W: Staged concert for robotic orchestra and puppets
A co-creation of Sonoscopia and Teatro de Ferro

W is a staged concert for puppets, robotic orchestra and video that departs from the theme of work, human liberation and the logic of power, subjugation and domination initiated with the development of Phobos – Dysfunctional Robotic Orchestra. These issues, exposed in a subliminal and essentially musical way in Phobos’ original conception, now move to a clear dramaturgical level and are reinforced by the text, gesture, body, video and scenic space that highlights all the developed sound elements.

W is the physical symbol of the work and this staged concert is itself the result of thousands of hours of work. But what is work anyway?
The play traverses a diversity of places and imaginaries where this strange form of life thrives, simultaneously liberating and oppressive, which has transformed the world into a large shipyard, a large shopping centre.

Somewhere between the expulsion from the earthly paradise, from which we began to eat bread made with the sweat of our brows, and the hegemony of the neoliberal paradigm – in which sweat, bread or face are mere assets that each individual entrepreneur may or may not access – there is a place to look. W!

Project conception and management: Gustavo Costa
Staging, Scenography and Dramaturgy – Igor Gandra
Plastic Realization and Construction – Eduardo Mendes
Light design: Mariana Figueroa
Composition and musical direction: Gustavo Costa
Interpretation: Adriana Romero, Alberto Lopes, Carla Veloso, Eduardo Mendes, Gustavo Costa, Henrique Fernandes, Igor Gandra, Jorge Quintela and Tiago Ângelo
Support for electronics and programming: Tiago Ângelo
Instrument building: Alberto Lopes, Henrique Fernandes and Gustavo Costa
Video: Jorge Quintela
Construction of the scenography, puppets and props: Eduardo Mendes, Hernâni Miranda, Gonçalo Silva (trainee at the Professional School of the Campanhã Youth Center), Solveig Phyllis Rocher, Américo Castanheira
Executive Production: Carla Veloso and Patrícia Caveiro
Production support: Catarina Lopes
Production: Sonoscopy and Teatro de Ferro
Co-production: Teatro Municipal do Porto
Partnership: 23 Miles
Project supported by the Portuguese Republic – Culture/Direção-Geral das Artes.
Acknowledgements: Hugo de Almeida Pinho, Regina Guimarães