©Carlos Carneiro
When angels speak of love
by Henrique
Furtado Vieira with Catarina Vieira, Leonor Mendes e Sérgio MatiasWhen Angels speak of Love is a ritual performance that takes place inside homes and with those who live there. Inspired by Ghostbusters, a team of four performers visits families and emotional constellations to open up a space for listening and collective imagination, summoning the invisible presences that permeate intimacy: grief, legacies, memories, dreams, and different ways of loving.
Each session transforms the home into a ritual territory, made up of shared stories, games, oracular gestures, words of struggle, emotional offerings, silent dances and everyday objects that take on new meanings. In the encounter between hosts and visitors, between care and contradiction, between laughter and commotion, a question arises: what if intimacy could be a safe place?
The performance crosses the thinking of people such as bell hooks, Edouard Louis, Alexandre Coimbra Amaral and Marshall Rosenberg, evoking angels not as saving entities, but as internal, cellular presences that whisper other ways of love – less idealised and more embodied. These angels have no wings: they have flesh, doubts and a desire to learn.
When Angels speak of Love is a call for us, amid the rubble of what we have inherited, to imagine fairer bonds, more vibrant relationships, and to cultivate an intimate, collective, and radical love.
This work stems from a personal process of loss and attempted understanding: the breakdown of a deeply desired family unit, the mourning of a life project that fell apart, and the desire to offer my daughter and the world another possible vision of ‘family’ — one where love manifests itself as a daily practice, and not just as a promise or ideal. To address these issues, I invited close collaborators to join me in this process, bringing their own stories of love and violence. Together, we give shape to a performative response that is, at the same time, listening, exposure, and an attempt at reparation.
Premiere 23 to 27 September 2025, Homes of residents of Vila do Conde, Porto, Braga, Guimarães, as part of Circular Festival, Vila do Conde/Portugal
Artistic direction, co-creation and performance: Henrique Furtado Vieira
Performance and co-creation: Catarina Vieira, Leonor Mendes e Sérgio Diogo Matias
Costumes and props: Marisa Escaleira
Outside Eye: Joclécio Azevedo
Documentation: Maria João Guardão
Project coordination: Daniela Ribeiro / O Rumo do Fumo
Executive production and communication: Carlota Borges Lloret / O Rumo do Fumo
Performance and co-creation: Catarina Vieira, Leonor Mendes e Sérgio Diogo Matias
Costumes and props: Marisa Escaleira
Outside Eye: Joclécio Azevedo
Documentation: Maria João Guardão
Project coordination: Daniela Ribeiro / O Rumo do Fumo
Executive production and communication: Carlota Borges Lloret / O Rumo do Fumo
Financial Support: GDA, O Rumo
do Fumo
Co-production: Festival Circular, Temps d’Images, Asta - Teatro e Outras Artes - Covilhã
Acknowledgments: António Simões, Carlota Lloret, João Albano, Laura Virissimo, Leonor Cabral, Lígia Soares, Luísa Fidalgo, Mariana Ferreira, Paulo Quedas, Raquel André, Roque Ricardo, Simone Rodrigues, Sofia Simões, Tónan Quito
Co-production: Festival Circular, Temps d’Images, Asta - Teatro e Outras Artes - Covilhã
Acknowledgments: António Simões, Carlota Lloret, João Albano, Laura Virissimo, Leonor Cabral, Lígia Soares, Luísa Fidalgo, Mariana Ferreira, Paulo Quedas, Raquel André, Roque Ricardo, Simone Rodrigues, Sofia Simões, Tónan Quito
O Rumo do Fumo is financed by República Portuguesa - Cultura | Direcção-Geral das Artes.
©Carlos Carneiro
©Carlos Carneiro
©Carlos Carneiro
©Carlos Carneiro