The Missing Link was born originally as a demonstration in street theatre—improv at the Castell of Bragança, Portugal, in October of 2021, in a period of retrospection during the still difficult phase of the pandemic.
This free and naked interacting point-blank showcase with visitors in the area, as observing their reactions, was what sparked the need to take it to another dimension, giving birth to the disturbing issue of bullying.
The original idea finally took a more concrete theatrical form in the city of Prague, Czech Republic, having its world premiere in July 2023 at the cultural hall Letohradská 10.
Now, The Missing Link returns with a fresh perspective as a guest at the HAMU festival in June 2026.
What is The Missing Link?
In the nineteenth century, human beings began to understand their origins. Homo sapiens, a species like any other, emerged like any other too through the process of evolution. An expression, “the missing link,” was coined in the process.
“The missing link” refers to that which connects Homo sapiens to the apes. The ape-man is the final piece of our evolutionary jigsaw puzzle.
The representation is inspired by the story that is carried out by millennia of storytellers in many different places throughout the planet: the visceral, physical, and mental transition of civilized man to that “animal being” of which it is naturally coded.
The play deals with the aftermath of physical and psychological bullying. It attempts to map the abuse suffered in childhood, its scarring legacy bleeding into adulthood, its wide-ranging societal impact, and the deafening silence of the victims.
One in three children will be affected by the haunting reality of bullying. This is a piece tailored to raise awareness not only of the matter itself, but also of its subsequent social responsibility.