Catarina, or The Beauty of Killing Fascists - Premiere; Introduction to the Play 19:30

Catarina, or The Beauty of Killing Fascists
Tiago Rodrigues, translated from Portuguese by Niki Graça

In a Portuguese family, there is a summer tradition: on the anniversary of the murder of farm worker Catarina Eufémia on May 19, 1954 - carried out by henchmen of the Salazar dictatorship - a fascist is killed. The family gathering begins with food and drink and ends with the execution of a previously kidnapped criminal. When the daughter refuses to continue the ritual because she no longer believes in the logic of revenge and rejects violence as a legitimate means of defending freedom and democracy, a complex political and ethical confrontation unfolds within the family.

The play poses questions that directly touch our contemporary realities: Who is a fascist today, and how do fascist rhetorics function? What does "acting politically" mean today? What can a democracy defending itself offer when resistance must not turn into violence? Are we allowed to break the rules of democracy when seeking other ways to defend it? And is not the central challenge precisely that "we must learn to fight fascism in a non-fascist way" (Eva von Redecker)?

"Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas" premiered in 2020 in Portugal under Tiago Rodrigues' direction and toured extensively throughout Europe. The German-language premiere took place on February 14, 2026, directed by Mateja Koleznik at Schauspielhaus Bochum. Tiago Rodrigues, born in 1977 in Portugal, is an actor, director, dramatist, and producer; since 2022 he has led the Avignon Festival. In 2003 he founded the company Mundo Perfeito together with Magda Bizarro, served as director of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon from 2015, and received, among other honors, the XV European Prize for Theatre Realities (2018) and the title "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" of the French Republic.