A personal story lies at the root of this production: Pedro Penim is going to become a father through the controversial process of surrogate pregnancy. Pais & Filhos represents the “vortex” in which this actor and stage director now finds himself, as he continues to develop a body of work that hovers between biographic document and the creation of a fictional universe. The show combines a celebrated Russian novel with the cutting edge of contemporary social debate concerning a subject that has been revived by Queer revolutionary activism: the abolition of the family. Using Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons (1862) as his starting-point, Pedro Penim lets himself be influenced by the Queer Marxist theories of such authors as Sophie Lewis, Jules Joanne Gleeson or Alyson Escalante, who rethink parenthood and childcare beyond the sphere of the biological family, championing concepts like “full gestational surrogacy” or the “abolition of gender”. With this project, the Teatro Praga company attempts to enrich the debate on parentage and family, expanding Pais & Filhos beyond a simple personal story.