Sister Nativity

By Bernardo Santareno 

Translated & Directed by Sebastião Marques Lopes

It’s Christmas Eve at a convent of contemplative nuns, where the Mother Superior lies bedridden. Over the course of the night, she finds herself tested by the austere intellect of Sister Trinity and by Sister Nativity, the convent’s newest member, who insists she shares an intimate bond with Christ himself.

Bernardo Santareno (1920–1980) was a Portuguese playwright whose work faced heavy censorship under Salazar’s dictatorship. Despite his mastery of language, tone and dramatic invention, most of his plays remain untranslated, with the only known UK production being The Crime at the Old Village at the Greenwich Playhouse in 2006. Having discovered his work during lockdown, writer and director Sebastião Marques Lopes hopes to popularise this largely forgotten and seldom performed giant. He believes Santareno’s body of work stands among the greatest in the Western dramatic canon and is long overdue for proper recognition.

CAST
Mother Superior | Efè Agwele
Sister Trinity | Jasmine Holly Bullock
Sister Angelica | Chrisanthi Livadiotis
Sister Nativity | Emily Millwood

CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Bernardo Santareno 
Translator & Director: Sebastião Marques Lopes
Producer: Chrisanthi Livadiotis

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