Book “Laughter is the Best Medicine?”

A Dra. Domingas Xabregas veio do Sertão das Cotias e veio parar na Rua do Grilo.

Escorregou na curva do arco-íris e atravessou o oceano nas costas de um bando de andorinhas. Durante a viagem, anotou os cantos das baleias e as nuvens partidas. Por esta razão, em terra firme, recebeu o título de goldenblusablú dos Orfeónicos de Axabrica. Costuma dar bom dia para as copas das árvores. Já quebrou dois dentes e os colou com baba de camelo. É recordista em encontrar clipes perdidos e agulhas em palheiros. Aprendeu a linguagem das formigas e o prazer das cigarras. Tem um nariz fino e um paladar redondo. Está sempre à procura de mangas. Está sempre à procura de mangas nos pés. Está sempre a fugir do cheiro da buxada de bode e adora ananases, xás, bolaxa, xamego e xocolate.

Joana Egypto é uma artista e investigadora do corpo e do palco. Quando criança, dormia muito em caixas de guitarra e colchões debaixo de palcos. Nasceu em São Luiz do Paraitinga, Vale do Paraíba, Brasil. Lá aprendeu a apreciar os rituais e festas populares. Morou em São Paulo, onde começou a estudar a linguagem da palhaçaria (2012 a 2015) e abordagens somáticas e procedimentos de dança (2005 a 2017). Foi integrante da Outra Outra Cia (2008 a 2017) – grupo de autogestão, pesquisa e produção em dança. Participou em diferentes processos criativos dirigidos por: Tadashi Endo, Toshi Tanaka, Lívia Seixas, Cristiane Paoli Quito, Norberto Presta, Diogo Granato, Fernando Escrich, entre outros.

Gosta de praia, mas prefere água doce e pedras cantantes. Canta, toca percussão e compõe. Já actuou em festivais e festas de rua. Tem duas músicas de sua autoria gravadas em discos visíveis e outros invisíveis. Foi finalista como compositora na 1ª Semana da Canção Brasileira (2007) e jurada na 6ª Semana da Canção Brasileira (2021). Tem um doutoramento parcial em Antropologia pelo Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa (ICS-ULisboa). Mestre em Ciências Sociais pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (2015). Pós-graduada em Educação Artística Lato-Sensu pelo Instituto Singularidades.

Publicou o livro: Forças em luta para invenção de uma dança: política cultural e dança contemporânea (Editora Prismas, 2017) e poesia em: O Rabo do Tatu (2019) e na revista Polichinello (2013 e 2014).

É doula de parto (Rede Portuguesa de Doulas) e doula de morte (AmorTser).

Marióska comes from a family of shellfish gatherers, but from an early age they noticed that she had a clinical eye and so she specialised in conventional medicine for tricky cases. She received her first merit award for discovering the origin of the symptoms “butterflies in the stomach”, “swallowing frogs” and “little monkeys in the attic”, after experiencing them first-hand.

She’s often mistaken for a matrioska, but it’s unclear whether it’s because she has a doll’s face or a triple personality, as she doesn’t know how many she has or how many she is. In her hidden past, after going through the age of the wardrobe, she went through the age of the circus and even took a course in failed acrobatics. Nowadays, she wants to expand her medical career to that of an intergalactic traveller, just to find out what happens or is happening between the galaxies. As she’s very committed to her studies, don’t be surprised if the next time you see her she’s on the moon.

She has a degree in Animation and Cultural Production from the Escola Superior Artística do Porto.

In 2011 she started in the world of clowning, joining the Clown Laboratori Porto group. She did her professional traineeship in production at Armazém 13, a circus centre in Lisbon. He later completed a professional circus course at the Carampa Circus School in Madrid, specialising in the Chinese pole technique. In 2021 she made her debut as a social clown in the Rugas de Riso project. She is currently working as a hospital clown for Operation Red Nose.

She is also a street theatre performer and has worked with Teatro do Mar and currently with the company PIA – Projetos de Intervenção Artística.

He was born and although he has no proof of it, there are eyewitnesses and ear witnesses who can prove that it really did happen. An Alentejano by choice and taste, he is seduced by the plains, the stretched, still weather. He likes butterflies, fireflies and ladybirds and is almost always on the prowl. He specialises in space specialities in particular. He can’t do without consulting the prospectus and is always looking at the doll.

He was born in Lisbon in the distant spring of the last century. I’m not sure why he became an actor, but I think a lot of it was because he took part in the school play “Little Red Riding Hood” when he was six. He had a lot of fun in the role of Granny. Theatre has been a big part of her life, sometimes in projects she’s created or at the invitation of other creators. When she joined Operação Nariz Vermelho in 2007, she didn’t know exactly what she was getting into, she confesses. Little by little, she realised that it was just where she wanted to be and where it made sense to be. Here he realises that every visit he makes, every child he meets in hospital, that the pointlessness of his work can be so important after all. If you want to see him calm and happy, offer him summer and the beach. He likes travelling, inside and out. Whenever he can, he goes.

Aurora was born in the town of Alvorecer. Father Horizonte and mother Céu. Her day begins with a smile and rays of joy. Although outgoing and fun, she specialises in the Dance of Shame, having won prizes at International Festivals for Social Phobias. Her favourite time is when she sings with felines while resting in the forest. He has now earned a second speciality in martial arts, such as KungZu and Akinadoi with a pink belt embroidered with daisies. She could be a chameleon due to her ability to metamorphose. She can be fast or slow, active or grumpy, happy or sad. She has no chance of hiding her feelings, as they are instantly reflected in her body. Aurora is a sleeping princess, wide awake and a warrior. When she cries, she can either create a lake of salt or, with her voice, break the glass of any room. Once as sweet as moonlight.

She has been interested in the performing arts ever since she was a child. She began studying music at the age of 6 in her hometown of Grândola Vila Morena. In Faro she joined the University of the Algarve’s Sin-Cera Group, where she received various training programmes and staged the satire ‘Não Sejas Criança’. In Barcelona he trained in Physical Theatre and created the theatre company ‘Can Ducks Fly’, where he flies around the world. He is currently a member of the teaching staff at the EVOE School in the Clown and Buffoon modules. He sings Indian songs individually and at yoga classes and events. She has always enjoyed eating biscuits and talking to the sea.

Luana Vicente began her artistic journey in Coimbra, where she graduated in Performing Arts. Her incessant search for knowledge about theatre took her to Lisbon, where she completed an intensive training course for actors/physical theatre.

Driven by a deep passion for the art of clowning, she took part in various training courses with renowned masters. Each course was a fundamental part of her research into clown work.

In 2021, she took a big step by creating her own artistic company, Garagem D’Ar-te. In 2023, his career expanded even further when he merged his company with QualquerCoisa&Cia, founded by Tomé Dionísio, joining forces to create even more impactful and innovative works of art.

In 2024 he dedicated himself to the work of prescribing smiles with the team of Clown Doctors from Operação Nariz Vermelho..

Salomé trocópé, spends her holidays in Nazaré, sometimes goes to Loulé, likes chimpazé, drinks coffee and doesn’t smell of foot odour.

She began her work specialising in heels that change feet. She’s been travelling around Portugal perfecting her search for words with “é” in them. Salomé is fearless, cocky and very beautiful.

She’s afraid of almost all kinds of animals, but faces them with courage. She has a degree in animal sounds, but still thinks that sheep meow.

She has “mastered” eating chocolate, but says out loud that she’s not into sweets, and woe betide anyone who says otherwise. Salomé stands up for her ideas and doesn’t like to lose.

Socorro! In English, Help! En Español Socuerro! Sóc for the intimate.

A legitimately thin clown. Especially her legs, which are very thin. A polyglot by birth, she studied with masters so renowned that she can barely remember their names. But believe me, he studied a lot! Mainly to cultivate the flowers planted in his head. Watering them twice a week, fresh fertiliser and pest control: precious tips for ideas to flourish and take root in even the softest of brains!

Poliana Tuchia has a bachelor’s degree in theatre acting from UFMG and a degree in circus arts from Spasso – Escola Popular de Circo. She complemented her training with musical studies focussed on traditional Latin American and Brazilian rhythms and the real-time composition system ‘Ritmo com sinais’ (Rhythm with signs).

Music and clowning are the pillars of his artistic expression and have guided his career of more than 20 years in the performing arts. Over the last 10 years, she has created and collaborated with various initiatives in Brazil and Portugal that seek to make discussions about gender issues and identities visible in the performing arts, such as the EUFÉMIAS Group and the Eufémia Festival, of which she is a co-founder.

Socorro. Em inglês, Help! En Español Socuerro! Sóc para os íntimos.

Uma palhaça legitimamente fina. Principalmente as pernas, muito finas. Poliglota de nascença, estudou com mestres tão reputados que mal se lembra dos seus nomes. Mas acreditem, estudou muito! Principalmente para cultivar as flores plantadas na sua cabeça. Rega-as duas vezes por semana, adubo fresco e controle de pragas: dicas preciosas para as ideias florescerem e enraizarem até nos miolos mais moles!

Poliana Tuchia é bacharel em Interpretação Teatral, graduada pela UFMG, e formada em artes circenses pela Spasso – Escola Popular de Circo. Complementou a sua formação com estudos musicais focados nos ritmos tradicionais latino-americanos e brasileiros e no sistema de composição em tempo real “Ritmo com sinais”.

A música e a palhaçaria são pilares da sua expressão artística e guiam a sua trajetória de mais de 20 anos de carreira nas artes performativas. Criou e colaborou, nos últimos 10 anos, com diversas iniciativas, no Brasil e em Portugal, que buscam visibilizar discussões acerca das questões de género e identidades nas artes performativas, como por exemplo, o Grupo EUFÉMIAS e o Festival Eufémia, dos quais é cofundadora.

Known to his closest friends as Lemonhead and to his enemies as Betadine, he graduated as a doctor from the renowned Caimbreas School in England. An expert in generic specialities, he has the incredible ability to discover a baby’s gender before the parents do.

Dr Titi Citrino has a peculiar collection of pets: a rat called Elias, a bee called Primavera and a tortoise called Oscar. Always attentive to the changing seasons, he is equipped with every possible object to cope with his extra-quotidian day-to-day life.

More important than all these curiosities, Dr Titi Citrino needs smiles to grow. He believes that laughter is the best medicine and dedicates his life to spreading joy and hope wherever he goes.

He was born in Lisbon in 1991. He began his artistic training in 2008 at the Cascais Professional Theatre School, where he studied until 2012. She made her stage debut in 2011 with ‘The Witches of Salem’ at TEC. In 2014, she graduated in Theatre, specialising in Acting, from the IPL’s Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema.

She honed her skills through various workshops. Since 2011, he has acted in several renowned theatre companies, such as: TEC (2011-2020), Artistas Unidos (2013), Teatro da Cornucópia (2014-2018), Companhia de Teatro de Almada (2017-2020), Teatro Tapafuros (2017-2022) and Companhia de Actores (2021-2022). In 2016, Bernardo co-founded Teatro da Cidade.

Recently, he has been collaborating with Fábrica das Artes – CCB, as part of the team of new creators focussed on education through art. He often takes part in audience mediation projects, in partnership with organisations such as Câmara dos Ofícios, Óbidos Criativa, Coolturetours and Parques de Sintra.

In 2018, she founded Bernardices, a company dedicated to organising children’s birthday parties and programming artistic activities in schools. In addition to his theatrical career, Bernardo teaches theatre at the Salesianos School in Lisbon and is part of the Doctor Clowns team at Operação Nariz Vermelho.

On the afternoon of 23rd April in the year one thousand nine hundred and change, in a remote village called Tingchongking, lived Mr Bam, an Asian grasshopper. It was on that hot afternoon that Mr Bam met Mrs Bu, a chicken from Scandinavia, and it was love at first sight. And so Bambu was born, an unassuming being, yes, because he had a bit of bird in him, inherited from his maternal uncle. He was a healthy and happy boy and his favourite thing was juggling oranges, that’s right throwing oranges in the air. But one day an orange rotted and Bambu was very sad. He moved to Europe, sailing the seas and battling storms in a walnut shell, and with a lot of effort and almost no air, he managed to reach his destination. He graduated in Arpuro medicine so that he could save all the rotten oranges on the planet. He is a candidate in the local elections with the Vitamina C party.

João Paulo Silva Reis is a clown, actor, juggler and musician. At the age of one he was baby of the year at farinha amparo. During his teenage years he dedicated himself to music, playing drums in various heavy metal projects. He attends juggling classes at Chapitô while specialising in mask theatre with Filipe Crowford. Actor and co-founder of the street theatre company Gazua with Jonh Beedel, he has performed in various national and international festivals. He trained as a clown with Filippe Gaulier at the International Theatre School in London and with Eric de Bont at the International Clown School. He trained in mask at the Internazionale del Actore Comico with Antonio Fava. He took several workshops with Andre Riot Sarcei, Ami Hattab, Michael Cristensen, Sergio Claramunt, Ricardo Pucetti, Angela de Castro, Lorents, John Writte, Carlos Garcia, Carlos Martinez, Pepe Nunez, Pepe Diaz Meco, Olivier Hugues, Luca Aprea, Johny Melvile and others. He has acted in various companies, such as Punto Clown, João Garcia Miguel, FC Produções Teatrais, Teatro Extremo, Pia Teatro. He has been a Clown Doctor with Operação Nariz Vermelho since 2004. He enjoys travelling and hiking in nature.

Graduation, in scenes and things that are particularly special and extraordinary, but which don’t really serve any purpose. He specialises in holidays in tropical destinations, as well as conversations on the terrace whenever it’s sunny. He usually doesn’t do much because he doesn’t have time, as he’s regularly busy chatting and drinking non-alcoholic caipirinhas. He thinks he’s clever and that he’s the biggest (despite his short height), but when he gets home for the night, he takes his teddy out of the cupboard and sleeps cuddled up to it.

Rui Gomes has a degree in Business Management! Yes, that’s right! Professionally, he works as an actor, clown, trainer and lecturer. As a clown, he has trained with names such as Jango Edwards, Peter Ercolano, Loco Brusca, Alex Navarro, Caroline Dream, Ângela deCastro, Ami Hattab, Sérgio Claramunt, among others. Artistic director of the company Centelha Criativa – Associação Cultural and founder of the company Estaca Zero Teatro – Associação Cultural.

Camomila da Conceicão Carpinteiro Abrantes Oliveira Sapateiro Vasconcelos Silvestre Marques Beiral Soares Chair Bacalhau Pastel de Nata Fidel-Da-Castro Reis, or Dr Camomila, was born on a small island called Bruny, which lies off the coast of another island, Tasmania, next to the south coast of another island, Australia. Chamomile became involved in community theatre, where she performed in musicals such as “The King and I”, “Music in the Heart” and “Hamlet on Ice”. Early in her career she specialised in Psychiatry, turning her attention to parakeets, Astro-Physics, Zen Buddhism and Haut Cuisine. She also studied the art of the Japanese tea ceremony and is now a certified tea specialist. She has published several books, including the classic “How Not to Know Where You’re Going or Why”, the controversial “Does God Speak Through Parakeets?” and the critically acclaimed “The Vegetarian Personality”. At the hospital, she is often thought of as “that person who doesn’t speak Portuguese very well” or as Dr Camone’s wife.

An Australian actress, improviser, director and teacher, Jaime Mears graduated from the Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in 2002. After several years working professionally for the Sydney Theatre Company, in various productions and in the Australian TV series “All Saints” and “McLeods Daughters”, Jaime received a Winston Churchill Fellowship for excellence in performing arts, as well as several other scholarships to study in Europe and the USA. Between 2007 and 2012, Jaime completed two years at the École Philipe Gaulier and intensive workshops with companies, directors and teachers such as Anne Bogart and the SITI Company (New York), Keith Johnstone (UK) and Complicité (UK). In Portugal, as an actress, she has performed at Teatro do Frio and Teatro Nacional São João, as well as at Radar 360 and is currently involved in a theatre project with Companhia Caótica, “A Happy and Direct Play about Sadness”. Jaime is co-artistic director of Teatro Rei Sem Roupa, for whom she created and performed “Mau Lobo Mau”. She also co-directed Circolando’s production of “Cabra Cega”. As a theatre teacher, she has taught at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo, the Escola Superior de Tecnologias e Artes de Lisboa, and regularly at In Impetus and Espaço EVOÉ, where she also directs student productions. Jaime currently teaches internationally in Russia, the UK, Denmark, Germany and Australia, running workshops in buffoonery and other theatre techniques.

In France, Basile dedicated himself to theatre, circus arts and the piano.
He moved to Portugal in 2001, learnt the language and completed his training as an actor and clown. He worked in Comedia dell’Arte with Filipe Crawford. He won Inatel’s best storyteller award.
As well as being a lecturer in the area of Global Respect (respect for vocation, respect for others and the environment), he is also a trainer in the art of clowning, circus arts, theatre-debate and personal development at Flop To Top Art.
He has two children whom he loves very much.
He likes walking in nature, playing badminton, taking a nap, dancing, reading, learning, meditating, playing music and hugging.

Made from pure cocoa from the Angolan mountains, Dr. Choca Pic originally comes from the province of Catétekalomboloca. His art in the hospital is an adaptation inspired by the moquiche “African clown” whose comicality is driven by the sounds of drumming. This art has been honed over time with the help of trainers such as Sergio Claramounte, Angela De Castro, Amihatab, Lorenz Wenda etc. His speciality is: put your hand in the air, take your foot off the ground and you’re good to go.

He has been a member of the doutores palhaços team since 2005 and at the same time works as a composer, singer and choreographer on his personal project with his first album recorded in his own name, entitled “A Rua é Minha”. He was previously part of the afro beat musical project “They must be crazy” as lead singer and lyricist on the tour and album “Mother Nature” from 2016 to 2018. From 2011 to 2014 he worked as the lead singer, composer and choreographer on the musical project “Filho Perdido” (Lost Son) with the album of the same name. His first steps in music began in 1978 when his mother ordered him to take part in the choir group at a local church in Luanda Angola with the sole justification that it was part of his education. With her parents’ divorce, she took advantage of the chaos at home and left the choir group at the beginning of the 1980s and hit the streets with break dance fever, taking part in various television programmes, local and provincial events and at the same time joining FAPLA – Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola (Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola), or rather, military service from 1986 to 1990 when she came to Portugal. Learning and working in dance, he moved on to jazz, gaining his first experience as a choreographer and, while in Portugal, he joined various dance groups at the theatre de revista in Parque Mayer. From 1995 to 2002 he was part of the tours of Angolan singer Filipe Mukenga, Guinean band Tabanka Jaz, Raul Ouro Negro Don Kikas, etc. In Portugal he answered the Divine call and returned to gospel music in the choir group gerações from 2006 to the present day.

Half charm, half luck
I crossed the ocean, but I’m also from here
I carry nostalgia as my mascot
I look like a Swallow, but I’m Good-Looking

Half shadow, half spotlight
I wear beach shoes on my feet, not skis
Garden on my head and peace in my cleavage
I’m as delicate as a wild boar

Half Sancho, half Quixote
I take the path I’ve discovered
Sometimes a girl, sometimes an old man
I stumble here and get up there

Half soft, half strong
I’m a mixture, with no pedigree
Nice to meet you, my name is Charlote.
I hope to see you around one day.

Patrícia Ubeda is an actress, clown, researcher, staging pitaqueira, good with a fork and good with advice. When she was little she liked to play, run around and dreamed of having a tree house. At 12 she made friends for life, at 14 she started doing theatre at O Tablado (RJ/BR) and at 15 she danced to Madonna’s Cherish at her debutante party. She has a degree in Theatre Performance from UNIRIO, where she made more friends (for life).

In 2000, Patrícia met the mask and the clown and fell madly in love. Since then she has studied humour, physical theatre and the mask. She has studied with so many wonderful people from whom she has learnt respect and love for the stage. She is very grateful to Ana Achcar, Fabianna de Mello Souza, Júlio Adrião, Grupo Moitará, Merche Ochoa, Rick Puccetti, Ésio Magalhães, Teófanes Silveira, César Gouvêa, Elisa Rossin, Silvia Leblon, Karla Concá, Off-Sina, Celia Ruiz, Tom Roos and so many other incredible masters. What he really likes is theatre and group clowning! He worked for 7 years with the Te Conto Umas Group, 6 years at Enfermaria do Riso, 2 years at Roda Gigante. He’s been in productions by Companhia do Gesto, Teatro de Nós, Grupo Milongas, Arrastão de Ideias, Teatro Número Três, Companhia dos Bondrés and Os Inclusos e Os Sisos. Just incredible people! He had an absolutely happy marriage with Dobra Teatro. With this company he has a son, one of his greatest artistic longings: Hominus Brasilis.

In 2016 Patrícia crossed the ocean in search of her roots and pastelinhos de Belém! Since then she has been part of the Doctor Clowns team at Operação Nariz Vermelho, where she is happy alongside her ukulele Jorge and her guitar Tânia. In 2018 and 2019 he took part in the creation of and performed in Chapitô’s show Hamlet. In 2017 he was lucky enough to meet the Improváveis (PT) and began studying Improvisation Theatre. That’s it! Another passion. Since 2019 she has appeared here and there on the stages of Os Improváveis, Cardume and JokeBox. In 2022 she became a mum and automatically gave new definitions to the words tranquillity, sleep, purpose and love.

Enfa. Compressa nasceu com patins nos pés e foi submetida a uma cirurgia para os retirar. É a enfermeira mais baixa da história e ganhou um prémio internacional e espacial para a enfermeira mais rápida em hospitais na Terra e em Marte. A Sempre Apressada já adivinha as piadas pelo seu nome. É autora de frases como “Hoje estiveste com pressa?”, e está a planear publicar uma compilação das suas frases mais famosas num livro. A moda é uma das suas grandes paixões e o cor-de-rosa é a sua cor favorita. Por isso, de vez em quando, veste-se toda de cor-de-rosa, porque toda a gente sabe que os marshmallows estão super na moda. É solteira porque o amor ainda não a atingiu. Está no ar, mas passa tão depressa que ela não tem tempo para o apanhar. Ela acredita que um piscar de olhos será o início da sua grande história de amor para sempre e anseia que esse momento chegue.

Gisela Maria Matos tem nome de teatro e por isso mesmo decidiu que a sua vida se deveria completar aí. Nasceu em Guimarães, em 1992, feito de que se orgulha bastante. É licenciada em Teatro – Interpretação pela Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espectáculo no Porto e esteve duas vezes de Erasmus. Fã deste programa europeu foi em 2013 para Inglaterra onde estudou Teatro na Falmouth University e, em 2015, foi rumo a Santiago de Compostela onde completou um estágio de oito meses na companhia de teatro espanhola, Voadora. Gisela afirmou um dia: “Farei Erasmus até à reforma.” Como actriz, tem vindo a trabalhar com o Teatro do Frio, Teatro de Ferro e o Teatro Oficina. Viciada em ser aluna, completa a sua formação com diversos cursos em áreas como Improviso, Clown, Commedia Dell’Arte e Marionetas. Em 2018 fez o curso “Le Jeu and the Clown” de duas semanas na École Philippe Gaulier em Paris, com o próprio! Tenciona lá voltar. Gosta de comer, de viajar e de ler banda desenhada. Os animais partem-lhe o coração. É fã de boas conversas, mas sobretudo de grandes silêncios.

Coming straight from Brazil, he had to take a bicycle, a cart, a train, a bus, before being shipped in a suitcase by ship to an unknown island in the middle of the Atlantic. There he hitched a ride at high speed on the tail of a dolphin until he arrived in Portugal. It took a while, but he made it! Custódio may be small, compact, with his tight, elegant clothes, fitting in anywhere, but he’s a giant in his heart, his charisma and his hunger for chicken drumsticks. With his charm, swagger and malemolência, he has been conquering hearts all over the world. But make no mistake, when you step on his foot, he sets the pace with every step.

Actor, clown, producer, theatre teacher. Born in the interior of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in his youth he ventured to the big city and learned the craft of art. He studied Performing Arts at Unirio (Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro) and graduated from the Martins Pena State Theatre School (Rio de Janeiro). Whilst at university, he took part in the Enfermaria do Riso project, where he worked in the university’s hospitals as a nurse-clown. In his travels, he founded the Teatro Xiré company, researching dance-theatre for children, travelling around Brazil and the world, and worked as a production assistant for the NGO Doutores da Alegria, in 7 hospitals. She is currently a member of the Bando de Palhaços collective, which has received awards and honours in the city of Rio for the shows it has produced and presented. In his most recent adventure, he crossed the ocean to join the artistic team of Operação Nariz Vermelho as Dr Custódio. He is part of the Colombina Clandestina collective, a Carnival block born in Lisbon to nurture his Brazilian roots on Portuguese soil.

Escrich was born in the fictional province of Verabud, where he became known as the last of his kind. In the maternity ward, he became interested in medicine when he fell in love with the nurse who slapped him on the bum. In his teens he did important jobs such as dishcloth, floor cloth, utensil tray and restaurant straw, where he was employee of the month at a large hamburger shop. Now grown up and intellectually intelligent, he wrote the self-help book “Listen to the Voices in Your Head”, which catapulted him to professional success in the scientific field. He became a doctor in the last century and has since dedicated himself to research in the field of neurotic and psychosocial science with the project “Hard Heads Are Curable” – his next bestseller!

Fernando Escrich is an actor, clown, self-taught musician and director. He was a member of the Doutores da Alegria/BR programme for 20 years, from 1994 to 2014, where he worked as a clown and as the institution’s Artistic and Expansion Coordinator, and was responsible for opening and training the artists at the Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Belo Horizonte units. In São Paulo, he coordinated the programme of hospital visits as well as the organisation’s artistic productions. Outside of hospitals, he has directed several groups and award-winning shows in the language of clowning. He is the founder of Orquestra Modesta/SP where, as well as performing, he is also a stage director, musical director and composer. Since 2018 he has been the Artistic Director of Operação Nariz Vermelho, responsible for training the clown doctors, creations and the artistic quality of the work in the hospitals.

Doctor Faísca is an electrician who sells combs in Porto’s Sé neighbourhood on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in the Alfama district on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. At weekends he spends his time in football stadiums, when he’s not in a fado house singing to his eternal beloved Laurinda, the love of his life that he has yet to find. A true Portuguese, he is an eternal admirer of Cristiano Ronaldo, the centre of his greatest anxieties when he wonders where to occupy his time when the world’s best player retires. His bedroom is covered in selfies with President Marcelo and his biggest dream is to be on Cristina Ferreira’s programme. However, he’s starting to seriously worry about leaving the neighbourhood where he was born and getting on a Ryanair plane with just a backpack and no way back, just to see what happens.

He studied acting at ESTC, Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Lisbon and graduated from La Casona Formació i Investigació Teatral in Barcelona. He also attended the first year of a degree course in contemporary dance at the NSCD, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, in Leeds, England. Actor, dancer, performer, mime, puppeteer, Janela Magalhães has taken part in several theatre and ballet productions for various companies: Companhia de Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora, Cão Danado, Estaca Zero Teatro, Companhia Catalana de Dança, Companhia de Dança de Almada, Pé de Vento, Companhia Umpor1, among others. He has taken theatre to the streets of Braga European Youth Capital, the ramblas of Barcelona and the medieval fairs of Óbidos and Santa Maria da Feira. He is a founding member of the Clown Laboratori Porto project, a platform for training and creation in the art of clowning in Porto, and has taken part as a clown in four of the company’s creations, the so-called “Labarets”. He has clown training with Carlo Mô, Pedro Fabião, Ami Hattad, Lorenz Wenda, Eric de Bond, Sergio Claramut Carlos Garcia, Peta Lily, Gerry Flannagan, among others. He recently took part as a performer in the production “The Government Inspector” by the English company Shifting Sands Theatre, staged by Gerry Flannagan. He teaches clown at the Inac international circus school.

Dr Felix Férias mixes the seriousness of a great scientist with the innocence of a child. The result is irresistible and disconcerting. As a dedicated scientist in search of answers, Dr Félix makes his own body available to further research the effects of contagious fatigue. He sometimes spends entire days on the beach in the full sun, meditating while lying down on the origins of tropical diseases. In addition to contagious fatigue and tropical diseases, Félix is a talented musician on the ukulele and lotus flute (a tropical flute). His latest and only composition “Félix goes on holiday” is available on the CD by the clowns of Operation Red Nose. Félix recently acquired an extraordinary degree in misunderstandings and misconceptions (at the University of General Confusion, Massivshoeshit, United States). Thanks to this new skill, you never know where he is or what he’s going to do. But one thing’s for sure when he turns up.

He has been part of the Operação Nariz Vermelho team since 2003. He is co-founder of the Crème de la Crème company, where he has been responsible for various projects, including the shows “The Concert”, “Venceslau, an Environmental Tale” and the solo “Monseu Pipon”, directed by Jens Alheimer. He has worked as an actor with various companies, including Filipe Crawford (2001 to 2007), Compania de Chapitô, Teatro O Bando, “El Comediantes” (Spain) and “Royal de Luxe (France). He worked as an artistic coach (2011 to 2018) and has been a clown trainer at the Inimpetus theatre school and in workshops across the country since 2012. His training in the Clown language began in 1992 at Chapitô in the Performing Arts Course. Since then she has continued her research with André Sacré Riot, Ricardo Puccetti, Philippe Gaulier, Ângela de Castro, Leo Bassi, Ami Hattab, Sérgio Claramunt, Pepa Diaz-Meco, Olivier Hugues-Terrault, among others. In 2015 she took a postgraduate course in Development through the Expressive Arts at the Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada – ISPA, Lisbon. Since 2018 she has been attending the Gestalt Therapy Course, 2nd year – 3rd edition.

Dra. Foguete is a very classy woman. Nothing appears by chance, or at random! A master of space transport, Dra. Foguete can go up fast! She’s never still, sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes disappearing and sometimes reappearing. Need something? Would you like me to sing to you? Charm it? Touch, dance or give you a massage? She can also tell stories, hang herself, make a Mexican soap opera or be a secret agent, but what she likes best is flying with her crew, all to make sure your trip goes as smoothly as possible! Whenever you need to unleash your imagination, don’t hesitate and call Dra. Foguete – a space specialist in high-pressure combustion propulsion!

Julieta Rodrigues was born in Trás-os-Montes in 1977. She currently lives in Porto. Her training began in 1998 with a degree in Psychology, integration into the University Theatre of Porto, and the School of Music and Performing Arts, in the area of acting. Since then he has undertaken continuous training at national and international level in the disciplines of Physical Theatre, Research and Choreographic Creation, Puppet Manipulation, Tap Dance, Rhythm, Contemporary Dance and Contact/Improvisation. She is a founding member and creator of RADAR 360º Associação Cultural, through which she has dedicated herself to the world of Circus and Street Theatre, covering the following techniques: stilts, aerial and voltige, object manipulation and clown techniques. As a trainer, she has been developing a pedagogy based on working with characters, space and objects in the public space, collaborating in numerous intervention, training and social theatre projects aimed at disadvantaged audiences and those in special education. In her spare time she loves cycling, swimming and picnics. When she’s reading, she loves books on philosophy and reflection, but her great passion is watching animated films!

She comes from Porto, the city of fashion, music and art. Dra. Francesinha is all that and more. She’s lost count of her age, but it’s as old as the Fernandina wall. Her breakneck pace is unstoppable despite her excellent education at the Sacred College of the Heart of Our Lady of Sorrows in Joanetes. From a typically bourgeois family, the inspiration for Agustina Bessa-Luís’s stories, Dra. Francesinha inherited something, it’s not clear what, because she was always the black sheep of the family due to her extravagance and taste for adventure. She has travelled around the world on luxury ships, can’t resist a good Rolls-Royce and doesn’t give up sequins in her wardrobe. In her high school days she was inter-district champion in sack races, a fact that still fills her with pride today!

Margarida Fernandes is from Porto, where she was born in 1975 in the historic parish of S. Nicolau. She graduated in Communication Sciences from the University of Beira Interior. She trained in Theatre/Interpretation at the Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo (Porto). She made her professional debut in the show “Causa/Efeito”, a co-production of the Porto theatre company Boas Raparigas and the Rivoli Municipal Theatre. Since then she has worked as a freelance actress in various companies, as a creator and performer in her own shows. She has also collaborated as an actress/trainer with various. institutions. Margarida Fernandes is also a professional mum to two children, Abel and Isabela. In her spare time she likes to play with them and, if there’s time, lie on the sofa reading a book without falling asleep. A staunch vegetarian, she’s a fan of the vegan berlin balls from a certain bakery of the same name in S.Mamede de Infesta. To compensate, she runs in the gym and is a regular at floor bar classes.

She’s super, she’s Dra, she’s Super Dra Ginjação! She travels around hospitals in a curiously suspicious state but is always ready to spring into action. She specialises in ukulele therapy and is also distinguished in the order and discipline of Exma Ginja of the heart by the university of online super courses in 90 days. She is a pioneer in the technique of musical anaesthesia, for which she is often called upon at any time in any corner of the world. As a hobby, she never washes her feet and enters competitions as a trained xulé. She’s won medals, cups and even washed socks. He’s currently preparing for his annual Christmas bath.

Marta de Carvalho was born in 86 in the beautiful city of Lisbon. As a child she was an unconditional fan of Filipe La Feria’s musicals, during her teenage years of the Spice Girls and nowadays she dreams of doing a duet with Lady Gaga. She began her studies at Chapitô and soon fell in love with the art of clowning. She travelled to Bonts – International Clown School and Lispa – London international School Performing Arts. Both schools were of great importance in his career. After that, she continued to discover with Phillipe Gaulier, Norman Taylor, Celia Ruiz, Antonio Fava, John Mowat etc ect tec tic tac. She’s currently venturing out as a clown teacher and even has students who don’t miss her classes. In her spare time she’s a bathtub biker and tames her wild cats.

Gently born
Subtle is its sound
It hears everything you feel
Whether bad or good

He likes to wear a dress
Decorate it with gold
Her hair is colourful
With an unusual hat

Loves to make up rhymes
Something simple, accessible
She tells her cousins everything
Except what’s impossible

Washes her hands every time
Out of disgust or safety
If the day has been exhausting
Never shows she’s tired

This flower is very fine
Sings and plays a drum
To fulfil the hope
To touch every child
And deceive their pain
And deceive their pain

He was born in 1980. After graduating in Law, he definitely immersed himself in theatre, dance and clown training. First at CITAC, in Coimbra, and then at Circolando, in Porto. Music, illustration and writing were developed in contexts of self-taught experimentation, solo or in interaction with other artists. In the Netherlands she was part of the musical collective Gudubik, supported by the Clube Português de Artes e Ideias on a national tour. During artistic residencies at the Grotowski Institute, she broadened her ideas and experience of singing, voice and theatre presence with the masters Sergey Kovalevich and Natalka Polovynka. She spent two years at c.e.m – Centro em Movimento in Lisbon, where she worked with Sofia Neuparth and Ana Rita Teodoro. After that, he started creating with the community: Noveloteca, invited by Madalena Victorino to the Todos Festival 2010 (Lisbon); Guia-me, invited by Casa das Brincadeiras to Manobras 2011 (Porto); teus imaginarius meus, invited by Imaginarius 2012 (Sta Maria da Feira); Viagem pelo desconhecido conhecido de mim and Pé no mar, cabeça na terra, invited by the Ílhavo Cultural Centre and the Rádio Faneca Festival 2014 (Ílhavo) – all of these are projects that bring together in author’s books, installations, guided tours and training workshops, her vision as an illustrator and actress of people’s stories. Among her theatre creations, she highlights the solos CabraCega (2012), supported by the Circolando company and DGArtes (Support for the Internationalisation of the Arts 2012 and 2013); and Dama Pé de Mim (2016), commissioned by the Comédias do Minho Pedagogical Project, which marks the beginning of her journey into theatre/dance for children. In this area, she has also worked with Ana Borges and Helen Ainsworth (Quando é amanhã de manhã…, 2017, and Abel e Amália, 2019), TEP-Teatro Experimental do Porto (Manda os teus pais passear, 2019) and Márcia Lança (Dentro do Coração, 2019). With Vahan Kerovpyan, a Parisian musician and illustrator, he created Lav Lur, a musical-theatre duet invited by the Grotowski Institute to the Bonds of Culture 2015, Sczeczin, and Theatre Olympics 2016, Wroclaw, Poland festivals. He was a member of Clown Laboratori Porto, a platform for training and experimentation in the art of clowning, where he worked with Pedro Fabião. In her artistic and pedagogical practice, she seeks an open body, capable of listening and acting from instinct and the present moment.

Dr. Kotonete Komkapa prefers the guitar to the scalpel. He likes well-crafted rhymes and well-played rhythms. He really cares about the well-being of his patients and their families. He’s a friend to his friends. He loves dealing with emergencies in the hospital’s gastronomy department. At the same time as his doctorate, he dreams of taking a course in Fault Therapy. He can’t do magic, but he can fool very well.

Brazilian from Belo Horizonte, he has lived in Portugal for 20 years. In 1992 he began his theatrical and musical career. Self-taught in 4 instruments, he attended the Palácio das Artes Actors School in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Since then he has never stopped training in theatre and clowning. He collaborates as a trainer of “social clowns” in various groups, mainly in Italy. He is co-founder of the MELECA Association, where he coordinates clown projects for elderly people in care homes, the theatre academy and the production of theatre and musical shows. He has recorded two CDs and released two books in Portugal. Despite being a workaholic, his favourite hobbies are going out to good restaurants and spending time with his family.

Inês Mariana Moitas was born in Viseu in 1983. She’s a Beira woman, from the Dão Lafões region, more precisely from the town of Oliveira de Frades, which is also known for being the capital of the country chicken. You could say she’s a country chicken, but as she lives in Porto she’s a cosmopolitan hillbilly. An actress with a university degree and a seamstress with an inner passion, she earns a living either acting or creating costumes for shows, and sometimes she even gets to do both at the same time! She has been a Clown Doctor in Operação Nariz Vermelho since 2017.

Doutora Popovna comes from the East, so she often gets disorientated. She’s often in the East! She has a fascination with synchronised swimming. Do you know what she does in her spare time?
Nothing!

She loves to spend hours in the sea counting fish, but as she has a short memory, she’s always going back to the beginning. Rigorous and virtuous, she has a master’s degree in Swedish Gymnastics and a doctorate in falls. She has a penchant for slips, slides and silliness. She likes to test the limits of the sky and the limits of the ground.

Her speciality is spectacular falls with class. When she’s excited, she changes her b’s for v’s. Which leaves us wondering: is her name really Popobna?

He likes the coast for walking and the sea for surfing.
He never misses an opportunity to dance and often goes to the Lindyhop to increase his heart rate.
It was in 1987 that his lungs began to function, supplying oxygen to his cells. Her pancreas, on the other hand, stopped supplying her cells with insulin in 1998 and from then on Marta learnt to count the sugars in her food and measure her blood glucose levels.

She became curious about dichotomies and the infinite search for balance, and in 2017 she created a show called Balança (Balance), which uses the language of clown, puppets and musical theatre to talk about type 1 diabetes.
Between dichotomous issues, she studied and completed her degree in Sport and Physical Education at FADEUP in 2010. She has taught and coached students aged 0 to 87. She started in theatre in 2005 with CT4Ventos, in 2011 she continued her artistic training with the clown collective ClownLaboratoriPorto and since then, in addition to Doctor Popovna at ONV (2017), she has worked collectively with the companies Historioscópio (2017), Coração nas Mãos (2018) and Ervilha no Topo do Bolo (2019), an improvisation theatre group of which she is co-founder.

Since 2007 he has completed more than twenty theatre training courses in Portugal, Austria and Spain with trainers such as: Peta Lily, Ami Hanab, Josh Houben, Jaime Mears, Inês Lua, Nuno Pino Custódio, Pedro Fabião, Yumi Fuji-tani, Tom Roos, Silvia Leblon, Elisa de Almeida Rossin, Élise Ouvrier-Buffet, Lana Biba and Txema Perez from London Physical Theatre School, Antón Coucheiro, Zeca Carvalho, Chris Griswold, Andrea Macera, Nola Rae, Avner Eisenberg, Yael Karavan, Gabriel
Chame Buendía.
As a reflection of his unquestionable passion for theatre, and unable to contain his creativity any longer, he took to the stage the shows “Aceitas?” 2015; “Balança” 2017; “Chá das Cinco” 2018; “Martha Coast Gim” 2022 and “Albas” 2023.

She made her debut in contemporary circus as the presenter of “Cabaret de Circo da Esmae” (2017) and has a career that spans circus, clown, theatre, puppetry and improvisation.
In order to balance out how extraordinary and unpredictable her life is, Marta is very happy when there is simply her favourite dish on the menu: Creamy Vegetable Soup, well done!

Dr Paco was born in the Banana Republic on the Caribbean Sea. At a very young age he made his first voyage on a cargo ship where he began working on deck. Due to his friendliness, his ability to make up stories and his innate abilities to sing, dance and play any instrument, he quickly found himself surrounded by captains and captains. This catapulted him onto the biggest cruise ships in the world. There he was a croupier, ballroom dancing instructor, masseur and lifeguard, among many other things. He lived in Miami, Puerto Rico, Barbados and many other places where the heat was always his best friend. One day, on the beach, a senior tourist told him he could be anything he wanted and he pursued his dream of becoming a doctor. Without university, exams or the Hippocratic oath, he headed for Portugal and put on the Operação Nariz Vermelho coat.

Gilberto Oliveira graduated in Theatre Studies from the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espetáculo. He attended the theatre training course, La Nouvelle École des Maitres, directed by Enrique Diaz. He has worked as a clown in hospital settings since 2008 with Operação Nariz Vermelho. He is co-founder of Companhia Musgo, where he is part of the cast as a performer and co-creator. He has worked with various directors, including Nuno Cardoso, José Wallenstein, Paulo Castro, Fernando Moreira, Júlio Cardoso, Tiziana Arnaboldi, Lee Beagley, Denis Bernard, Luís Mestre, Joana Moraes, Pedro Almendra and Carlos Costa, among others. He directed the shows “Fio Prumo” and “Pira-te” with the Erva Daninha company, “Um acordar cinzento e cheia de sono”, “Nó”, “WannaBe” and “FUGU”. He regularly participates in television and cinema productions on the national scene. He is a trainer on the theatre initiation course at CITAC and on the free course at ESMAE. Gilberto Oliveira was born in 1980 in Porto. He has a Scorpio sign, a Leo ascendant and a Moon in Cancer. His ascendant led him to study theatre at ESMAE and consequently to work in the field, including film and television, since 2001. His moon is what gets him out of the bohemian life. It brings you home and values family life. Your sign gives you charm and although it scares you, it doesn’t hurt a fly.

His health training was done over the phone and with “high marks”. He stands out for his studded shoes, patterned socks, creased trousers and matching moustache. It’s normal for him to have a guitar nearby. He has performed glamorous cabarets in the past and has now adapted them for lounges, corridors or hospital rooms. He inherited his father’s charm and his mother’s good taste in music, as well as the silliness and satisfaction in children’s smiles. What it has in height it has in lightness.

He was born in the mid-1980s in Porto. He was born in Vila do Conde and is a Scorpio. His education began with a course in commerce/marketing, but he soon realised that his ambitions were different. Since then, he has moved between music, theatre and clown. She worked on the language of clowning through continuous training and the creation of shows with clown laboratori Porto. She has worked with her body, voice and puppets in various companies such as Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora, Partículas Elementares, Estupendo Inuendo.

Gertrudes, better known as Xtruz, grew up between the countryside and the city, between the erudite and the simple, between the breezy and the chic, and is a Being who sees herself in several Beings. Like a vigilante, she always brings her best to those who don’t have it. She tries to find out who she is in every relationship she establishes. Sometimes she feels like a mirror, she doesn’t know if she is herself or if she is the other, plunging into great existential tides. She loves poetry and her favourite is “ora zus xtruz, xtruz, ora zás traz, traz, ora chega, chega, chega, ora arreda lá trás”, which she often takes literally. She dreams of being a Diva, but most of the time she drifts, crashing into great treasures and paradise islands. She navigates between opera and traditional music, between São Carlos and the Coreto. She’d really like to be a singer, but she has trouble memorising lyrics and she’s quite arrhythmic, even having arrhythmias when she gets upset about her own beliefs. But her deepest desire was to be a maid, to play with pots and pans like children, to plant gardens with the elderly and to clean the world like animals. As she was born at a time when none of this is well regarded, she chose a high-status profession: Nursing! With a postgraduate degree in Fofice, her speciality is “Knocking on doors before entering and not slamming the door when leaving”. Her heart is in her head and her sensitivity is as clear as a garden planted by the sea. But it’s not all roses; if you don’t pay attention, it whistles like a pressure cooker. You need to be vigilant, lest you explode!!!

Mariana Moreira has a degree in Theatre and Education and a BA in Actor Training from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, with Erasmus in Gestural Theatre at the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid. A clown, actress, director and theatre teacher, in 2009 she founded Rir de Nós – Associação Cultural. Her favourite hobby is doing nothing, preferably in the middle of nature, but it can also be on the sofa. Apart from that, she enjoys taking classes with interesting people, reading, going to the theatre and cinema, doing pilates, cooking and eating tasty, healthy food, alone or with loved ones.

Lighthouse Head, Horse Feet and Whale Heart. She lives in the world of soap bubbles, flavoured with cinnamon and lemon. He communicates best by singing, just like a desert macaw. Her legs have a life of their own and sometimes one leg dances the foxtrot and the other a waltz.

Believing is urgent for her! Believing that we can “fly” freely like sea turtles or run like a wild horse in a meadow full of flowers and that, at the end of the day, the moon will be smiling kindly on everyone.

Born in Lisbon, she began her career as a socio-cultural animator in homes and day centres run by Santa Casa da Misericórdia.

After graduating in Set and Costume Design at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, she took part in the design of several puppet shows. She trained in Theatre, Mask Theatre and Clown, and as a Storyteller she runs activities for babies and children in libraries, bookshops and at Santa Maria Hospital. She organises interdisciplinary workshops on art, the environment and humanism, most notably the “My Street is a Landscape” workshop at Fábrica das Artes, Centro Cultural de Belém, in 2013 and 2015.

In 2017 she joined the group of Visiting Clowns, “A Visita”, a Social Solidarity Art Project that visits old people’s homes. In 2019 she joined Operação Nariz Vermelho as Doctor Clown. At the same time, she dedicates herself to creating objects/sculptures inspired by the human condition.

After finishing her degree in Set and Costume Design, she took the Actor Training Course at the School of Theatre and Dance – Espaço Evoé, where she came into contact with Mask Theatre, Gesture Theatre and Clown. Fascinated by the poetic-comic revelations of this work, she decided to specialise in the figure of the clown, focusing on research into physical comedy, the plastic arts and the social aspect. She attended various clown workshops, including the Actors Studio in Barcelona, Minimal Clown with Tom Roos, Clown and Emotions with Matteo Ciffariello, Therapeutic Clown in the context of nursing homes with Hearts&Minds. She has taken part in the Vila do Conde International Clown Festival, and attended workshops in Object Theatre and Animated Forms at Tarumba, Puppet Theatre, with Agnès Limbos.

At the same time, she makes regular visits to old people’s homes as a clown for the group A VISITA.

In 2019 she joins at Operação Nariz Vermelho as Doctor Clown.

The daughter of a molete father and a haggard mother, Biju immediately asked what there was to eat when she was born (she was very hungry)!

She grew up (about a metre and a half) and over time became a massage specialist. She fell in love with studying the world of massages and the senses.

She treats his patients to a good massage without even touching them! She does a kind of idioto-hypnotic dance that consists of losing his shoes, shuffling his feet, tripping over things, running into walls, dropping things out of his pockets, off the ceiling, stepping on a cat, slipping, etc…

As well as eating, he likes to say poetry, sing opera while operating, speak languages that don’t exist and discuss fractious topics such as: if I rollerblade, can I fall and fracture an arm? or, itchy back, how do I get there? or how do I avoid sneezing with a mouth full of biscuits?

She has published a self-help book entitled: Biju or Bolinha? – In which he once again discusses a fractious issue that preoccupies humanity when it goes to the bakery.

She was born in Porto in 1975. She has been a professional actress since the 1800s…

She studied at ace- arts school where she is now a trainer. She collaborates with the Bolhão Theatre on various training projects.

She trained in clown technique with Philippe Gaulier, John Mowat and André Riot Sarcey.

She has a postgraduate degree in Theatre Interpretation – performing arts from ESTC (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema).

She has worked as an interpreter or in movement support for companies such as Teatro Bruto, Teatro do Bolhão, Teatro Meridional, Escola de Mulheres, Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Teatro O Bando, Companhia do Chapitô, Companhia Paulo Ribeiro, Circolando, Amarelo Silvestre, Didascália, Quarteto Contratempus, Noitarder, etc; with creators such as Alan Richardson, José Wallenstein, Cristina Cravalhal, Carlos Avilez, Rogério de Carvalho, Joana Providência, Madalena Vitorino, António Fonseca, etc.

Her work as an interpreter has a strong physical component.

Dr. Chicô is a clown doctor who specialises in “pédiatrics” (a branch of medicine that takes care of the feet, for example: chilblains, ingrown toes, bunions, fish eyes, club feet and waltz feet).

His accent can be a little strange, as he comes from far away, more precisely from São Paulo in Brazil, which is a little way from the Algarve. His other specialities are rimatology and rhythmology. He also does samba ultrasounds to warm up the Netherlands, from the feet to the bum.

Extremely polished and cultured, he speaks several languages, including English, French, Spanish, Babyese, Cantonese, Mandarin, tambourine and, amazingly, Portuguese (the latter he hasn’t mastered as well as the others).

He likes to philosophise, for example… “are there stars in the sky of your mouth?” or why “everything is written separately and everything together is written separately?”. It’s questions like these that make Dr. Chicô so adept at “soft talk” and “crumb” too. Don’t hesitate to talk to this Doctor about anything, because if he doesn’t know, he’ll make it up!

Nilson was born in Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil.

His first school was the Beleza Pura samba school, where he spent more than two decades parading and playing Carnival. His theatre studies began at the Escola Livre de Teatro in São Paulo. He then moved to Paris to study at the École Internationale du Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where he specialised in mask and also in clown language.

In 2010 he returned to Brazil and joined the cast of Doutores da Alegria, where he stayed for 10 years before immigrating to Lisbon to join the cast of Operação Nariz Vermelho. Throughout this period he worked at the Doctors of Joy school as a trainer and continued his clown studies with masters from Brazil and around the world.

Dra. Sapa took medicine on a folded piece of paper from the bag of courses to take when you don’t know what to study for your professional life, and so began her journey. They were long years of inverted study that made no sense at all, and she got sick of pasta with tuna. They were, however, years of great fun and in order to continue celebrating life – and all that is absurd and happy – he decided to join the team of Doctor Clowns.

A specialist in a few things, Dra. Sapa is a permanent intern so she doesn’t have too many responsibilities, burdens, lice or bunions. She jumps from water lily to hospital, so her feet never smell. She’s smiley, talks loudly, but hasn’t yet learnt to fly or operate on anything. He has a good heart, a congenital clumsiness, a magnetism for apparent falls and an excellent ability to talk a lot and say nothing.

She is an activist for the sustainability of the planet by defending the cause of insects as the protein base for human food.

Joana Sapinho is an actress with a degree from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema. During her training she was a member of the university theatre group 2ª Circular, directed by Ricardo Gageiro, and made her professional theatre debut at Comuna Teatro de Pesquisa with Adriano Banchiéri’s A Barca from Venice to Padua, directed by Luca Aprea and with musical direction by Maria Repas.

He has worked with João Mota, Jorge Silva Melo, Mónica Calle, Tiago Mateus, Ricardo Alves, Carlos Malvarez and Michel Simeão. In the cinema, she took part in some short films and in João Canijo’s film Sangue do Meu Sangue. In television, he has made adverts and taken part in series and soap operas. He has been dubbing and doing voice-overs since 2009. She has been teaching dramatic expression, theatre, voice, acting and movement since 2008. Most recently, she was part of the cast of “Cinema Medo”, at Cinema S. Jorge. Jorge and the comedy “Isto Não Acaba Assim” at the Villaret Theatre. She has been a member of the Doutores Palhaços team since 2022.

This is Doctor Caneca. CA – NE – CA. Don’t confuse it with Careca, Caneco or Chávena. The correct pronunciation of this name is crucial, as the serene and tranquil Caneca can be surprising if misinterpreted.

But everyone wants to know: is this mug full or empty? What material is its composition and composure made of?

Well, I can tell you that this mug overflows with life and joy. It’s deep in philosophical questions and thoughts; great for diving and excellent for floating. It rejoices in the constant company of its colleagues and, together, they traverse the labyrinths of the hospital corridors.

However, there is an empty space in this Mug waiting to be filled. With each encounter, a little of the contents of this mug mixes and renews itself. It is a container full of encounters, in constant metamorphosis and transformation. For those who haven’t met him yet, it’s indescribable, because nobody knows what he’ll be like at the next meeting? But I can guarantee that it will be kind to you and will leave a little piece of itself behind and take a little piece of you with it.

As a child he enjoyed sports and drawing. He went to school partly in Pelotas and partly in Caxias do Sul (Brazil). It was during secondary school that she became interested in Art History, having a teacher whose name she unfortunately can’t remember. He graduated in Visual Arts from the University of Caxias do Sul. He has worked as a visual artist, taking part in seven group exhibitions and two solo exhibitions; he has carried out cultural production and artistic mediation in various art galleries; he was a primary school art teacher.

He entered the theatre through the A Gangorra Theatre Group, with which he participated in the creation and performance of street and stage shows.

He moved to Lisbon in 2017. She trained at the Evoé Theatre School, in Actor Training and Physical Theatre. Over the years, she has dedicated herself to training in theatre, music and clowning. He has worked with theatre companies in Lisbon and Porto; he directed the Cola Quente Puppet Theatre Company for a year and a half; today he is a member of the Doctor Clowns team at Operação Nariz Vermelho.