Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas

A family celebration in the countryside, in a grove of cork oak trees. People eat, drink and are merry, sitting around a large table outdoors. It looks like a glowing summer idyll. But something is off. The family is here to celebrate a bloody, archaic ritual. For several generations, their relatives have been coming together to commemorate the murder of Catarina Eufémia. An illiterate peasant, she was killed by henchmen of the Salazar dictatorship in 1954 while fighting for higher wages, leaving behind three orphans. To avenge this injustice, the family come together each year for a sum- mer family gathering that, as the title says, bears witness to »the beauty of killing fascists«. To this end, one such specimen is first kidnapped by a selected family member then shot dead in front of the entire family and buried at the farm.
But what happens to this heroic custom when a young and humanist generation of Catarinas suddenly boycotts the naked and bloody display of violence? What if her sister, as a vegan, spurns the traditional meat dishes being served? What if, with their finger on the trigger, moral doubts suddenly prevent them from firing the gun? And what if the other side takes advantage of this very ethical dilemma and uses
it as the first step to bringing an end to freedom?
»Is violence a legitimate means to make the world a better place? Can democracy’s rules be broken with the stated aim of defending it?«, asks Tiago Rodrigues. Rather than giving us an answer, he presents the consequences of these questions on stage as a dramatic paradox that is both lucid and fabulously grotesque. In doing so, he creates a performance that challenges the audience and their own inner contradictions to the point where it hurts—especially at this moment when we should be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese revolution and the end of fascism in Europe—and makes palpable the threat that exists across the entire continent.

Tiago Rodrigues is an actor, director and playwright and was born in Amadora in 1977. In 2003, he founded the company »Mundo Perfeito« with Magda Bizarro, with which he created many shows and toured internationally during eleven years. He is artistic director of the Festival d’Avignon since 2023.