Sadness and joy in the life of giraffes by Tiago Rodrigues (Portugal)
Translated by Katrin Kaasa

Sadness and joy in the life of giraffes is the story of a nine year old girl that crosses the city of Lisbon searching for the only person that can help her: The Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho. In the strange world called Lisbon we encounter the economic crisis, the heroic adventure of a teddy bear with suicidal tendencies named Judy Garland, roads crossed by cars and memories, the Discovery Channel, paedophiles, a photo of a violinist, a black panther, a Bulgarian scientist, the Russian playwright Anton Checkov and a girl too tall for her age whose mother called her Giraffe. Immersed in the darkness of the hopeful childhood imagination, this performance is fearful of what children think and angry at what the adults do.

Production history
The play opened in 2011 at Culturgest, Grande Auditório, Lisboa, produced by Mundo Perfeito in collaboration with AnaPereira.PedroGil, Culturgest & TAGV. The production is still touring.

Sadness and joy in the life of giraffes will be presented as a rehearsed reading by OIT at Theatre Café Festival Oslo 2o14. The reading will be in Norwegian.

Read more about Tiago Rodrigues here.

Rights: www.mundoperfeito.pt
Rights to the Norwegian translation: Katrin Kaasa, contact OIT for contact details

Thanks to Camões – the Portugese cultural institute and the Portugese Embassy for support towards bringing Tiago Rodrigues to Oslo.