I said, are you ready to laugh? A collaboration with mala voadora Written by Deborah Pearson Translated into Portuguese by Marco Mendonca Directed by Jorge Andrade Set design by Jose Capela MON€Y was the result of a long residency with mala voadora, a Portuguese performance collaboration between director Jorge Andrade and architect Jose Capela. Mala voadora asked me to make a piece about money to accompany DINHEIRO, Jorge's script that year. The result took the form of a sitcom taping in front of a live studio audience. The audience were told when to laugh and when to feel, with director Jorge Andrade playing the "warm up comedian," pointing out that the canned laughter we could hear were recordings from the 1950s of people who are now dead. The sitcom itself cycled through stock characters and low stakes conflicts right up until someone mentioned money. At that point meta fictions, storylines and the set itself collapsed in on themselves, giving way to outsourcing, automated labour, fracking a kitchen sink, and a screenwriter who paid the technicians to turn all the lights out so we could finally take comfort in watching the shadows on the wall. In short, it was bananas. And I am really proud of it. Past Performance Dates: Teatro Mala Voadora in Porto from September 1st - 20th, 2019 Teatro Nacional Donna Maria II in Lisbon from October 17th - November 3rd If you would like to read the English script for MONEY, please use the contact link on the website to enquire. https://youtu.be/ugz9y5NEjTc
Deborah Pearson 