Alma Theatre Company

LUDO WIP (2024/25)

Created and Directed by: Helena Hipólito

Performed by: Ana Banha

Music Director: Mitsu Sousa

★★★ Ludo has great potential. With further development, it could become something genuinely moving. Its themes of grief and isolation are universally resonant, especially given the events of recent years. - The Reviews Hub

'The African sky is much bigger than ours - it crushes us.'

Ludo (Portugal 1925 - Angola 2010)

LUDO is a bilingual one-woman show telling the (sur)real life story of Ludovica "Ludo" Fernandes Mano. After Angola's independence (1975), Ludo barricaded herself and her dog, Phantom, inside her sister's apartment on the top floor of "The Building of the Envied” for 28 years.

Based on Ludo's diary entries, this performance brings her own words and poetry to life. From catching pigeons with diamonds, meeting Che Guevara the rebel monkey, and dealing with her agoraphobia, which forces her to use a full-body cardboard box whenever she steps onto her private terrace, to the darkest moments such as Phantom’s death.

LUDO explores themes of survival, post-colonialism, language-culture, and the human spirit's capacity to endure. The show uses multimedia to bridge the language barrier between Portuguese and English, preserving the original language's poetic sound.

This is a work in progress, with a first scratch showing at the Playground Theatre, London, For the VOILA! Europa Festival, Nov 2024.

TALES OF GIN & TONIC (2021/25)

Created, Directed and Designed by: Helena Hipólito | Performed by: Alex Figueiredo | Holly-Anne White | Vasco Rafael | Harry Miller (Guitar)

"A peanut was lying down

quiet, looking to see what happened.

The old lady came and zas, ate it.

And that is what happens to peanuts

that stay quiet, lying down,

waiting to see what happens.

They are eaten!"

Tales of Gin and Tonic is a collection of sardonic, ironic and surrealist short tales that put a lens to society and the human condition. Translated for the first time into English, Tales of Gin and Tonic will be performed in English and Portuguese, using a mix of physical theatre, story-telling and live music.

Adapted for the stage from the works of the Portuguese author Mário Henrique-Leiria (1923-1980) written during the dictatorship regime of Salazar in Portugal (1929 -1974).

First presented at the Playground Theatre, London, Dec 2021.

Solo Performance

HELENA (2018)

With Contemporânea Theatre Company

PLAN B, a play about a ridiculous man...(2017)

"I am a ridiculous man. They call me mad now." Ridiculous Man

Created and Directed by Helena Hipólito A Ridiculous Man Cameron Newton-Campbell Lighting and Sound Design Helena Hipólito Music ‘Bolero’ of Maurice Ravel Voice Over Thomas Bennett and PG Production Contemporânea

PLAN B is a dark comedy, a satirical response to this new world. It takes references from Dostoyevsky's Existentialism.

PLAN B was created in a devised process between Helena Hipólito and Cameron Newton-Campbell. Exploring civilization, we question ‘Who we are’ and ‘Where we are’ in relation to our existence in a futile society, where money, consumerism, media, brands and multi corporations dictate our lives.

First presented at the Place Theatre Bedford, May 2017.

With ATPC Rapazes d'Aldeia

M&M (2015)

"Attention! To all police forces. A man walks free. Again. Walks free." Announcement

Created and Directed by Helena Hipólito. Acting by Bruna Abade, Magda Nunes, Censo Nunes, Helena Hipólito and António Fino Sound Censo Nunes Lighting Miguel Moço Production ATPC Rapazes d'Aldeia

M&M is created from Mario Henrique-Leiria's Tales of Gin and Tonic and using Mario Viegas's spoken words style.

The play is a compilation of small scenes that revel in each one a different layer of the human condition. In a surrealistic, expressionist style. Reflecting the absurd of reality.

First presented at the Public House in Glória do Ribatejo, Portugal, 2015 March.

Ao Atiar do Lume (2014)

“This, the people only get scared when we have lots of work, now they say that is no more work. You see, almost that doesn’t matter if is prison or hunger.” Joaquim

Directed by Helena Hipólito. Acting by Bruna Abade, Rui Pote, Nuno Monteiro, Mariana Damião, Daniela Oliveira, Victor Damas, Jaime Ligeiro, Jose Monteiro, Censo Nunes and Helena Hipólito Sound/Lighting Miguel Moço Text Joaquim Murale

Production ATPC Rapazes d'Aldeia

This is a play about a people that is not allowed to expressed their political and social concerns. Situated in the time of Portugal Dictatorship, this play represents what was common to happen to the people that had the courage to speak and stand by their social and working rights. The oppression and use of power from the authorities is reflected in the scene which a Guard rapes the pregnant wife of the worker that he had arrest earlier. In the end she takes her own life, after losing her husband and child.

The style and language of the play was adapted to the own language and style of the village where was produced and first presented.

Produced for the commemoration of 40th anniversary of the 25th of April.

First presented at the Public House in Glória do Ribatejo, Portugal, 2015 March.