Visões Úteis

Visões Úteis' new creation, “Little B”, was designed, written and directed by Ana Vitorino, Carlos Costa, Mário Moutinho and Sara Barros Leitão, thus doing justice to and broadening the collaborative dynamic that is the company’s trademark. Inspired by the career of Mário Moutinho, who was associated artist at Visões Úteis during the 2018/2019 season, the performance, however, declines an archival or documentary perspective: what matters is not so much Mário’s life, but rather the manifold lives one life may comprise; not so much the life he lived, but rather the life he is still to live; not so much what he remembers (or is remembered for), but rather the memory short cuts, inaccuracies and traps that become clear when one tries to file a life. Most importantly, more than what Mário did, what matters is what he dreamt—and fell short—of doing, because that’s where we all come together: Dumas/Sartre’s main character (“Keane”), which he never played; Prospero, surrounded by puppets, which he never played; the drum solo (“Little B”, The Shadows) he never played.


Visões Úteis (Porto, 1994) is a theatre-based artistic project that has already created and produced over fifty presentations both in Portugal and abroad, including theatre plays, performances in the landscape and community performances. It is also involved in research, training (through its educational service), book publishing, filmmaking and sound creation. Visões Úteis is a cross-disciplinary project based on collaborative work methods that involve the entire artistic team. Its artistic directors are Ana Vitorino, Carlos Costa and João Martins.