Nuno M Cardoso directs Theater students in the play Private Fears in Public Places

Private Fears in Public Places is a play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn that explores, with subtle humor and a dose of melancholy, the loneliness and emotional contradictions of contemporary urban life.

Through six characters who try to survive loneliness and whose lives intertwine in a discreet but significant way, the text reveals the fragilities hidden behind a facade of everyday normality. The play, marked by fragmented dialogues and scenes that are repeated or complement each other in layers, builds a mosaic about the difficulty of communication and the search for human connection. Ayckbourn thus draws an acid and at the same time compassionate portrait of the middle class, trapped in conventions, hypocrisies and unacknowledged fears. Laughter appears not as relief, but as discomfort – a mirror of our own contradictions.

Private Fears in Public Places, by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by: Nuno M Cardoso

Cast: Beatriz Oliveira, Beatriz Santos, Bia Ramos, Francisco Falcão, Hélia Viterbo, Lara Ferreira, Luísa Loureiro, Màteja Kardelis, Matilde Neto (ESAP 1st year drama class)

June 6, 2025 [Friday] | 7pm | ESAP Auditorium