Robert Wilson Immerses Audiences in Fernando Pessoa's Poetic Universe

Robert Wilson's 'Pessoa – Since I've been me' runs from June 13 to June 21, 2026, at Théâtre de la Ville-Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. The production explores the multifaceted work of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), who remained largely unpublished during his lifetime. Wilson draws on Pessoa's heteronyms—Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, Alberto Caeiro—to stage a mirror play between reality and fiction. The cast includes Maria de Medeiros, Rodrigo Ferreira, and Klaus Martini. Excerpts from 'The Keeper of Flocks,' 'Faust,' and 'The Book of Disquiet' are performed in multiple languages. The show premiered on May 2, 2024, at Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Italy, co-produced with that theater and Théâtre de la Ville. Wilson's staging combines visual elements like blue skies, red suns, black cypresses, and a white boat, with a figure of Pessoa in suit, glasses, mustache, and hat. The production weaves childhood and death, dream and wakefulness, music-hall and poetry, light and shadow.