Teatro Nacional D. Maria II >> salão nobre está também transformado em teatro-estúdio, abrangendo um universo de actividades, saindo mesmo, muitas vezes, das suas vetustas paredes. Explora no presente o Teatro Vilarett, tem um protocolo com o Teatro da Politécnica, onde também estreia os seus espectáculos, faz itinerâncias por todo o país, acolhe festivais nacionais e internacionais, sendo ainda de referir que a sua biblioteca tem um acervo documental fundamental para se fazer a História do Teatro em Portugal. Mas há que não esquecer a sua livraria temática, onde se encontram algumas pérolas do teatro contemporâneo como os textos de Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, ou o Café Garrett a funcionar junto ao foyer do teatro, com uma extensão sob o frontão voltado para o Rossio, uma das explanadas com melhor localização da cidade de Lisboa. Está pois na altura de ir conhecer o Teatro D. Maria II e ver um bom espectáculo.•
The theatre opened to the public on 13th April 1846, the date of the anniversary of the queen it is named after. The acoustics were poor, there was an almighty uproar and the theatre closed the very next day for improve� ments. It reopened several years later to notable suc� cess. Responsibility for running the theatre was placed in private hands by means of a public tender for which theatre companies were invited to bid. Of these, the cel� ebrated Amélia Rey Colaço / Robles Monteiro company ran the theatre for the longest, from 1929 to 1964, dur� ing what was a golden era of magnificent shows that featured prestigious artistes and saw the stage debut of several actors, such as João Mota and Eunice Muñoz, who can still be seen strutting the stage in Portuguese theatres to this day. In late November 1964, the theatre staged Shake� speare’s Macbeth, with Mariana Rey Monteiro in the lead role of Lady Macbeth. A strange superstition, or more appropriately a curse, hangs over theatres that perform this play. In keeping with tradition, one week after the first show, on 1st December, the whole theatre
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burned down except for its outer walls with the loss of he Teatro Nacional D. Maria II has as strange a
Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro stunning paintings. After
history as any building in Lisbon. It was built on
a long drawn out restoration, the theatre reopened in
the ruins of one of the city’s finest buildings, the
1978. Since then, countless plays, by the finest play�
Palácio dos Estáus, which had burnt down and which
wrights of the past and of today, have been performed
had housed the court of the Holy Inquisition.
and staged by the theatre’s magicians.
The liberal revolution and the end of the civil war cre�
Today, Teatro D. Maria II is not merely a concert hall.
ated a climate in Portugal that was conducive to the
Besides its majestic Garrett room, it also has a smaller
development of the arts in general and the theatre in
room, while the great hall has been turned into a thea�
particular. In 1836, by order of Queen D. Maria II, Almei� ������
tre-cum-studio, covering a whole world of activities that
da Garrett was charged with creating a conservatoire
very often burst out from behind its venerable walls. It
for the dramatic arts and also “… without delay, a plan
currently runs the Teatro Vilarett, has an agreement
for the founding and organising of a national theatre,
with the Teatro da Politécnica, where it also performs
which, as a school of good manners, might contribute
its shows, goes on tour all around the country, holds
to the civilisation and moral improvement of the Portu�
national and international festivals, and it should also
guese nation…”. The site chosen for this colossal task
be mentioned that its library has a document archive
was the finest in the city, the northern end of the Praça
that is of fundamental importance for the history of the
D. Pedro IV, Rossio. Designed by Fortunato Lodi with
theatre in Portugal. And its thematic bookshop should
contributions from several artists such as Assis Rod�
not be forgotten, where gems of contemporary thea�
rigues and António Manuel da Fonseca, it was built in a
tre, such as Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s writings, can
Neo-classical style and incorporated into its portal the
be found, or the Café Garrett beside the theatre’s foyer
monumental columns that once lined the facade of the
that extends out under the pediment facing Rossio, one
large convent of São Francisco, where the Faculdade de
of the most perfectly located cafés in Lisbon.
Belas Artes is housed today, and which had collapsed in
Go and discover the Teatro D. Maria II and take the time
the great earthquake of 1755.
to enjoy a good show.•
8 · BAIx a chiado con vida