Topografia do Sonho

Topografia do Sonho is a show based on the life stories, concerns and passions of a group of teenagers from Montalegre. An integral part of the project Rota do Sentir, it stands as a manifesto of youthful malaise, exploring the profound tension between becoming an adolescent (what one wants to be) and duty (what society demands), or the latent depression that arises from the clash between desire and effectiveness.

Inspired by the landscape of the Peneda-Gerês and Montesinho Natural Parks, the project explores, as its aesthetic and dramaturgical axis, the relationship between two forms of nature: the ‘natural’ – green, earthy and scenic – and human nature, particularly during adolescence, a time of pivotal choices that shape not only each individual’s career but also the labour and cultural fabric of future society — what do we want to be?

This analogy between two forms of nature — the natural and the human — is the main driving force behind the creation of this production, and will permeate all aspects of the research and creative process for Topografia do Sonho, from the script through to the set design, video and sound.

This show is not intended solely for a young audience. We want it to hold up a mirror to the adults who are currently shaping the world – a world that today’s teenagers are set to inherit. The figure of the parents is a constant, implicit presence: they are the visible face of a schematic reality that is, in part, already a thing of the past. The aim is for the show to strike a chord with audiences aged between 16 and 60. By drawing on the family home and school as settings for action, we question the right balance in our adaptation to reality. It is at this crossroads that this project operates, searching between the desire to belong and the need to escape for a possible answer to the natural and original mystery: that of existence.