Taking center stage

Photo provided to China Daily

"The Patua theater is one of the most awaited shows in each edition of the MAF," says Lam.

"A unique dialect to Macao, Patua's vocabulary draws upon Portuguese, Malay, Singhalese, English, Spanish and Cantonese."

Patua was inscribed in 2012 on Macao's intangible cultural heritage list and is considered a critically endangered language by UNESCO.

Miguel de Senna Fernandes, a lawyer by day and playwright by inclination, is the city's foremost expert on Patua and local theater troupe Doci Papiacam di Macao's director.

"Fewer than 100 people speak Patua," he says.

"It's not very useful today, but it is a part of our culture. We want to keep it alive and protect it."

He has been writing plays specifically for production during the Macao Arts Festival since 1997.

Fernandes believes that his play Dream House? touches upon a topic hot on the minds of every Macanese today.