In 2025, Escola de Mulheres celebrates 30 years since its foundation, and marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Fernanda Lapa. The show’s title is not a coincidence. Deseja-se Mulher, by Almada Negreiros, was the first professional play that Fernanda Lapa directed. “How would Fernanda direct a show in her honour today?”, asks Cucha Carvalheiro, the director of Deseja-se Fernanda!. “Of course she would refuse such a commission, especially as it is being made by the very company she herself founded… However, we, her artistic companions in so many performances, would so dearly wish that she could guide us through this challenge set before us by Escola de Mulheres… Our aim is to put on a show that steers clear of the high praise and nostalgia that she always refused, while celebrating an accomplished life and work, which she faced with disquiet and excitement, joy and vitality, humour and compassion. And, of course, music!”