Mil Vezes Revista

In theatre, opening night is merely the most visible moment in a process that began long before, when sets are still being built, costumes are gradually taking shape and what will eventually occupy the stage exists, for the most part, in the imagination of those creating it. For audiences, however, much of that process remains unseen. They are being asked to believe in a promise, to recognise something worth experiencing and, ideally, to purchase a ticket for a production they have not yet had the opportunity to see.

It was within this context that the campaign for MIL VEZES REVISTA began. Filipe La Féria’s new production for Teatro Politeama brought together Marina Mota, Joaquim Monchique, Paula Sá and Miguel Dias, four performers with established relationships with Portuguese audiences and with the country’s theatrical revue tradition.

When ticket sales opened in July 2026, there were no production photographs, filmed musical numbers or other materials capable of showing audiences what was being prepared. There was a title, a highly recognisable cast and Filipe La Féria’s artistic reputation. These were considerable assets, but they did not, on their own, resolve the challenge of turning initial curiosity into ticket purchases.

There was also a commercial dimension that made this particularly important. In a large-scale theatrical production, the period leading up to opening night involves substantial creative and production expenditure, making advance ticket revenue a potentially important contribution to the financial resources required to bring the show to the stage.

Experience from previous campaigns had nevertheless revealed a recurring difficulty: the enthusiasm generated by announcing a new production did not always translate into an equivalent volume of sales. Social media content could reach large audiences, generate comments and attract considerable interest without necessarily encouraging people to purchase tickets at the same pace.

The challenge, therefore, was not simply to make people talk about the production. It was to find a sufficiently compelling reason for audiences to become part of it from the very beginning.

Before tickets went on sale, I proposed an initiative aimed at the first 1,000 tickets sold. The number was not arbitrary. It came directly from the production’s title, MIL VEZES REVISTA, meaning A Thousand Times Revue, and offered a natural connection between the show’s identity and a commercial proposition.

The idea was straightforward: every one of the first 1,000 tickets purchased would include a complimentary souvenir programme.

Discounting was not an option. Rather than reducing the ticket price, the intention was to add value to the decision to book early, offering the first audiences something that would extend their experience beyond the performance itself and remain as a tangible memory of the production.

The programme, normally associated with a visit to the theatre, would therefore take on an additional purpose, becoming an incentive to purchase in advance. There was no need to reveal what was still being created in order to offer audiences something meaningful. The opportunity lay in finding, within the world of the production itself, a gesture that acknowledged the confidence of those willing to book before seeing the show.

The initial response was positive, and the first 1,000-ticket target was reached during the opening week. Once that initial allocation had been exhausted, a change in the pace of sales was observed, leading to a decision to extend the offer to the first 2,000 tickets.

The announcement of the extension coincided with renewed sales momentum, and the second target was reached in early August. Although the effect of the offer cannot be isolated from the other factors influencing demand, the pattern reinforced the importance of creating distinct moments of decision throughout an advance booking campaign.

The initiative also had a physical expression. Eligible tickets carried an indication of the offer, and I prepared dedicated stickers to identify the programmes associated with the first 2,000 tickets sold.

What had begun as an idea to encourage advance bookings thus became part of the audience experience itself, creating a connection between an early purchasing decision and a tangible object associated with the production.

One of the particular difficulties of communicating a production still in development is finding ways to make it present in the public imagination before it can actually be shown. This involves more than simply producing content. It requires an understanding of which elements, at any given moment, can convey something of the scale and identity of what is being created.

For MIL VEZES REVISTA, the starting point was the cast, particularly the return of Marina Mota and Joaquim Monchique, whose public recognition and association with Portuguese revue provided compelling reasons to engage with the new production.

The campaign began with the release of the four leading performers’ poster, alongside the opening of ticket sales and the first 1,000-ticket initiative. From that initial announcement, communication developed through individual cast features and a gradual succession of new materials, maintaining the show’s visibility while the production itself continued to take shape.

My work involved developing communication proposals, identifying different approaches to the content and adapting visual materials to the needs of each stage and platform, working closely with the team, including Pedro, who was responsible for video production.

This process required ongoing communication with Filipe La Féria, who reviewed and approved the content and proposed creative approaches. Particularly during the early stages, when many artistic elements were still being defined, conversations with the director were essential to understanding the vision he wanted to develop and finding ways to communicate it without anticipating or misrepresenting aspects of the production that remained unfinished.

The campaign was therefore not built around a completed artistic product with an entirely established identity. It developed alongside the show, responding to the information available, the practical possibilities of production and the artistic decisions being made.

Throughout the campaign, monitoring ticket sales involved more than observing cumulative results. Daily access to the BOL ticketing platform made it possible to follow changes in demand, identify fluctuations in purchasing activity and consider how these related to different moments in the communication campaign.

This was complemented by click data from tools such as Bitly and Linktree, which helped provide an indication of audience response to published content and the links made available for ticket purchases.

Naturally, these indicators measure different things. Interest in an advertisement, a visit to a webpage or a click on a booking link does not necessarily result in a sale. Reading the data together therefore served a practical purpose: understanding what was happening, recognising signs of slower demand and responding while there was still an opportunity to intervene.

When the pace of bookings slowed, I looked for opportunities to reinforce the available advertising investment and develop new communication approaches, although content creation remained a continuous activity throughout the campaign.

Promotion relied primarily on Meta advertising, through both our own campaigns and activity undertaken by BOL, which offered ways of reaching audiences with previous interest in, or purchasing history for, theatre performances. This was achieved within a limited advertising budget, making the allocation of resources an important consideration.

Rather than assuming a simple, direct relationship between an individual piece of content and the number of tickets sold, the objective was to understand the broader evolution of demand and use that information to guide subsequent decisions.

In this sense, the box office became more than a place to observe the results of a campaign. It became a source of information for deciding how the campaign should continue.

An important part of this experience was the proximity between my communication responsibilities and the creative development of MIL VEZES REVISTA itself.

While monitoring ticket sales, developing materials and responding to the campaign’s requirements, I was also involved in different visual and technical aspects of the production, in an environment where priorities frequently shifted and several needs had to be addressed simultaneously.

I took part in meetings and work relating to the preparation of video content for the stage, developed and adapted images and patterns for printing on fabrics used in sets and costumes, and contributed to aspects of the organisation and installation of Joana Vasconcelos’ work in Teatro Politeama’s Salão Nobre. I was also involved in the practical development of interventions connected with artistic elements appearing on stage.

These responsibilities did not replace my communication work, nor did they represent independent artistic direction of the different production departments. They were contributions made in collaboration with Filipe La Féria and the teams responsible, within a creative process that demanded adaptability, cooperation and the ability to respond to very different kinds of problems.

Inevitably, this range of responsibilities also affected the amount of time available to follow the commercial campaign with the degree of attention I would ideally have devoted to it.

At the same time, it provided a particularly close understanding of what was being created, the practical challenges of a large theatrical production and the constant relationship between an artistic idea and the conditions required to bring it to life.

That proximity is one of the aspects of my work I value most. The communication of a production does not necessarily begin when the creative process ends. It can accompany the work as it develops, finding, at each stage, the most appropriate language to bring audiences closer to something that is still taking shape.

By the time MIL VEZES REVISTA opened on 8 October 2026, more than 9,000 tickets had been sold online in advance, representing a significant volume of early bookings for a production that, for much of its campaign, had not yet been able to present audiences with finished performance material.

The initial 1,000-ticket initiative reached its target during the opening week and was subsequently extended to 2,000 tickets, a milestone achieved in early August. The sales patterns observed around these moments demonstrated the relevance of monitoring demand and introducing new incentives throughout a campaign that needed to sustain audience attention over several weeks.

These results must, however, be understood in context. The recognition of the leading performers, the relationship audiences had established with Filipe La Féria and Teatro Politeama, the wider interest surrounding the production, ticketing platform activity and the combined communication effort all contributed, to varying degrees, to the demand observed.

It would not be accurate to attribute the total number of tickets sold to the programme offer, a particular advertising campaign or any single creative decision. What this project does demonstrate is the implementation of an advance booking initiative within a broader communication strategy, supported by continued attention to commercial performance.

It also provides an opportunity to recognise what might have been approached differently. Greater availability from the cast for the creation of dedicated content could have opened up other storytelling possibilities and strengthened the relationship with audiences. Similarly, more consistent advertising investment and the opportunity to incorporate Google Ads could have extended our ability to generate demand and test different approaches.

These possibilities do not diminish the results achieved, but they are important in understanding the limitations within which the campaign operated and the opportunities that remained unexplored.

The experience of MIL VEZES REVISTA reinforced a conviction I have developed throughout my work in theatre: the opening of ticket sales should not be treated merely as a commercial procedure accompanying the announcement of a production. It is a significant moment in its own right, deserving a strategy shaped by the production, its audiences and the practical needs of the project.

When advance revenue can contribute to the creative process, communication strategy must also acknowledge the financial realities and timing of a production, without losing sight of its artistic purpose.

The campaign also demonstrated that adding value does not necessarily require reducing prices, that anticipation needs to be sustained rather than simply generated, and that box office information can help turn observations into decisions, provided we maintain a clear distinction between expressions of interest, confirmed sales and what can reasonably be attributed to each activity.

Above all, it reminded me that a theatrical production begins building its relationship with audiences long before they take their seats.

Sometimes, what is being sold first is not the image of a finished show, but confidence in something that has yet to happen. The challenge is to turn that confidence into a meaningful relationship, one that can accompany the creative process from its earliest stages and allow audiences to feel that they are not simply buying a ticket for opening night, but becoming, in some small way, part of the show’s creation.