Teatro Variedades is one of the most iconic venues in the city and the second to be built in Parque Mayer – a cultural and recreational complex that once featured carousels, wax figures, shooting galleries, snack stalls, early cinemas, and street performers. Founded in 1922 by Luís Galhardo on the site formerly occupied by the gardens of the Lima Mayer Palace (now home to the Spanish Consulate in Lisbon), this bohemian space left a lasting mark on the city’s cultural and social life.

Inaugurated on July 8th of 1926, the Variedades Theatre offered a programme that catered to one of the great popular tastes of early 20th-century Lisbon: musical theatre, with a strong emphasis on revue, but also including comedies, farces, zarzuelas and operettas. Its opening show, Pó de Arroz, was signed by “The Trojans” – a pseudonym for the creative partnership of Ernesto Rodrigues, Luís Galhardo, and others – and featured as its main attractions the actor Vasco Santana and Augusto Costa (known as Costinha) as compère.

Until the 1960s, Variedades maintained a steady and prolific output. It staged some of Parque Mayer’s greatest hits, with large casts that included celebrated names such as Beatriz Costa, António Silva, Irene Isidro, Palmira Bastos, Maria Matos, Hermínia Silva, Mirita Casimiro and Eunice Muñoz.

Following a fire in 1966, the building was restored and reopened, although with a steadily declining programme. Notably, it was the venue for the 1974 revue Ó pá, pega na vassoura – the first written free of censorship after the “Carnation Revolution” – in which author José Viana presented a politically charged script, highlighting key figures of the 25 April uprising.

Before its deactivation in the 1990s, the theatre also hosted the filming of RTP1s show Grande Noite, directed by Filipe La Féria, as well as one of the performances of the Festival dos Cem Dias, which preceded Expo ’98 [World’s Exposition 1998], presented by the theatre collective Artistas Unidos.

In October of 2024, the theatre reopened its doors to the city, now equipped with new, functional structures adapted to the demands of contemporary performance. The renovation project modernised the building while preserving key elements of its historic identity, including the façade’s portico, the wooden and glass windbreak at the entrance, the shape of the main auditorium, and the stage.

Managed by Lisboa Cultura, the new Variedades Theatre is now a modern and sophisticated performance space that hosts a wide range of artistic projects in a dynamic, regular programme. Open to artists and audiences of all kinds, the venue also features a comfortable lounge and café, inviting visitors to linger and serving as a meeting point for audiences of the neighbouring Teatro Maria Vitória and Capitólio, contributing to the vibrant cultural life of Lisbon’s city centre.

Find out more at: https://teatrovariedades-capitolio.pt/