The first occasion on which we presented the classical theatre to the public of Parintins, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, using the methodology that would later be consolidated as the dynamics of the Ludi Insulae, took place on 21 October 2016, with a production of Cistellaria, directed by the undergraduate researcher Nívia Maria Messias Ribeiro (see Ribeiro and Grizoste Reference Ribeiro and Grizoste2016, pp. 75–92). The second presentation of the genre occurred on 31 March 2018, with Truculentus, directed by Ely Raimunda Barros Evangelista (see Evangelista and Grizoste Reference Evangelista and Grizoste2018, pp. 193–204). Conceived as the closing events of the Classical and Humanistic Studies Journeys, these performances nevertheless made clear that a single showing was wholly insufficient for such a demanding undertaking, given that the students read a translation in European Portuguese, adapted it to the local linguistic context, and memorised Plautus’ play in its entirety. It was from this rejection of the ‘single-performance model’ that the Ludi Insulae ultimately emerged.

After the Second Classical and Humanistic Studies Journey, students who had engaged more closely with the field expressed a desire to stage a tragedy. We considered that an interpretation of this genre required at least a minimal preparation of an audience largely unfamiliar with Classical Studies and with Greek tragedy as a form of theatrical performance. To this end, we established the First Classical Reading Cycle, whose purpose was not only to prepare the actors but also to shape the reception of the performance itself. Drawing on reception aesthetics, as formulated by Jauss (Reference Jauss1978, pp. 49–50), we understood that the staging of a classical tragedy presupposes a horizon of expectations that must be shared, at least to some degree, between the work and its audience, whose active participation is essential to the production of meaning. This perspective is likewise emphasised by Wolfgang Iser (Reference Iser1996, pp. 50–51), according to whom ‘the text is realised through the constitution of a receptive consciousness’; thus, ‘the work is the being constituted by the text in the reader’s consciousness’. Or, as Hardwick (Reference Hardwick2025, pp. 17–20) likewise argues, the reception of classical constitutes an active process of meaning-making, insofar as meaning is only realised through the interaction between the ancient text and the cultural and historical contexts of its readers and audiences.

The play scheduled for presentation in April 2020 – Medea, by Euripides – was selected on the basis of a collective reading of four Greek tragedies conducted during the Cycle, in which 57 participants took an active part. The event unfolded in three stages. First, a collective and dramatised reading of the play was held, with the text projected so that the audience could follow it closely; the choral passages were read in unison by all participants. This was followed by an expository lecture and a discussion of the work with the audience. At the conclusion of the Cycle, we proceeded to the final stage: the selection of the tragedy to be performed at the Third Journey. The pandemic ultimately prevented that performance from taking place; however, the resulting hiatus prompted us to rethink both the format and the objectives involved in institutionalising the activity. During this same period, research on classical theatre and its reception, as well as on other areas of Classical Studies, was maturing and becoming increasingly consolidated in Parintins.

In 2022, already working with a new cohort of undergraduate students, we felt compelled to return to the comedies of Plautus. The conclusion of the Third Classical and Humanistic Studies Journey, however, brought more than a Plautine play: it marked the inauguration of the first Classical Theatre Season in Parintins, which we named Ludi Insulae, in reference to the city’s location on an Amazonian island. Thus, Ludi Insulae emerged from accumulated experience, from frustration with ephemerality, and from the recognition that classical theatre requires continuity, time, and circulation in order fully and properly to fulfil its role in the education of Portuguese language teachers. The initiative was also inspired by the experience of Thíasos, the Classical Theatre group of the Universidade de Coimbra (University of Coimbra),Footnote ¹ as well as by the specific conditions of the Portuguese language teacher education programmes in the interior of the Amazon.Footnote ²

On another front, linked to the maturation and expansion of research in Classical Studies at the institution, the need arose to establish an institutionalised research group. Latinitates – Estudos Clássicos e Humanísticos (Latinitates – Classical and Humanistic Studies), registered in the Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa no Brasil (DGP; Directory of Research Groups in Brazil), received certification from the Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA; University of the State of Amazonas) on 23 May 2022. Following the establishment of the research group, and in dialogue with ongoing concerns surrounding performances of classical theatre, an epistemological question emerged: how could Latinitates transcend the boundaries of the university and reach non-specialist audiences without compromising theoretical and academic rigour? This concern, together with our previous experience in classical theatre, underscored the need for a continuous public-engagement initiative capable of articulating teaching, research, and public engagement. Ludi Insulae thus emerged in this context as a concrete response to this demand, functioning as a public-engagement initiative developed within Latinitates and grounded in its theoretical reflections. It enables plays from Antiquity to be read, adapted, and staged in public and community spaces, thereby promoting dialogue between the classical tradition and the society of Parintins.

The first public presentation of Ludi Insulae took place on the morning of 22 October 2022, exactly six years after the performance of Cistellaria, which had been staged in the auditorium of the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM; Federal University of Amazonas), in Parintins. On the programme, the First Ludi Insulae featured Casina, by Plautus, directed by the undergraduate students Hayra Cristine Lima Sarubbi and Sabrina dos Santos Carneiro (see Sarubbi et al. Reference Sarubbi, Carneiro and Grizoste2023, pp. 27–42). The play was staged on Itaracuera Beach, on the banks of the Uaicurapá River, approximately 35 kilometres from the port of Parintins (Figure 1). It is both symbolic and intentional that Ludi Insulae was born from the ritual character of a non-conventional Amazonian setting, marked by the boldness and risk inherent in the region’s logistical challenges, the inexperience of an amateur and volunteer cast, and the adaptation of a translation into European Portuguese.Footnote ³ If, on the one hand, the first presentation of the project honoured the local context and resonated with the roots of ancient theatre – since, in Athens in the fifth century BCE, theatre was performed outdoors – on the other, Ludi Insulae thus emerged less as a finished technical product than as a founding cultural act, and its principal value therefore lies in its pioneering gesture.

Figure 1.

Scene from the premiere of Casina, at Itaracuera Beach, on the banks of the Uaicurapá River, First Ludi Insulae, 2022.

Itaracuera Beach is a vast, natural, and rugged space, characterised by a narrow and elongated strip of light-coloured sand shaped by the regime of Amazonian rainfall. The site has no infrastructure: there is no stage, no seating, and no permanent buildings; it does not even have land access. The setting of the premiere was composed exclusively of natural elements: the river in the background with two boats, the trees framing the space, the open sky, and the sandy ground, which heats up intensely under the sun after eight o’clock in the morning. In this setting, after a journey of approximately three hours – departing from the Amazon River, passing through the Paraná do Ramos (a branch of the Amazon River), and docking at the Uaicurapá River – around 100 spectators witnessed the emergence of Ludi Insulae. This premiere was documented in a 10-minute-and-10-second mini-documentary (see Grizoste Reference Grizoste2022), funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM; Amazonas State Research Support Foundation), within the framework of the Third Classical and Humanistic Studies Journey.

Over the course of its four seasons, Ludi Insulae progressively expanded its performance venues, consolidating the circulation of its productions across natural settings, public squares, institutional spaces, and riverside communities. Performances took place on river beaches, such as Itaracuera; on docks, including Cantagalo and the Digital Square dock; and in public squares in the city of Parintins, notably Digital Square, Bois Square, Cathedral Square, and Olaria Square. Institutional venues likewise played an important role, among them the Vandineth Pires Auditorium at the Centro de Estudos Superiores de Parintins (CESP; Parintins Centre for Higher Studies) of the UEA; the João do Carmo Citizenship Station Theatre; the Cine Teatro da Paz; and the UFAM Auditorium. Performances also reached inland communities, such as the Community Gymnasium of Cutipanã, in the municipality of Nhamundá, during the Second Fest Ycamiabas in 2023. In addition to theatrical activities, Ludi Insulae expanded its public-engagement activities by promoting reading workshops, text-production workshops, and theatre workshops, carried out mainly at the São Francisco de Assis Municipal School.

This diversity of venues and activities highlights the public engagement-oriented character of the project. Such practice aligns with the concepts of ‘theatre in public spaces’ and ‘community-based theatre’, which advocate theatre as an instrument of cultural democratisation. Schechner (Reference Schechner2003, p. 8) argues that ‘going to the theatre’ is not limited to ‘going to a theatre building’, but also encompasses the preparation of non-conventional spaces and the occupation of public ones; what matters most is the presence of spectators, wherever they may be. Elsewhere, Schechner (Reference Schechner2003, pp. 162–163) understands this practice as a form of performance democratisation, contrasting closed, bourgeois, and institutional theatre with open and community-based forms, such as Greek theatre as integrated into the ancient city. In this sense, by bringing classical theatre to peripheral spaces, riverside communities, and areas with limited access to high-quality cultural offerings, Ludi Insulae contributes to the democratisation of access to culture and academic knowledge, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 10 of the 2030 Agenda.

From the outset, Ludi Insulae adopted a methodology that directly contributes to the promotion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, particularly with regard to quality education, the reduction of inequalities, cultural valorisation, and the strengthening of local communities (United Nations 2015). The progressive growth of Ludi Insulae’s activities, together with the expansion of the group’s spaces and modes of action, required an institutional reorganisation. This process was further enabled by the implementation of a Programa de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento da Extensão Universitária (PADEX; University Public Engagement Development Support Programme), lasting 30 months, entitled in English ‘Literary Movements from Antiquity to Contemporaneity in the Context of Parintins’, within the framework of which four projects were developed, two of them in the field of Classical Studies (see Grizoste and Nascimento Reference Grizoste and Nascimento2024).

In this context, on 1 August 2023, we created the Laboratório de Cultura Clássica (LCC; Classical Culture Laboratory), to support the research carried out by Latinitates. The Laboratory functions as a physical space for investigation, experimentation, methodological training, and the theoretical maturation of researchers, students, and fellows, while also assuming direct responsibility for public engagement activities. The Laboratory thus came to operationalise research, public engagement, and teaching activities and – within the public engagement sphere – to organise workshops, rehearsals, scenic production, costume production, sound design, and the practical training of actors. This reorganisation allowed Latinitates to devote itself exclusively to research, while Ludi Insulae consolidated itself as a structured and continuous public-engagement expression of this intellectual production, as occurred with other projects in the field, such as Latin in LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language) and Latin at School.

From the second season onwards, Ludi Insulae expanded its methodology through the involvement of 10 fellows in the programme – 6 of them directly linked to Ludi Insulae, each being responsible for a specific section. In addition to the Ludi theatrales proper, other playful activities were developed: in the Ludi horrendi, we staged the cultural soirée ‘What if Rome Had Halloween?’; in the Ludi boarii, the cultural soirée ‘What if Rome Had Boi-Bumbá?’; in the Ludus gladiatorum, a simulated gladiatorial combat; in the Ludi poetici, recitals of classical poetry; and in the Ludi personarum, a costume contest held during literary and cultural soirées. These methodological procedures are in line with the understanding of the playful and creative character of theatrical practice as a formative process for teachers, grounded in participation, improvisation, and experiential learning (Chellini Reference Chellini and Chellini2025, p. 18). Here, however, we shall focus primarily on the Ludi theatrales, the first and principal vocation of Ludi Insulae.

The methodology of Ludi Insulae is grounded in practices of active, experiential, interdisciplinary, and public engagement-based learning, articulating classical theatre, academic training, research, and cultural intervention through workshops devoted to reading, adaptation, and performance. The approach adopted takes into account the five categories of games and exercises systematised by Boal (Reference Boal2002, pp. 80–83): thus, in our practice, we seek, through touch, to feel what is touched; through listening, to hear what is listened to; and through observation, to see what is looked at. In doing so, we aim to activate multiple senses simultaneously and to engage in exercises that stimulate sensory memory.

The methodology also conceives theatre as an aesthetic experience of knowledge, perception, and reflection, as articulated by Brook (Reference Brook1996, pp. 104–105); in this way, future Portuguese language teachers are able to develop an understanding of rhythm, gesture, space, body, and voice through theatrical practice. Ludi Insulae privileges learning through practice, the collective mediation of knowledge, and dialogue between the university and the community, in line with contemporary principles of university public engagement. Over the course of its first four seasons, this methodology underwent a process of progressive consolidation, incorporating new pedagogical, artistic, and organisational procedures.

Since the first season, preparation has begun with a cycle of collective readings of four or five works, chosen by the fellows and volunteers involved at that stage, with faculty mediation. From the second season onwards – and especially in the fourth – this cycle was expanded and systematised, coming to include the reading of Greek and Latin works, followed by collective discussion and a democratic selection of the play to be staged. In the fourth season, the group read and discussed three Greek tragedies (Alcestis, Helena, and Troades, by Euripides) and one Latin tragedy (Thyestes, by Seneca). In addition, participants took part in a dramatised reading of Troades, by Seneca, within the Latin Literature course, thereby consolidating comparative reading across distinct dramatic traditions. The purpose of this activity is to expand the actors’ repertoire of classical works and to foster an understanding of plot, characters, dramatic conventions, and the historical and cultural contexts of the texts.

Across all seasons, the works underwent a process of linguistic and cultural adaptation of the translation, with the purpose of making the theatrical performance more accessible to local audiences, without compromising their aesthetic and structural integrity. Responsibility for the adaptation lay with a designated undergraduate student, although actors were also able to propose adjustments during rehearsals. In the fourth season, this stage required particular care, as it involved the first tragedy staged within the framework of classical theatrical performances in Parintins – it is worth noting that the long-postponed decision to stage a tragedy was also unanimous among those involved.

The adaptation process, as is well known, constitutes a form of cultural mediation that articulates the classical tradition with the Amazonian and Parintins contexts, seeking to preserve both the playwright’s intention and that of the translator. Throughout this process, we were careful not to distort the work or to suppress dialogue or characters, aiming solely at its insertion into the local linguistic context. In an age of character-limited messages, short videos, and brief performances, criticism inevitably arose from those who wished to see a Latin or Greek play condensed into 20 minutes; Ludi Insulae, however, is characterised far more by fidelity to the structure of the classical text than by any need to conform to contemporary logics of rapid spectacle consumption. This methodology engages with Bassnett’s (Reference Bassnett1998) work on cultural translation, acknowledges the problems of untranslatability discussed by Ricoeur (Reference Ricoeur2005), and draws on Hutcheon’s (Reference Hutcheon2006) studies of adaptation, which understand translation as a creative, intercultural process grounded in hospitality.

As an example of contextualisation, we may cite an instance from the first season, drawn from a line spoken by Lysidamus (Pl. Cas. 1005). The verse Nulla causast, quin pendentem me, uxor, uirgis uerberes, which Aires do Couto translated as ‘dou-te ordem, mulher, para me pendurares e me dares umas vergastadas’ (I give you leave, woman, to hang me up and give me a few lashings), was adapted by us by replacing the term vergastadas (‘lashings’) with lambadas (‘lashings’ or ‘slaps’). It should be noted that the translator rendered the verbal form in the subjunctive as a nominal form, a choice that we likewise followed. The contextualisation that sought to lend greater humour and vitality to Plautine theatre in an Amazonian setting, however, proved particularly revealing. Vergastada denotes ‘a blow delivered with a vergasta’, and a vergasta is a kind of whip, rod, or flexible switch, that is, an instrument used for whipping. Lambada conveys precisely the same basic meaning, but in popular usage it also acquires the sense of ‘a slap’. Unlike vergastada, both semantic values of lambada may be derived from uerberō, even though the Oxford Latin Dictionary suggests ‘whipping’ for Plautus’ verse. In Parintins, however, ‘lambada’ resonates on stage with an almost childlike tone of domestic correction, whereas vergastada would appear stripped of humour or any sense of intimacy with the audience.

This problem of equivalence, function, and value in distinct cultural contexts – illustrated by Bassnett (Reference Bassnett1998, pp. 27–28) through the contrast between ‘butter’ in English and burro in Italian – is discussed by Ricoeur (Reference Ricoeur2005, p. 29) by way of the asymmetry of bois in French, which concentrates the meanings of ‘wood’ and ‘forest’, in contrast to German, where these meanings are distributed across two distinct words: Holz (‘wood’) and Wald (‘forest’). Ricoeur thus explains that there is no biunivocal, one-to-one correspondence between the lexical units of two languages. Accordingly, our choices of contextualisation were never concerned with biunivocal equivalence, but rather with cultural adequacy; this position is further supported by Martindale (Reference Martindale1993, pp. 7–8), for whom classical texts do not possess a fully recoverable original meaning. Along these lines, we understand adaptation as Hutcheon (Reference Hutcheon2006, p. 8) does: as a process that should be understood not merely as a finished product, but as a creative and interpretive practice involving recreation and transformation.

After the adaptation stage, readings aimed at recognising the structure of the acts were undertaken. Rehearsals developed progressively over a period of two months, beginning within the Classical Culture Laboratory (LCC) with dramatised readings, scene-by-scene rehearsals, spatial blocking, and exercises in voice, diction, improvisation, and bodily expression. In addition to rehearsals focused on familiarisation with the performance space, some experiments were carried out in open areas of the Parintins Centre for Higher Studies (CESP). The pedagogical routine of the rehearsals was clear and objective, divided between technical rehearsals and rehearsals directed towards theatrical dynamics, cast integration, improvisation, and self-control in front of an audience. These practices reinforce a formative theatrical pedagogy aimed not only at scenic outcomes, but also at the personal, communicative, and collective development of the cast.

One of our main theoretical sources for staging the performances has been Castiajo (Reference Castiajo2012), as it offers an interpretation of Greek theatre within its context of representation, addressing scenic space, music, dance, costume, and dramatic action; we have also drawn on the rich – though concise – information provided by Pereira (Reference Pereira1989, pp. 67–70) concerning the fabula palliata. In addition, other sources were consulted by the undergraduate students, each according to their specific role before, during, and after the performances.

Ludi Insulae has consistently sought to expand the division of roles within the cast. This methodology is grounded in the principle of Project-Based Learning (PBL), implemented in accordance with the model described by John Thomas (Reference Thomas2000, p. 1) and Stephanie Bell (Reference Bell2010, p. 39), in which students are expected to guide their own learning through investigation, problem-solving, and decision-making, while also working collaboratively to research and create projects autonomously that reflect their knowledge.

Accordingly, the cast was divided into roles relating to coordination, direction, adaptation, costume design, make-up, sound design, stage management, and acting. The roles of costume designer and sound designer were directly linked to fellows of the Classical Culture Laboratory (LCC). Stage management and acting, in turn, were characterised primarily by the participation of volunteers, who performed the same functions as the fellows. Each member of the cast was responsible for researching and developing their own project within the production – for example, the costume designer was tasked with investigating attire in classical theatre, selecting colours and fabrics for each character, and managing and commissioning sewing services. As the project progressed, those involved not only developed technical skills but also underwent intellectual and personal maturation to the extent that, by the fourth season, this division proved to be fully mature, with organic integration among those involved across its multiple fronts: artistic, technical, and organisational.

In this way, each participant becomes responsible for a concrete stage of the production, fostering autonomy, responsibility, opportunity, and collaborative work within the rules of the theatrical game. Theatre, in this sense, is a collective creation that accommodates improvisation particularly well. Despite the work of the undergraduate student responsible for the adaptation, the actors were free and encouraged to improvise.

In the second season, for example, the actor portraying Periplectomenus, Marcelo de Souza Nascimento, in a line addressed to Celerus – specifically verses 508–509 (quodque concubinam erilem insimulare ausus es probri pudicam), translated by Dejalma Dezotti as ‘por ter tido o atrevimento de acusar injustamente a amante do seu dono, que é uma moça muito direita’ (for having had the audacity to unjustly accuse your master’s mistress, who is a very upright young woman), added an improvisation at the end of the verse on opening night, referring to ‘uma moça muito de direita, bolsonarista’ (a very right-wing young woman, a BolsonaristFootnote ⁴ ). The paronymy and enallage were well received by the audience, and the deliberate anachronism was subsequently incorporated into the dialogue in later performances.

This was possible because, in our theatrical games, we take into account an aspect highlighted by Koudela (Reference Koudela2017, p. 25), according to whom ‘a student who merely memorises a classical text and a performance concerned only with production do not reflect educational values if the subject of representation has not been mobilised towards spontaneous action’. Moreover, the Ludi Insulae approach is aligned not only with the aforementioned theories of active and collaborative learning, but also with the laws of improvisation proposed by Spolin (Reference Spolin1969, p. 3), according to which everyone can improvise, and, as Koudela (Reference Koudela2017, p. 45) aptly observes – drawing on Spolin (Reference Spolin1969, pp. 6–7) – the participant ‘develops personal freedom within the limits of established rules and creates the personal techniques and skills necessary for the game’.

After each season, the fellow responsible for direction – who, in all four editions, was the undergraduate student Hayra Cristine Lima Sarubbi – carried out a qualitative evaluation by collecting accounts from those involved. This evaluation was conducted in a reflective qualitative manner through participant observation, audiovisual records, and the collection of written testimonies from the actors. The results were published in the Anuário Latinitates in the form of reports, with the primary aim of historical documentation; however, their collection also served to reaffirm the formative and human character of the public-engagement methodology adopted. On occasion, we produced mini-documentaries to publicise the group’s activities; thus, in addition to documenting the premiere of the first season, we created a 17-minute audiovisual record during the Third Ludi Insulae, covering all the performances of that edition and including brief contributions from foreign professors present at the final presentation of the season (see Grizoste 2024). It is worth noting that, beyond these reports, the formative impacts and the reception of classical theatre among undergraduate students, graduates, and spectators in Parintins were the subject of empirical investigation by Sarubbi (Reference Sarubbi2025) in a monographic study. Using questionnaires, interviews, and systematic observation, this research corroborates and deepens the reflections presented here.

Classical theatre in Parintins is already a well-established phenomenon, both in universities and in schools. Between 2014 and 2025, we carried out approximately 10 undergraduate research projects focused on classical theatre. In 2015, the undergraduate student Ruth Serrão da Silva produced a monograph addressing the contributions of Iphigenia at Aulis, by Euripides, in a public school in the city; the following year, Nívia Maria Messias Ribeiro (Reference Ribeiro2016) examined, in her monograph, the reception of Plautus in another school. After the experience of directing four theatre seasons, the undergraduate student Hayra Cristine Lima Sarubbi herself produced, in 2025, a monograph on the reception and practice of classical theatre in the education of Portuguese language teachers at CESP-UEA. We have stated elsewhere that the enthusiasm generated by the first Ludi Insulae led undergraduate students from the Pedagogy programme at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) to develop an unprecedented interpretation of classical theatre under the supervision of Professor Alexsandro Melo Medeiros (see Grizoste and Nascimento Reference Grizoste and Nascimento2024, p. 34). Thus, the public-engagement activity of Ludi Insulae has demonstrated both its structuring capacity and its multiplier effect.

One might ask to what extent a ‘theatre of resistance’ risks naturalising precariousness. In the case of Ludi Insulae, this tension is continually acknowledged and debated. One of the reasons why Ludi Insulae operates as a street and public-square theatre group is that its aim is not only the presentation of classical themes, but also the sensitisation of society as a whole – and of public authorities in particular – to the absence of appropriate theatre buildings and, above all, to the lack of such architectural spaces within local universities themselves (see Grizoste and Nascimento Reference Grizoste and Nascimento2024, p. 34). The choice of non-conventional spaces thus also constitutes a strategy for democratising access to classical culture and does not stem from an uncritical acceptance of structural shortcomings, but rather from a conscious aesthetic choice conceived as an alternative – though not a permanent one – even after a definitive space is secured at the Parintins Centre for Higher Studies (CESP). The progressive expansion of internal organisation, the institutionalisation of the Classical Culture Laboratory (LCC), methodological systematisation, and the diversification of technical roles demonstrate that resistance here should not be confused with permanent improvisation. Rather, it constitutes an inaugural gesture, continually shaped by the pursuit of aesthetic, formative, and institutional maturation. Thus, Ludi Insulae emerges as a critical practice that confronts and seeks to overcome the very conditions that brought it into existence.

Over the course of four seasons of classical theatre, held between 2022 and 2025, Ludi Insulae developed a coherent and progressive trajectory in the Amazon region. Following its debut with Casina in the first season, the second edition, in 2023, brought Miles Gloriosus, also by Plautus (Figure 2), to the stage, significantly expanding the circulation of the production to public squares, institutional spaces, and riverside communities – settlements located along the riverbanks and often accessible only by boat – such as Cutipanã, in the municipality of Nhamundá. It was during this experience in Cutipanã that the Ludi boarii were conceived, arising from the following question: if the most emblematic expression of Amazonian culture is the Parintins Folkloric Festival with its bois-bumbás Caprichoso and Garantido,Footnote ⁵ what would it be like ‘if Rome had Boi-Bumbá?’ To complete the cultural soirées, the programme concluded with the myth of the Cretan bull, staged through a simulated gladiatorial combat (see Nascimento and Andrade Neto Reference Nascimento and Andrade Neto2025, pp. 51–52).

Figure 2.

Scene from the Miles Gloriosus, at the João do Carmo Citizenship Station Theatre, Second Ludi Insulae, 2023.

In 2024, the third season presented Menaechmi, by Plautus (Figure 3), deepening the group’s mastery of scenic timing, technical organisation, and engagement with diverse audiences, now under a fully matured methodological structure – this season being the only one entirely documented in an audiovisual film. The fourth season, in turn, marked a decisive inflection by introducing tragedy for the first time within the island’s theatrical productions, with the staging of Troades, by Euripides (Figure 4), selected after an extensive cycle of reading and comparative discussion of Greek and Latin tragedies – the choice of the play was made through a vote among the participants in the reading cycle and reflected a plurality of interests, without being guided by a single predefined criterion.

Figure 3.

Scene from the Menaechmi, at Digital Square, near of the Amazon River, Third Ludi Insulae, 2024.

Figure 4.

Scene from the Troades, at docks of Cantagalo, in the end of the island, Fourth Ludi Insulae, 2025.

This trajectory – from comedy to tragedy – demonstrates not only the aesthetic maturation of the group, whose core members performed across all four seasons, but also the formative impact of the experience on the undergraduate participants and the consolidation of an audience capable of embracing more complex forms of classical theatre outside traditional academic spaces. In doing so, it confirms Ludi Insulae as a sustained experience of cultural mediation, university training, and the reception of classical theatre in the interior of the Amazon.