"Macbeth" defies curse as Lisbon's Teatro D. Maria II reopens

By&nbspJoana Mourão Carvalho Published on 18/09/2026 - GMT+2 The D. Maria II theatre reopens with "Macbeth", the tragedy on stage when a 1964 fire destroyed it. Pedro Penim's staging revives the "cursed play", now with real flames on stage. After almost four years closed, the National Theatre D. Maria II, on Rossio in Lisbon, is finally reopening its doors after the biggest renovation in decades. It is doing so with a "cursed play" and with tickets almost sold out. "Macbeth", , which was on stage at the National Theatre D. Maria II when a fire destroyed the building in 1964, is the production chosen for the reopening. It is a deliberate choice a provocation in the face of the many productions that have been plagued by accidents. In the show he signs, real fire is used on stage in a symbolic gesture, recalling the tragedy that reduced the theatre to ashes. "It was a kind of trauma in the theatre's history, it was a very defining moment, and this play, which is believed to be a cursed play, full of superstitions, was never staged again," says Pedro Penim, director and artistic director of the National Theatre D. Maria II, in an interview with Euronews. The Shakespearean tragedy has, over the centuries, accumulated stories of disasters backstage: injured actors, props swapped for real weapons, spectacular falls and deaths on stage. "Whenever this play is staged, some misfortune seems to happen. So I decided to challenge not only fate but also to draw a parallel with the theatre's own history, given that we are reopening as the National Theatre D. Maria II celebrates its 180th anniversary," the director adds. But putting together a production of this scale did not come without setbacks. The initial intention was to use the translation , the same used ço-Robles Monteiro company in the ill-fated 1964 staging. However, the holders of the poet's rights never responded to the requests and Pedro Penim found himself 'cornered' into translating Shakespeare's text himself. Suddenly, evil is no longer ashamed to show itself," Penim explains. "The seductive language Macbeth uses is a kind of poetry that enchants, but which at the same time carries a very significant weight in terms of the execution and the imagining of the crime," reflects the director. This production also pays tribute to the theatre itself: Joana Sousa's set reproduces the façade of the emblematic building on Rossio, and one of the characters is Queen Maria II herself.