“This story is so sad”: 25 days before leaving Polytechnic, United Artists don’t know where they’re going
25 days away from handing over the keys to the Polytechnic Theatre, in Lisbon, the Artistas Unidos still don’t know where they are going after, on the 16th, evicting that space from the Rectory of the University of Lisbon.
“This story is so sad and at the same time it is told so quickly”, said João Meireles, from Artistas Unidos to the Lusa agency, lamenting the situation the company has been facing for the past more than two years. “We have been knowing for 27 months that this was going to happen and 25 days for it to actually happen, [termos de] hand over the keys to the Polytechnic”, he observed, adding that in these two years “absolutely nothing has happened” in terms of being able to find an alternative work space for Artistas Unidos.
In March 2022, the company was informed by the University of Lisbon that the lease contract for the Teatro da Politécnica, where Artistas Unidos had been based since 2011, would not be renewed.
The situation saddens and frustrates the actor and director who has been with the company since it was founded by Jorge Silva Melo in 1995, seeing that they were unable to “go further than this belated attempt of the Lisbon City Council to find a solution”. “It’s late because ideas and proposals only started to emerge a month ago”, stressed João Meireles, adding “it’s only been a month since we are really feeling the commitment that has been affirmed by the Chamber since two years ago”. However, it is not “at a moment’s notice” that a solution is found for Artistas Unidos, especially because “there are no empty theaters in Lisbon”.
The Lisbon City Council remains committed to resolving this process and finding a solution, agreed with Artistas Unidos, that allows the continuity of their work.
A place to work
Questioned by Lusa about the situation, the press office of the Lisbon municipality said that the city council “maintains the A Capital building as a possibility to welcome the United Artists”. “But, as the project for this property is still in progress, it has been looking for solutions, even if temporary, to accommodate the company”, states a written note from the municipality, sent to the Lusa agency. The municipality “has been looking for a solution in auditoriums – municipal and otherwise -, but so far it has not been possible to find a space that meets the necessary characteristics to host projects that United Artists have ongoing”, concludes the note.
João Meireles explained that they have searched for and visited various spaces, including parish council auditoriums that have their own programs and that “are not empty”. A few days ago, the actor went to see another auditorium, which is located in a business hub but also has a defined and intense program, he said.
The company has repeatedly asked the Lisbon City Council that its objective is “not a theater, but a space where one can be built”, similar to what it did at the Teatro da Polité cnica, at Convento das Mónicas or in A Capital, 23 years ago, he said. Asked about the possibility of returning to this space in Bairro Alto, João Meireles adds that it is an idea that the company put forward in March 2022, but that “it is just an idea”. “It is not yet certain that the work planned for those buildings will allow for the installation of a performance hall”, he said, adding that there are no complete engineering or architectural projects “to be able to understand” that space would be available to install equipment of this type. And even if it is a “realizable idea”, it will only be “in a few years”, he stressed, as the work is not done and after that all the equipment will have to be installed.
The company’s most urgent concern is having a place where the team can work.
Artistas Unidos will leave on Monday for the Almada Festival, with the play “Remédio”, by Enda Walsh, and on the 18th, for Citemor, in Montemor-o-Velho, where they will premiere ” Búfalos”, the third play in Pau Miró’s trilogy, which will no longer be performed at the Teatro da Politécnica. The company does not even know where it can present it in Lisbon, despite the goodwill and solidarity of other companies and agents who have been available to help them.
In addition to this urgency, there is also the start of the new season, in September, without the company knowing where it will set up shop. “We have half of the Polytechnic in crates and bags to go and we don’t know where”, he lamented.
João Meireles was also concerned about the company’s workers as they did not know where they would work when they returned from summer holidays. “I fear the worst, which is inviting these people who even like to work together, to all of us teleworking. It’s something that doesn’t cross my mind”, he observed. Despite being able to fulfill the agreement they have with the Directorate-General for the Arts in terms of programming, João Meireles does not know, as a structure, “where or how” they will work, where they go to put people to work.
At the beginning of September, the company will begin a co-production with Teatro Aveirense, where, in November, “1984” will premiere. As co-producer of the show, the Centro Cultural de Belém provided them with a small room for rehearsals. However, this room does not allow for all the work and the company still does not know where it will rehearse afterwards.
The Lisbon City Council has been looking for everything for four or five weeks, while Artistas Unidos is starting to see the “company and the entire structure falling apart”, he stressed. “Not even when we left A Capital, 22 or 23 years ago, were we like this. At least then we knew where to go”, she concluded.
Artistas Unidos is inviting spectators and the media to, on the 16th, at 5pm, join the company in evicting the Teatro da Politécnica.
