André Gago

Born in Lisbon in 1964, he debuted as a professional actor 20 years later. Along the way, and from an early age, he embarked on multiple adventures related to the arts, always enjoying music, drawing, acting, writing, and, above all, multidisciplinary thinking. His time at the António Arroio School of Decorative Arts was a moment when he considered a career in architecture or design, but theatre ultimately prevailed. In theatre, you learn to appreciate everything, from staging to directing. The relationship with words, however, remains constant. In his early years, he adapted Aquilino Ribeiro and Jorge de Sena for the stage. Meanwhile, he discovered masks and the power of improvisation. He formed a collection of traditional masks which he organized into exhibitions and began teaching Mask Technique and Commedia dell'Arte. In the 1990s, he conceived and produced a series of shows in which he was the translator, adapter, or author: in Recitália, he experimented for the first time with his own theatrical concept, which he would develop in the following years. He plays Gardel alone, in a text by José Jorge Letria. In 2001 he published the short story "O Circo da Lua" (The Circus of the Moon), winner of the Revelation Prize from the Portuguese Writers' Association, written as the basis for a circus show, which he would direct in 2003. In the same year, he translated and staged "The Orchestra" by Jean Anouilh. In 2004 he created Teatro Instável (Unstable Theatre), where he continues to create shows based on stagings of texts by various authors and his own original works. In 2006 he finished the translation of Hamlet, which he would stage the following year. In recent years, as an actor, the poetic word has come to occupy an increasingly important place in his performances.