The 33rd Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be held from 28 April to 28 May. Since the first day of ticket sales, tickets for a number of programmes have been highly sought after. Considering the enthusiastic response from the public, a total of two additional performances of the paper puppet theatre Paperbelle will be held at 5pm on 13 and 14 May. Tickets for the additional performances will be on sale simultaneously through the Macau Ticketing Network outlets, telephone and online booking from 10am on 19 April.
The MAF has attached great importance to accompanying children in their growth over the years. The programme Paperbelle, created in the United Kingdom, has been staged across the world and toured around Mainland China in over 100 performances. Transforming a small theatre into a cardboard house, Frozen Charlotte Productions and The A.S.K. jointly present a minimalist yet highly imaginative play, which is sure to blow young children’s minds.
This edition of the MAF also offers a number of programmes for families. Dedicated to babies and toddlers and themed around marine protection, an immersive interactive performance The Ocean by DKS Shanghai features a combination of excerpts from well-known classical music pieces and original works, allowing adults and children to engage in interactive games, explore the colourful marine world along with musical notes and listen to the thoughts of sea creatures. Following the programme On the Other Side of Macao – A Magical Adventure presented at the 31st MAF, local video artist Bernardo Amorim will once again present a family programme On This Side of Macao – The Quest for Verónica in the MAF. In the production, the hard-concrete buildings will become characters with rich personalities, embark on a new journey to look for their friend Verónica and explore a broader world. A mysterious character will be staged, lighting up the journey with joy. The programme is available in Cantonese and Portuguese.
In addition, the national-class theatre company Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and a Greek-based production team will jointly present the play Electra, which received numerous awards since its premiere in 2018. Directed by revival director Huang Fangling, the production presents a story of vengeance and justice with impressive effects through the finest theatre arts and stagecraft in the MAF. Combining traditional Cantonese opera techniques and contemporary stage design, the Experimental Cantonese Opera Farewell My Concubine (new adaptation) produced by the Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, reinterprets the legendary story of the downfall of Xiang Yu, the self-proclaimed “Overlord of Western Chu”, injecting innovative elements into a traditional opera.
Marking their 30th anniversary this year, the Dóci Papiaçám di Macau Drama Group will bring the Festival to a close with the Patuá theatre play Carnavaland. On the same occasion, the “Doci Papiaçám di Macau - 30 Years of Multiculturalism on Stage: A Photographic Exhibition” will be inaugurated, inviting the public to savour the vitality of this item of national intangible cultural heritage from multiple perspectives in the new era. Moreover, resident director of the Dream Theater Association, Cheong Kin I, has constructed the quasi-documentary play The Dress Looks Nice on You based on interviews with psychotic individuals to explore their unusual perceptual world.
For more information about the programmes, ticket purchase and other discounts, please visit the Festival’s website (www.icm.gov.mo/fam), follow the respective page on Facebook (search “Macao Arts Festival”), or subscribe to IC’s official WeChat account (“IC_Art_Macao”). Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555; ticketing website: www.macauticket.com.