Algarveans Debut Ten-Minute Play Festival in Lagoa; Auditions Announced

As dusk settled over Lagoa last weekend, the first Ten-Minute Play Festival by The Algarveans Theatre Group turned the Municipal Auditorium into a laboratory of fleeting stories and creative jumps. Eight sharply crafted vignettes flew across the stage in under two hours, guiding audiences through comedy, suspense and poignant reunions, while many of the performers stepped into unfamiliar roles behind the scenes. This taste of micro-theatre set a brisk tempo for the company’s spring season, which begins with auditions on December 2 and 4 for their upcoming musical.

A sprint through drama

At the Lagoa Auditório Municipal, spectators were whisked through eight original scenes that relied on imagination rather than elaborate scenery. With minimal props and swift costume changes, the festival offered live theatre distilled to its essentials: crisp dialogue, physical agility and the charged presence of actors fully committed to rapid-fire narratives.

Roots in the Algarve community

English-language productions have quietly thrived on the southern coast since a group of expatriates launched The Algarveans in 1991. Catering to a blend of local enthusiasts, visiting tourists and students refining their English, the company has long balanced West End polish with grassroots spirit. This new festival format dovetails with the region’s tourism-driven audience, while giving volunteers from Faro to Portimão a low-barrier platform to experiment.

Role reversals spark innovation

Festival director Peter Morris encouraged participants to trade usual duties: accomplished actors embraced actors directing, while habitual directors tried their hand at writing. That bold shift revealed unexpected talents and refreshed well-worn dynamics. The cast’s willingness to traverse creative boundaries became a story as compelling as any onstage.

Memorable moments on the minimal stage

Highlights ranged from a metafictional comedy of acting technique in The Craft, to a darkly humorous showdown in Up and Down, and a bittersweet reunion in You Haven’t Changed a Bit. A late-night mystery unfolded in 3 A.M. Wake-Up Call, while No Surgical Stockings laid bare simmering frustration. Two worldviews clashed over teacups in Two for Tea, and a loving parody of black-and-white romance closed the evening with Briefcase Encounter.

Beyond performance: engaging the next generation

True to the group’s motto of incluir, encorajar, entreter, the festival extended free tickets to local secondary schools and kept admission fees deliberately modest. Teachers from nearby villages brought students at the end of English lessons, turning a night at the theatre into a practical language immersion and an introduction to live art.

Next on the season: musical auditions call

With the ten-minute experiment now behind them, The Algarveans will return in March with the musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Auditions open on December 2 and 4, and the company invites singers, dancers and actors keen to explore modern romance through song and sketch. For Algarve residents eager to stay connected to local stages, this spring offering promises another surge of theatrical energy.