TEATRO GRIOT

The roles of queen and wife merge between conflict and confidence. One can no longer tell who’s who in glory and vanity, since petulance is also a hallmark of conquest. Njinga Mbandi invokes her dead while talking to herself. She discusses what was and what may never have been. She doesn’t use up all of her trance in stories imprisoned in their time. Always covertly putting up a fight. Tormenting and pursuing men and wishes, both hers and of the ones who were handed to her, warriors, slaves, and traitors. Daughter, sister and lover, Njinga will be given time to tell her side of the story, exempting herself from the deceit of a past that was forged, deified and immaculate in its purpose.

Teatro Griot is a company of actors dedicated to explore relevant matters in building and questioning the emerging contemporary and cross-cultural European identity, and the way it impacts on speech and theatrical aesthetics. It has taken to the stage texts by Wole Soyinka, Pepetela, Breyten Breytenbach, Shakespeare, Lynn Nottage, Aeschylus, Al Berto or Genet, directed by Rogério de Carvalho, Nuno M. Cardoso, Guilherme Mendonça, Bruno Bravo, António Pires, João Fiadeiro and Zia Soares. Teatro Griot has the support of the Lisbon City Council.