Cold Tea: Humour, Death, Tragedy, and Fear
Cold Tea: Humour, Death, Tragedy, and Fear
Moderation: Pedro Vieira
Is humour truly the best weapon against fear — and against the greatest of fears, the fear of death?
Perhaps that’s why some funeral homes adopt humorous slogans such as “your death is our joy”, “if we don’t bury you today, we’ll do it tomorrow”, or “no complaints on record”. The strategy of facing death — the feared adversary — through humour and self-deprecation seems to have its followers, perhaps because it works: if we don’t take ourselves too seriously, death might not seem such a big deal.
17 MAR 7:00 p.m.
Tea, Herbal Tea, and Kombucha: Humour and Cultural Differences
Marco Neves, Maria João Cruz
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Is humour universal? Why is it that, pretty much everywhere, we tell the same jokes, changing only the nationality of the characters? Or are there cultural types of humour? Identity-based humour? Is it true that only one type of fly falls into each cup of tea?
25 MAR 7:00 p.m.
Lack of Tea: Humour, Taboos, and Censorship
Rui Lopes and Rita Luís, Mélanie Toulhoat
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Can humour be so powerful that it needs to be eliminated? Can humour shake the essential pillars of our societies? Make teacups crack? What danger does uncontrolled humour pose that leads some censorship powers to want to ban it? And is it even possible to forbid humour? Are there teas that eliminate flies?
1 APR 7:00 p.m.
Cold Tea: Humour, Death, Tragedy, and Fear
Verena Alberti
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Is humour really the best weapon against fear? And against the worst of all fears — the fear of death?
01 APR 2026
WED 19:00
Free admission*
Duration 2h
*By pre-booking or collecting your ticket 15 minutes before the event (limited to the venue's to capacity).
On the day of the event, pre-bookings that have not been collected will be made available 15 minutes before the start of the event.
Guests
Verena Alberti
Project design and direction
Miguel Fragata and Inês Barahona
Communication
Mafalda Guedes Vaz
Executive production
Luna Rebelo and Sofia Bernardo
Production
Formiga Atómica
Formiga Atómica is a structure supported by the República Portuguesa – Cultura, Juventude e Desporto / Direção-Geral das Artes and Câmara Municipal de Lisboa / Polo Cultural Gaivotas | Boavista
