Originally from Portugal, I’m a 27 year old actor, performer and theatre director who started his professional path as an actor in 2014 and as a director two years later with a project called “Portraits”, a video-performance project that consisted in the altered representation of popularly known figures. Since then, I have a gathered a handsome amount of performative work, it being theatre or visual arts related (or none of the above).
In my creative work I find joy in playing with images that thrive in meaninglessness, images that consist in visual actions and sounds that resist definition. And, when directing, I write my own texts. But what I particularly enjoy is designing the set and making it part of the show in a way that glorifies the visual aspect of a performance. In my work, the aesthetics may appear to take lead over narrative, however, there’s more to it than that. A spectator might find themselves being hit with a feeling of nostalgia, as they hear the sound of a Roy Orbison impersonator echoing in the background, while a cloud of purple mist fills the room, but something else lies under it, something that lurks in the shadows, peeking, something unspoken, something silent and filled with mystery that provoques a feeling of unrestfulness in the viewer.
As an art maker, what I create doesn’t quite fit a category. When coming to see one of my shows, the spectators won’t be witnessing Theatre or Performance-art or Dance. The best way to describe what I do is stating that it’s in between practices, objects that I like to call “Theatrical Acts”. This, I believe, makes it easier to be noticed by a wider audience, an audience that will certainly include fellow artists yes but also art enthusiasts of all kinds, being those of Theatre, Cinema, Visual Arts, Dance, Music, etc.
My “Theatrical acts” aim to stimulate enthusiasts. They aim to energise, to inspire enthusiasm-filled chats during after-show pints. But, most of all, they aim to inspire others to begin creating their own work as they come to realise that all artistic universes are valid. The work I make hopes to serve as a catalyst for something else. Something greater than what was performed. It’s about making art that speaks as it’s being observed but also, more than that, art that speaks after it’s been observed, art that has an effect, art that generates thought.
Silvestre C.