M de Manifesto is a multidisciplinary work that draws on real-life stories to reflect on what it means to be a woman. Like other productions by the Companhia de Música Teatral (CMT), M de Manifesto continues to explore everyday philosophical questions. Liberdade a Passar Por Aqui questioned freedom and the care it requires to survive; Aguário addresses water, an element essential to life, a scarce resource that is becoming increasingly important; M de Manifesto prompts reflection on what is conveyed to us, imposed upon us, and silenced regarding women.
Through an artistic approach that blends music, theater, and movement, a series of performative scenes is constructed that evoke different dimensions of the female experience: from childhood to motherhood, from invisibility to resistance, from the imposition of social roles to the possibility of deconstructing them.
Inspired by collected testimonies, statistical data, and seminal texts of feminist thought, the performance presents itself as a space for listening and questioning. It does not aim to offer a single, definitive definition of what it means to “be a woman,” but rather to give voice to diverse perspectives that, together, reveal the tensions, contradictions, and urgent issues that permeate everyday life. M de Manifesto invites everyone to reflect on issues of identity, inequality, memory, and visibility. After all, to reflect on the condition of being a woman is to reflect on society as a whole.
M de Manifesto is part of an artistic-educational constellation of the same name that includes the performance and the outreach initiative Bastidores de M de Manifesto, a conversation-performance held in the classroom in which the artists explore themes from the female experience, creating a first encounter with the performance before the students see it on stage. M de Manifesto is also a participatory performance, in which the voices of the young people participating in the mediation activity are integrated into the show, providing a platform for testimonies about the impact of the roles assigned to men and women.
Although there is a particular focus on making the show accessible to high school students—given the urgency of the topics addressed and the importance of dialogue with young audiences—it is a production designed for the general public, ages 12 and up.
M de Manifesto is a co-production with Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão, Cineteatro Alba, Cineteatro Curvo Semedo, and Cineteatro Louletano.
M for Maria.
M for Mulher.
M for Manifesto.
