“This year's Mimesis features 37 events over roughly 20 days: 32 performances and five collaborative gatherings. These encompass both performative events and opportunities for reflection or discussion, analysing the creative process,” stated Delfim Leão, Vice-Rector of the University of Coimbra for Culture, Communication and Open Science.

The 7th Mimesis Theatre and Performing Arts Cycle, promoted by UC, will take place from 2 to 21 May and will involve 33 partners, including groups from the Coimbra Academy, the city, and outside the region.

During the event, which took place this morning at the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (TAGV), Delfim Leão explained that the discussions reflect a “concern with audience development” and aim to demonstrate the research being developed and projected in the performative proposals.

Theatre stands as the primary focus of the cycle’s program, including nearly two-thirds hybrid projects that merge, for instance, theatre with cinema, live interventions, or workshops, striving to captivate and innovate for audiences, according to the vice-rector.

The cycle will take place in about 20 locations in the city of Coimbra, with the TAGV as its epicentre, but will also include spaces associated with heritage.

“It is integrated into a kind of reinterpretation that, through art, values ​​and empowers it for new audiences and new uses.”

The director of TAGV, Sílvio Santos, highlighted the University Theatre Showcase from the program, which runs from 12 to 16 May, with the aim of “giving visibility to the new creations of university groups in Coimbra.”

The great distinction of this edition is “the existence of a program that occupies the theatre every day,” with performances taking place over five consecutive days, the director indicated.

Participating in the showcase are the Thíasos Cultural Association, the InterDito Dramatic Expression Group, the Interdisciplinary Artistic Community (CAI), the Theatre Initiation Circle of the Coimbra Academy (CITAC), and the University of Coimbra Students' Theatre (TEUC).

The Mimesis festival kicks off on 2 May with the play "Romeo and Juliet," presented by the Teatro de Braga Company at the TAGV.

The program includes, on 8 May, the theatrical performance "Fabulae Latinae/LVDI CONIMBRIGENSES" by FESTEA - Festival of Classical Theme Theatre, which will take place at the Ruins of Conímbriga, in Condeixa-a-Nova, on a day dedicated to classical culture and languages, aimed at children and young people.

On 16 May, the Felgueiras Arts Conservatory Association presents the cultural discussion "Ricoeur and the Living Metaphors of the World" at the Penedo da Saudade Cultural Centre, offering poetry to the cycle.

On 21 May, the Ecos do Passado Association - Inês de Castro Symphonic Choir and Inês de Castro Orchestra, making its debut in the Mimesis cycle, presents the opera “Camões and Cassandra: Song(s) of the Human Condition”.

Most performances are free, but at the University Theatre Showcase, the spectator can choose to pay between 3 and 10 euros or attend for free.