M U L H E R - R O M Ã

THE PROJECT

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Mulher-romã (Pomegranate-Woman) is a creative project that seeks to reflect upon the role of women in Western society by examining European folk tales. This is achieved through the creation of an original theatrical text, an exhibition, a symposium on contemporary female dramaturgy, and a transdisciplinary performance.

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The project aims to establish consistent engagement with the Porto community through open-process sessions and initiatives within artistic educational institutions. The actions developed throughout the creative cycle intend to foster gender equality by sharing an inclusive reflection on the feminine and by supporting and promoting female-authored dramaturgy.

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A core objective is to conduct transdisciplinary and experimental research within the performing arts, encouraging collaboration between artists from diverse fields, as well as between artists and the community.

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To achieve these goals, the project is structured in distinct phases over six months, including moments of exchange with the artistic community, students, and the general public.

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The starting point is the traditional tale “The Love of the Three Pomegranates”: a prince seeks a woman as white as milk and as red as blood. After various tribulations and an encounter with a witch, he receives three pomegranates, from which three beautiful women emerge.

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In this project, we imagine the woman imprisoned within the pomegranate before the prince’s arrival.

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Who is she?

How did she get inside?

What is her past? And her future?

What are her thoughts? What has become of her body?

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The woman of the tale — a mere projection of the prince's desire — is transformed into a complex being reflecting on her own condition. The immanence of the female condition is taken to its extreme: a woman enclosed within a fruit, awaiting liberation. However, a shift in perspective occurs, moving toward the “Other”—the position historically occupied by women.

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The play’s script explores the possibility of salvation not through the prince’s arrival, but through the act of thought. Throughout the performance, we witness a growing tension between the fruit's confines and an internal effervescence, triggered by an undefined need for transcendence. (Simone de Beauvoir – “The Second Sex”, 1949)

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The woman’s body is physically absent yet present in memory and thought—a body perceived as dismembered, no longer belonging to the voice. The pomegranate is described simultaneously as shelter and body, creating an imaginary world that fluctuates between the grotesque traditional tale and science fiction.

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Artistic director Costanza Givone believes that the repertoire of folk tales is invaluable for understanding the values that have governed Western society over centuries. Through the study of traditional European tales, she proposes the creation of a figure that personifies the conflict between the woman-as-archetype (from a Jungian perspective) and the bourgeois woman (as seen, for instance, in the Grimm Brothers' transcriptions, which sought to prescribe behavioral models useful to capitalist bourgeois society).

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The text of “mulher-romã” seeks to reclaim the woman, not through extraordinary feats, but by sharing her inner world. It does not strive for admiration, but for empathy.

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Artistic Credits: Artistic direction, text, performance: Costanza Givone; Figure and shadow design and exhibition: Ana Torrie; Stage video: Sofia Arriscado; Sound: João Vladimiro; Lighting: Mariana Figueroa; Executive production/communication: Francisca Lacerda; Dramaturgical consultancy: Claudia Figueiredo; Guest lecturer at ESMAE: Raquel S.; Photography: João Padua; Production: Fogo Lento;

 

Support: Criatório – Porto Municipal Council, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Residencies: CRL- Central Elétrica, Casa da Imagem, Casa Varela; Co-production within the artistic/technical residency programme: Reclamar Tempo 21/22 by CAMPUS Paulo Cunha e Silva;

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Logistical Support: Árvore- cultural cooperative, Maus Hábitos; Schools involved: ESMAE, Soares dos Reis Artistic School.

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Exhibition: Mulher-romã

7 to 28 January 2023

Opening: 7 January at 4:00 PM

Cooperativa Árvore 

R. De Azevedo De Albuquerque 1, Porto (near Passeio das Virtudes)

 

Exhibition by Ana Torrie

in collaboration with Costanza Givone

sound: João Vladimiro

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This exhibition is the visual evolution of the creative process for Costanza Givone's play, Mulher-romã.

Mulher-romã is a reflection on a new approach to the tale “The Love of the Three Pomegranates”: a prince seeks an idealised woman and, with a witch’s help, finds her inside a pomegranate. Through an unsettling, contemporary lens, we question the place of the woman and her body within this story. Who is she? How did she end up there? What does she think and feel? How could we express her condition—enclosed within a fruit—through a scenic apparatus? Drawing on the aesthetic traits of shadow theatre and German Expressionist cinema, we sought to represent this woman, detached from reality, evoking dreamlike and grotesque landscapes akin to nightmares. Through shadows and distortions of the female form, the intention was to intensify her subjective personal experience. Thus emerges this body-object, designed to be manipulated, dismantled, and projected as shadows.

 

Production: Fogo Lento; Support: Criatório – Porto Municipal Council, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Logistical support: Árvore- cultural cooperative; Artistic residencies: CAMPO, Casa da Imagem.

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Round Table: “Contemporary Female Dramaturgy in Portugal”

Maus Hábitos

8 February 2023 – 5:00 PM

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As part of the Mulher-romã project, creators and guests discuss the current state of contemporary female dramaturgy in Portugal: its strengths, vulnerabilities, and needs. An open gathering to reflect on future paths and possibilities for collaboration.

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Production: Fogo Lento; Support: Criatório – Porto Municipal Council, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Logistical support: Maus Hábitos.