Esperanza makes a hole in the wall of her bedroom to get into the niche of the goddess Hebe and have secret meetings with her lover, the young Candido. The slave Rustic, who is in love with the same man, discovers the deception and takes the opportunity to impersonate Esperanza.
Thus, a hole in the wall is the engine of this story. A hole through which love and humor, the two fundamental weapons to overthrow prejudices, are poured.
My daughter comes wearing her wedding dress and I’m going to kill her…
Ifigenia is the first violent death of a woman in Western literature. Agamemnon, her father and head of the Greek army, sentences and nails like a flag the root of violence against girls and women at the origin of our civilization. Following the trail of Ifigenia’s blood we reach the sacrifice of Polyxena, a Trojan princess, and the discovery burns rage in our throats: The Trojan War ended as it began, flooding the sea with virgin blood…
Ifigenia drew a map from kilometer zero of violence against women to the return home of the victorious perpetrator army. A newly created work, woven from three classic tragedies, through which the epic of the Greek victory in the Trojan War passes: Ifigenia in Aúlis, Hecuba and Agamemnon. A work about the very high cost that women had to pay for men to achieve glory.
Hecuba and Clytemnestra, queens of victors and vanquished, mothers of the murdered, harbor in their wombs a savage wound that opens. Rage mutates into slow fury. Here is the transformation of mothers into beasts… The steel gate of revenge opens… The silence is torn by the voracious instinct of a tormented beast and a thunderous scream thirsty for murderous blood. This is the story of the forgotten ones and their condemned mothers. It is a rose of blood between bloody hands.
Ifigenia is a crack of light in the dark cave into which women’s pain and guilt have been thrown. A beam of light to illuminate everything, so that their names are not erased from history. Because silence is not innocent.
Her tormented screams stabbed into my belly like sharp glass. And I was no longer afraid of burning.
The Light is Ours.
The Weevil, Plautus’s shortest and liveliest comedy.
The parasitic Weevil lives at the expense of the young and distinguished Phaedromus, who is deeply in love with the beautiful and sweet Planesia, a young girl who was kidnapped as a child and now a slave in the service of the pimp Cappadocian.
Phaedromus needs money to free his beloved, so he sends Weevil to Caria to obtain it. There he meets his employer’s rival, the soldier Therapontigonus. In the game, Weevil steals the ring with which he deceives Lycon, the soldier’s banker. Lycon recognizes the ring’s seal, forcing him to give the agreed-upon money to the pimp. Upon receiving it, he hands the young Planesia over to Weevil and Phaedromus.
The confused soldier, robbed and deceived, threatens the banker and the pimp. The lovers stumble upon it, and through the ring, the comical and absurd plot that leads to the platonic ending is revealed.
Esperanza makes a hole in the wall of her bedroom to get into the niche of the goddess Hebe and have secret meetings with her lover, the young Candido. The slave Rustic, who is in love with the same man, discovers the deception and takes the opportunity to impersonate Esperanza.
Thus, a hole in the wall is the engine of this story. A hole through which love and humor, the two fundamental weapons to overthrow prejudices, are poured.
This show could be considered the third part of a trilogy consisting of Aeschylus, Birth and Death of Tragedy and The Gods and God. The three shows revolve around the oral tradition of mythological stories on which the great Greek tragedies are built. And at the same time, the three shows are humorous monologues, where the language and resources of comedy are confronted with the arguments of the best-known classic tragedies frequently performed at the Mérida Festival. This mixture of tragedy with humor is not strange to the origin and perennial essence of Greek theater. It is said of Silenus, the demigod who serves as the patron of tragedy, and subordinate of Dionysus, god of tragedy, that when Midas asked him “what was best for man,” Silenus replied: “what is best for man.” “It would be not having been born.” To Midas’ astonishment, Silenus added: “but don’t worry, since you were born, the best thing for you would be to die as soon as possible.” This cannot be understood except as a joke that suggests the “absurdity of existence”, which is the great leitmotif of all Greek tragedy. There were still 25 centuries left for Valle-Inclán to present that mixture again in his brilliant creation of the grotesque. The mixture of genres was always there, showing that the dividing lines are a conventional creation, a code, so that the public adjusts its attitude towards the show.
Icons or the exploration of destiny is a humorous monologue that reflects on destiny in Greek tragedy. The great iconic figures of Medea, Oedipus, Antigone and finally Hecuba parade through this show. The exploration of destiny comes hand in hand with a comparative exposition of this determining force (destiny) in the lives of tragic heroes and likewise in the stories of Hindu mythology, where the concept of karma includes in the dynamism of destiny, the concept of freedom.
All these ingredients are interspersed with autobiographical experiences of the author and actor himself, as humorous parodies, with didactic elements from the usual repertoire of the Mérida Classical Theater Festival.
Rome, beginnings of the Republic. In a context of great social conflict, the ruling class (the patricians) and the people (the plebs) confront each other: The people are hungry, they ask for wheat. At that moment war is declared against the Volsci. The figure of Cayo Marcio emerges, a noble warrior admired for his extreme valor and courage. His great victory will earn him the name Coriolanus.
After the victory the nobles want to appoint Coriolanus Consul, the tribunes of the plebs refuse. The game of politics, lies, impostures, and strategies begins. Coriolanus, an extremist man, decides not to betray himself, or his principles. His virulent reaction against the rights of the people will earn him condemnation as a traitor and exile.
Coriolanus joins Aufidius, leader of the Volsci, to destroy Rome. With Rome besieged and close to disaster, Coriolanus’s mother, in a memorable scene, makes her beloved son give up, because as Iban Martin says in his podcasts and books about Rome: “The love for a mother is sometimes stronger than the “I hate that it can be felt against an entire city.” Aufidius executes Coriolanus and in Rome a temple stands to female fortune and wisdom for having saved the city.
In a semi-hidden location in an old neighborhood, a group of women, led by the mysterious Dionisia, gather in the afternoons around an illegal bingo game. The game, at its core, is simply an excuse to get together, have a snack, share their troubles, share joys and worries, and escape a sad and monotonous reality. However, there is a police officer determined to make their lives miserable, always waiting to shut down the establishment under the pretext that it is an illegal bingo game. They will look for a way to avoid it, but along the way, surprises and unexpected encounters arise, leading to a tragic and savage ending.
Cassandra or the Praise of Failure is a show somewhere between contemporary chamber opera and theater. This montage delves into the life of the mythological character of Cassandra, known for her prophetic gift, but also for the cruel punishment she received from Apollo: the curse that no one would believe her predictions.
In the montage we work on the myth, relating to it from a contemporary perspective, comically exploring its relationship with the concept of failure and framing it in a dream world: Cassandra, trapped in the underworld, recovers her prophetic gift and wants to return to the world of the living, to warn them of a great catastrophe. Despite knowing that this is a place where her warnings and apocalyptic visions will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears, Cassandra will try by all means to get out of the underworld to fulfill her mission. Despite the various impediments that she will encounter along the way and the challenge to the gods that this entails, Cassandra will decide to persevere in the attempt to be heard to help the human world.
She will not be alone in this decision. She will be accompanied by Patti, a veteran muse, and Britney, a young student, sent directly from the School of Muses. In her chaotic attempt to leave the underworld they will encounter, among other difficulties, the ferryman Charon, the Can Cerberus (mythological monster that guards the doors of the underworld) and of course, the wrath of the gods.
As the narrative progresses, the viewer will discover the character of Cassandra and her companions, and their different visions on topics such as failure, meritocracy, collectivity or love, thus reflecting on different themes from multiple prisms, different realities and times.
We will reflect on the past but also about our future; Let us ask ourselves who the contemporary Cassandras are or the importance of social credibility when it comes to a message being heard.Cassandra or the praise of failure invites the public to reflect on the past to understand our present. Through the meaning of failure in human life she shows how different philosophical perspectives and poetry can shed light on our personal struggles.
1st century BC. Rome is a city undergoing unstoppable growth that needs to expand to supply its huge population. Many of whom are in extremely needy situations and involved in conflicts which reach the political sphere.
In this convulsive and unpredictable context, the Senate brings together the most famous speakers of Latine culture, who face each other to guarantee the survival of the Republic or achieve power, at any cost. On camera they do it verbally, leaving the most surprising speeches for history; riots take place in the streets, and murders are perpetrated in the shadows. Cicero and Catilina are at the center of this intersection of interests, and are the protagonists of a vital episode for the evolution of the city and its future.
The Romans, fed up with so much military uprising, conspiracy, and violence in their neighborhoods begin to question the political system, mainly Greek Democracy, that manages the affairs of the city. Unaware of what their bitter confrontation will end up provoking, not without mutual admiration, the city is on its way to rebuilding its foundations. They are the last actors of the Republic, already in ruins. It is presumed that a new era will rise from the shadows.
Rome, beginnings of the Republic. In a context of great social conflict, the ruling class (the patricians) and the people (the plebs) confront each other: The people are hungry, they ask for wheat. At that moment war is declared against the Volsci. The figure of Cayo Marcio emerges, a noble warrior admired for his extreme valor and courage. His great victory will earn him the name Coriolanus.
After the victory the nobles want to appoint Coriolanus Consul, the tribunes of the plebs refuse. The game of politics, lies, impostures, and strategies begins. Coriolanus, an extremist man, decides not to betray himself, or his principles. His virulent reaction against the rights of the people will earn him condemnation as a traitor and exile.
Coriolanus joins Aufidius, leader of the Volsci, to destroy Rome. With Rome besieged and close to disaster, Coriolanus’s mother, in a memorable scene, makes her beloved son give up, because as Iban Martin says in his podcasts and books about Rome: “The love for a mother is sometimes stronger than the “I hate that it can be felt against an entire city.” Aufidius executes Coriolanus and in Rome a temple stands to female fortune and wisdom for having saved the city.
