Teatro Municipal do Campo Alegre, Porto

Four very different rooms make Teatro Municipal do Campo Alegre a theatre complex rather than a single-stage venue. Completed in 2000, the building was designed by the architect Rogério Cavaca. It is one of Porto’s two Municipal Theatre centres; the other is Teatro Rivoli.

Its auditorium, café-theatre, cinema studio and studio room allow theatre, film and smaller-scale work to share one address. The Cine-Estúdio deliberately presents films outside the commercial circuit, with a programme unlike any other in Porto. Upstairs, contemporary-dance work takes place every day through Lugar Instável, and new pieces are premiered in the theatre’s rooms.

This is the experimental branch of the Municipal Theatre: a creative laboratory hosting artists from different places and local companies for both short and longer residencies. Three equipped apartments—two one-bedroom homes and one three-bedroom home—support those artistic stays. From 2000 until 2013, Seiva Trupe was the resident company here.

Since its own programme began in 2001, the theatre has also built a reputation for its poetry series Quintas de Leitura and for educational projects. In 2012, it became part of Porto City Council after the Fundação Ciência e Desenvolvimento was dissolved.