation, making sense out of sensory experiences, trips or encounters. French historian and philosopher Michel de Certeau describes the act of writing as a progressive and itinerant practice… A stroll!. Following the premises of a documental theatre, the company starts from an archive full of letters, postcards, photographs, objects and memorabilia…
Allied to movement and the walker’s state of spirit, the soundscape demands the search for other ways to see – after John Berger’s essay that, in a gesture of homage, this project gains its title. Thanks to sound, the visual perception of the landscape is altered. The spectator becomes more aware of herself/himself, his/her surroundings, his/her relationship with others and the landscape. The use of headphones amplifies the hearing experience and, at the same time, protects one from outside noise. The soundscape then assumes the role of mediator with our experience of the outside world as the perception of the exterior gains features of traveling cinematography, ideal to read the city.
Practical Information
Each spectator will be given a kit with an MP3 player and a set of headphones (the soundtracks will be operated by the spectator himself/helself), a notebook with pieces of information about the performance, a map with the locations to be visited, a pencil and a flashlight will be included in the kit. The performance/audio walk will last approximately 3 hours and will be available both in portuguese and in english. It is best to book the tickets at least 24 hours in advance. The audio walk is limited to 30 people per session.
The difficulty level is moderate and the performance will not be cancelled or postponed due to bad weather conditions. It is recommended the use of comfortable clothing. Each participant should bring a bottle of water and a little snack. During the audio walk, no cell phones or cameras will be allowed.