European Youth Voice

First, our ears catch the sound. Then it’s our eyes following the movements, going from fast to slow, from the random confusion to what seems  to be a rhythmic choreography. It could be some type of ritual. It’s nothing but people using theatre to feel free.

That happens every Monday and Thursday, since 1981, when the Técnica University’s Rector Eduardo Arantes de Oliveira invited Jorge Listopad to create a theatre group (TUT). The purpose is, since then, to give a cultural awareness for the students. The goal was never to attract the members of the group in such a way that they would leave the technical degree behind and choose to devote their life to the art.

However, it has happened at least once with one student who left his pharmacy studies for acting: Júlio Martín da Fonseca. He is in the group since the first day. From that time he remembers the big commitment and the enthusiasm in the TUT group. Now he is the artistic director and every rehearsal he makes an effort  to inspire the members like Jorge Listopad did with him. Some of them like it so much that they stay in the TUT group even after finishing their studies.

The TUT group is preparing the play “The World We Live In” by the Czech author Karel Capek to have the premiere in May

Sofia Simoes de Almeida, Portugal

Viktor Machourek, Czech Republic

in Lisbon, January 2011

Proofreading by Ladislav Kolar, Czech Republic