Teatro Munganga: Theater in Hoofddorppleinbuurt, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 5.0

Teatro Munganga is a tiny theatre and music house on the Schinkelhavenstraat in Amsterdam Zuid, run by the theatre company of the same name. Its room of about 60 seats hosts concerts of Brazilian, Latin American and African music, jazz and folk, alongside theatre for children and adults. The company was founded in 1987 by the Brazilian artists Cláudia Maoli and Carlos Lagoeiro. Its name means an exaggerated gesture, and its work mixes theatre with music, dance and puppetry, with cultural differences as a recurring theme. Besides its own stage shows it plays in schools, care homes and asylum seekers' centres. The programme is dense: most weeks have several concerts, with singers, duos and trios from Amsterdam and from abroad, and there are visits from artists from as far away as Brazil and Senegal. The hall measures 80 square metres and has a stage, theatre lights, a piano, a bar and walls full of posters, and the audience sits close to the players. Tickets are sold through the website. Since September 2024 De Krakeling has presented youth theatre here about twice a month as part of its neighbourhood programme for the Hoofddorppleinbuurt. Teatro Munganga also rents out the room for workshops, courses, rehearsals and parties.