Christiane Jatahy

In 2022 Christiane Jatahy was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. Her theatrical language is centred on breaking down boundaries: those between actor and character, reality and fiction, present and past. In the 23-24 season, this Brazilian bridge builder will be a guest at DE SINGEL for the third time. 

In Ithaca, the first part of her diptych notre Odyssée, she confronted the 3000-year-old epic about the original refugee Odysseus with the stories of those who are today braving the Mediterranean sea in search of a new home. For this sequel, O Agora que Demora (‘The now that needs time’) Jatahy travelled with a camera team to Palestine, Lebanon, South Africa, Greece and the Amazon. With Homer’s verses as a common thread, the exiles from these fleeing communities speak about their own daily reality. Balancing between film, theatre, reality and fiction, Jatahy succeeds in bringing these invisible people sometimes harrowingly close. The result is a breathtaking theatre performance which uses footage and text to appeal to our compassion, our empathy, and our responsibility.