ESCALANTE THEATER CENTER: FROM WINTER TO WARMTH 2022-2023

Save the song

In September 2020 we saw the powerful contemporary circus work Save the great song . It was in “strange” circumstances, to call them somehow, because the chairs were placed a meter and a half apart and the protective mask covered the faces of the spectators and the actors when they approached them. A memory that now, when witnessing the work again, this time in its version for the cinema, produces sadness and reflection for everything lost during the hard years –yes, years– of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fortunately, almost a thousand days have passed since its premiere and the montage is still more alive. The public participates in what is proposed and enjoys it from the moment the posters with slogans handed out appear while the video camera projects live. Upon entering the room, I wondered if it was possible for the enormous dominant structure of seven and a half meters on which the five performers perform their exercises to enter the stage. It occupied the right height up to the comb, where the motto that gives the work its title stands out with an imposing presence aided by embedded lighting.

Save the great song is a circus play but with a plot of great fictionalizing power. An international NGO tries to save musical themes that are being forgotten to rescue the emotional value of music. From this, with the voice of Gonzalo Santamaría on the microphone, one enters a frenetic universe, full of well-known songs that range from pop and disco, to rock and the heavy metal of Metallica. The filmed sequence of David Bowie’s “Space oddity” is sensational.

This setting, between vinyls, gives a singular strength to the exercises performed. It must be recognized that Marillén Ribot, winner of the Valencian Performing Arts award for this interpretation, is a model of a complete circus artist, with his juggling, his clown, his acrobatics, the trapeze, the aerial hoop and balancing on bottles. If we add to this others such as the cyr hoop by Matías Marré, with different technical moments than usual and maximum neatness, we have a formidable display of exercises that arouse that internal fear that is felt when the circus performer performs complicated numbers. The risk is greater when Ribot is in the air and other performers hang her body from the side at a right angle to the structure. How difficult are the shots with bows of arrows at the helmets of the heads of the interpreters of Raúl García (laugh at the one at the Barcelona Olympic Games). Or that delicacy between the clown and Giorgio’s jumping mat. The maximum compenetration of the artists is evident from the beginning with a joint choreography and the game with the NGO flags.

The theater version achieves something difficult from a show designed for the street: the viewer’s emotional empathy. Without a doubt, they achieve the goal that the great songs heard live forever, as Gonzalo Santamaría announces at the beginning. The heartbeats heard from his blows on the microphone are felt in the stalls. Jimena Cavalletti’s direction is perfect and the movement is very well choreographed for an unforgettable show.

crew

Crew is a fascinating show where immersion in a hot air balloon gives rise to the adventures of a trip that is more bumpy than smooth. But unforeseen adventures and difficulties offer more fun than the monotonous. This is the creation of Jordi Palet, Pep Farrés and Jordi Farrés, a company created in 2002 that amuses attendees with simulations. Not surprisingly, it won the FETEN award for best non-conventional show in 2016.

To begin with, the Farrés brothers present themselves as the heirs of the Montgolfier brothers, inventors of the hot air balloon in 1782. They have devised a new way of traveling and show it to the audience that they will become passengers inside a huge balloon. Both are enlightened people who, with great grace and the ability to improvise, will take them through space to the limits of reality and unknown places. But setbacks multiply and some of the travelers must help crew the balloon. Even a girl to repair a fault abroad, which we see projected, after a collision with something unknown.

In addition to the profession of the Farrés, their not rigid good humor and their excellent games of shadows made with simple elements, the sublimation of the concept of solidarity stands out. All together we must participate so that the eventful journey comes to fruition. Participation, therefore, becomes fundamental, although the Farrés dominate the situation and contain the impetus of the kids. Humor and adventurous emotion that dominate the environment inside the globe in this original, immersive and different production, with paraphernalia in the preparation and a stimulating experience. The voice-over of the great actor Pere Arquillué stands out as commander of the ship with many vocal nuances.

And find the shoes at completion? To enter the balloon you have to take off your shoes. But while children know where they were left, adults don’t always remember. When they can’t have come to life and randomly changed places. Is it due to the effect of the air from the balloon flight?

Boo!

The proposals of the Valencians from Teatre de l’Abast are usually attractive due to their good technical preparation and their dramaturgies where the physicist occupies an important plane without neglecting the text (or the “non-text” in the case of Rob ) . The actions are the substantial part of the theater. La Fam, one of the most notable companies in street theatre, has joined them to create Buh! , a family show with a very current theme that affects many people: family reconciliation.

It tells us the story of Eva, an intelligent and funny girl with a lot of imagination. But she spends a lot of time alone at home, with her parents separated from her and her mother many hours away from home to get by, calling her without showing up when she needs company. In this situation, she is fed up with loneliness, she escapes to a secret place where four imaginary beings will help her face her situation and her fears with a very unique adventure.

The story is inspired by A Christmas CarolBritish novelist Charles Dickens. And not only for reproducing the plot of a character visited by three ghosts in a dream, but because these beings teach Eva the past, the present and the future, as in the story. A past represented by an old carpentry where the hammer, the saw and the screwdriver have become old due to the emergence of a new multifunction tool but where the memories of an old album also revive. A present with the appearance of a double of Eva, and a future with technological beings and the fairy godmother of the future. In short, they will teach you not to forget the past, to live in the present and not be afraid of the future, a very didactic message also for adults, Presented in just one sentence as a rubric, a summary from the scene where the mother agrees to enjoy her time with her daughter, once her work and home responsibilities have been fulfilled. Mutual understanding remains a very well reflected virtue because it is a necessity and coexistence can always be improved if there is the possibility of reconciliation. And will, something essential.

The musical part delights the viewer. With puppets, among which stands out the giant cat who is blamed for Eva’s antics, in addition to the fun and nostalgic carpentry tools. The songs by Carles Rodenas have an enormous quality, with lyrics in Valencian that not only do not separate from the plot but rather lead it. Very well interpreted by the five actors and actresses. They emphasize the adequacy of the music to the past, present and future, with rhythms that are even reminiscent of Bienvenidos by Miguel Ríos and hard rock, or the most current techno.

There are hilarious scenes, such as the one developed in the carpentry with the three old tools, the paper man, the mirror game or the irruption of the technified with that kind of dominant and clarifying fairy godmother. The dramaturgy of Manuel Maestro, author of a well-structured text, Lucía Aibar and Victoria Mínguez, creators from the original idea, works at all times with a fast and powerful rhythm, with the conjunction of the physical, the word, the songs, the puppets, the lots of movement, the good choreography by Cristina Fernández, and the quick costume changes of the imaginary beings of the always enriching Pascual Peris. The scenery by Txema Rico is surprising, with the turn from a current house to the old carpentry, and the lighting by Sergio Heredia, with sudden blows and capable of turning the cat’s garnet into gold. Human and technical elements united in an effective way to build the development very well suited to be appealing to all audiences.

Just as remarkable are the performances. Eva is Rebeca Artal-Dato with an exemplary poise. She is an actress who fits the character a lot. Neus Alborch, with his perfect diction in Valencian, also stands out with his voice and its solidity. Estela Domínguez has an exemplary grace. Aina Gimeno is impressive, especially when she dances, like that maroon cat, and Juanma Picazo has enormous grace, as well as a good voice. The last four as ghosts multiplying into different characters. They have the necessary charm to add sympathy to the family show and they blend perfectly.

It is necessary to attend to the form of expression of the message. It is within the argument, it goes from within to the stalls and not the other way around. The awareness of the public in theater is achieved with sight and hearing. We are seeing too many family works lately where there is an ideology shoehorned in without it being relevant to the diegesis or causality in the events. Boo!it maintains that didactic norm of the theater of speaking from the deep structure and not from the surface: nothing a priori. In this way, he gives us a positive message in favor of the need for affection between children and parents in individualistic times like the present, with many pranks that are just that, pranks without being hooligans. It is also a vindication of the need to dream, to live with enthusiasm. The job of Abast and La Fam is worth it. Also his sympathy.

Bowa’s travels

Endorsed by three awards from the Circada 2020 festival, Elena Vives Espejo-Saavedra and the company La Gata Japonesa offered an individual circus show where risk and surprise invaded the Nau Ribes hall.

It is a formidable work that tells us about the journey of an acrobat who appears with several packed suitcases and from them she will extract the elements that will accompany her, especially the bottles, an axis of continuity of the work. Acrobatics, magic, mime, pirouettes, balances and an interpretation full of clowns and mimes are displayed with exemplary skill and with enormous efficiency by Elena Vives Espejo-Saavedra to empathize with the public, to whom she continually addresses herself until she involves them by holding their hands. suitcases or asking for palms to the sound of music. Empathy is so pronounced that she even accompanies her words with sign language, approaching the integrating function of the current circus.

The surprise is present from the first moment. With an ultimate ability, the performer magically changes costumes. She will then be able to combine her journey balancing on the bottles (especially attractive is the ladder mounted with them on the suitcases), but also her acrobatic game on the trapeze. The clothes hanging on it, useful for the exercises, leads us to wonder how it is possible that they do not tear or fall off the rope where they are hung, since they are also useful for the exercises.

The permanent creativity, ingenuity, difficulty and technique, with the search that all the exercises seem different from the usual ones in the contemporary circus, plus the enormous physical effort and the talent of Elena Vives Espejo-Saavedra, give an air of masterpiece to this jewel with a miniature that receives us in the lobby of the room. If they enjoyed it and shuddered their way over the bottles of the phenomenal Bürstner Club , it’s now gone further to the point of making the viewer nervous, not her, when we see the staggered row she steps down. Always with an air between the humorous and the poetic, between an enchanting sweetness, until achieving an unforgettable magical experience with an unexpected job.

One of the best individual circus shows that can be seen. Admirable. One of the highlights of the year. Especially for the delicious interpretation of Elena Vives Espejo-Saavedra.

Wherever you are together

That the Valencian Elisa M. Matallín creates stories that remain in the memory of the little ones is unquestionable, as is her skill in handling various objects whose purpose is their conversion into characters. This is what happens in her new project, Allò que ens uneix, produced by his company La Matallina y Escalante, which captivated the little ones until they were fully introduced to history through the oral narration of two stories with an intercultural sense, since they originate from Palestine and Morocco but mixes them with Valencian touches for a better understanding and approach to the public, as a defense of the integration of different civilizations as well as promoting our culture among children. The second story with a Granada version, demonstrating the proximity of that culture to the roots of ours.

If something stands out, it is the ability of Matallín and her “maid” Raquel Heredia, one with costumes closer to our mentality and the other with touches of the Arabian civilization respectively, to involve the small viewer. The skill of both in handling objects is surprising, most of them very North African teapots and vases, for the construction of the characters in the stories, with the ornate lampshade as a prince. But also the construction of the universe with games of illumination of themselves with small lanterns, reinforced with the pointillist technical work of Carlos Molina from the table. Very attractive are the games of shadows, both those projected on the wall and on the white sail of the car that occupies the center of the stage in the second part, especially that of Raquel Heredia,

There were many magical moments in the reactions of the little ones. But without a doubt the most emotional, to the point that both actresses had to develop their cold acting skills to avoid tears of illusion, was when Raquel Heredia sang the first words of the song “Marieta” and all the children who watched sang it. in unison. I wasn’t prepared but it was something spontaneous because the little ones knew the song. This shows that the montage reached the soul and that the word unites us, especially when the objects are personified. A stimulating and charming work, with an excellent sound space by Versonauts. And the entrance installation was not to be missed due to the importance of its lighting.

perseverance

When we were in the middle of the pandemic, it was my responsibility to evaluate for the Perseverance Valencian Performing Arts Awards , the work of Salvador Rocher. The image was very sad because it was a street montage without an audience. It was not convincing: if it is already difficult to enjoy a video show, even more so when it is street work. Coexistence is missing but the fundamental meaning of work is also invaluable.

As part of the programming for this year’s edition of Dansa València, the Center Escalante collaborated with the theatrical premiere of this production that you offered so many doubts in its street version. However, the fact that an adaptation to the theater gains so much in quality with respect to the original in open spaces is not usually common. I say “earn so much” because the difference between one and the other is really huge.

The montage is part of a space expedition to Mars, hence the title of the work as it is the vehicle sent to this planet by NASA. Some beings in white with helmets arrive there and leave the Perseverance vehicle. Starting from the upper part of the Nau Ribes stands already shows something fundamental in this work, such as the use of space where dance and, to a certain extent, the theatrical text will be combined, especially in the disconcerting and amusing filmed appearances of the General played by Vicente Genovés. Then there will be scenes where with humor and movement actions a story is built to value our planet and our customs, even though there is criticism of the deterioration of our Earth.

Different languages ​​follow one another. The interpreters are very solvent, with a sensational Melodia García. Although Diana Huertas could have gotten more out of it, in my opinion one of the best dance performers on our scene. Episodes of different signs, some ingenious while she presides over that ship with umbrellas turned into radars. The set design by José Luis Martín Huguet, like the music by Alexander Espinoza, helps the continuous and fluid development of an attractive show in its execution. An authentic expedition within the ease with a very creative wardrobe by Emilio Morales. Without forgetting the audiovisuals, with that amalgam of codes and messages in computer codes.

A magnificent direction by Salvador Rocher, especially in the choreographies, for the curious textual work of Adrián Novella result in a good bill very suitable for a good evening for all audiences.

for the little ones

All the programming for children under six years of age has been very remarkable. Although it started in January with Xarop Teatre’s For+ , it had its powerful month in May, where Nau Ribes brought together the little ones, always more liberated from the hard ends of the student course.

For+

The little ones felt happy with For+ , a multidisciplinary show by the Xarop Teatre company with live voice and piano, a couple of actors, handling dolls and puppets, and projections. It is a work designed for the whole family with a participatory nature for children between nine months and five years full of imaginative surprises.

He tells us with the necessary restraint the story of Pupi, a boy who travels in his dreams to a world of games. The solvent performance of Carles Benlliure and Rebeca Castro will perfectly introduce them to this universe until they reach a wonderful scene where mother or father and child from the audience rest on stage. The participation of Pupi’s dreams arrives at the stalls with a long arm with which the performers make the children touch some hearts and then they are trapped in a dream by the heat of some jellyfish. All very ingenious and always adapted to an understanding of his age. It can be seen in the little mental distance between what is observed and the reception of the little ones.

But nothing would have been possible without the music performed by Ricardo Belda and Arantxa Domínguez. With continuity throughout the show, to the rhythm of jazz and blues but with many well-known themes and some variations of Valencian folklore, the piano provides the melody and Arantxa covers the children with her voice, with many gestures and grimaces for their involvement, and a song full of onomatopoeias that breaks into the room with the repetitions of the assistants to what she induced.

Magnificent dolls and puppets, Pupi, and his enormous dreamy head, and a friendly dog ​​that accompanies him, with very suggestive and stimulating projections. It is a sensational show to educate children in respect for theater and the possibilities of their imagination. They will never forget that they went to see this show, even if they see it further away every day as they get older.

Monsieur Mutt’s serpillère

La serpillère de Monsieur Mutt is a sensational individual work that is highly stimulating for children from two to six years old, although its enormous surprises make adults smile, as I could see. Endorsed by the FETÉN 2022 award for the best dance approach show for early childhood, it is also a theater of rebellion of objects.

Marc Lacourt appears on stage with a sensational dance performance, from end to end of the stage, and manages to empathize with the little ones, until he gets some of them to dance for the rest of the show. On stage there are objects but a rebellious scrub stick that falls to the ground stands out. But then the miracle happens for the little ones: the mop moves across the floor and at the wrong moment interrupting the exercise. From there the effects continue to add up: a hanger spitting out from the artist’s jacket, a box that moves, a locker from which a ball comes out and finally, as a surprise, a box from which the pages come out. This mop rebellion will cause escapes and a conflict between the artist and the world staged. Lacourt also sets a challenge for children:

A lot of imagination, one of the most captivating interpretations for children, and the good use of land and remote machinery, build a show that leaves with exemplary optimism. The little ones enjoyed and will no longer forget the magic of the theater.

Soul

‘Alma’ is a precious work by Anna Ros, nominated for the Max award, intended for early childhood. The objects and the movement constitute the foundations of it. The little ones enjoyed the creativity of the proposal, fun and poetic, whose plot reference is the passage of time.

Anna Ros transports you to the four seasons, filling the stage from the moment she appears in striking Victoria Cretenze costumes, with her face in a frame with which she will make faces and collide with her glass. From there, everyday and natural objects relate the succession of the four seasons of the year, like moments to truly laugh. Always her with a pot with a daisy in her hand, which she will water with a sprayer.

An umbrella that with a piece of plastic serves as a giant jellyfish, a coat rack with four umbrellas of different colors and light bulbs, and three buckets from which he will extract or dump elements, such as that paper menina or the boats, constitute an eye-catching scenery for the little ones. But the most remarkable thing is the work of Anna Ros with an agile and attractive interpretation, reaching her face with sympathy.

Magnificent work that demonstrates the greatness of the small theater that is actually very big for the little ones. Beautiful and stimulating. And the ability to empathize displayed by Anna Ros to win over the viewer.

Jungle

Dance and movement build the axis of Jungla , a very visual spectacle with which the little ones are captivated. It is a journey through the board from the start with the three interpreters dressed in costumes blending in with the set design by María Alejandre, a jungle where the green of the vegetation predominates.

The development transports us to her from that initial scene to other strange beings, dressed in dark pink, almost garnet, with long eyes simulated by colored springs, prehistoric yellow skin and where the owl finally appears at nightfall. The images are of singular beauty, with a light that modifies the color tones, achieving a captivating plastic, especially with the exceptional game with the legs raised and those used by the interpreters under the skin that result in three mounds where inside appear illuminated caves.

The performance by Cecilia Colacrai, Mireia de Queros and Ursa Sekirnik, especially in the moments close to the dance, is very effective, for an excellent development for the public from two to five years old, authored by them and Anna Rubirola. But above all because of the excellent plasticity provided on stage by Joana Serra’s lighting with the camouflaged bodies in a journey full of suggestive surprises. And very gratifying and stimulating, although perhaps it lacks a little more plot grip.

The cause of the sentits

The cau dels sentits closed the regular season. It is an interactive installation without text simulating a small town made up of three wooden nests and woven clothing like birds make their nests. Each one has a different floor: colors, grass and mirror. But also different aromas that are perceived throughout the room.

Kindergarten children, even in diapers, enjoy playing with the different padded elements. From geometric figures to full bags. Both inside and outside the nests. Lali Ribalta and Gloria Román accompanied them, as did their teachers, moving among themselves but without saying a single word. Roman accompanies them from the entrance with an illuminated ball guiding them towards what is an unforgettable experience.

The direction of its creators, Eulàlia Riberta and Sergi Ots, and the setting by Txell Janot are so effective that it gave me the feeling that the time they were in the installation playing and perceiving elements through all their senses was too short. For this reason, this sensory experience points out to children the vividness of the scenarios and, best of all, the distinction of the perception of beauty. Beauty and play are not inseparable.

theater for young people

Lazarus

Perhaps it was one of the last representations of Lázaro by the young Valencian Roberto Hoyo. You can never be sure with absolute certainty, but it has been one of the most represented Valencian works in recent years since it came to light as a short piece at the Russafa Escènica festival in 2019. Lázaro and Roberto Hoyo have marked an era for exploring new avenues and scenic languages ​​very destined to include the young public within the wide amalgamation of publics.

In this contemporary adaptation of the well-known picaresque novel, Lazarillo de Tormes Hoyo uses the aesthetics of hip hop, with the presence of Marco Ferreira as a DJ on stage as his squire. The author-actor develops with all the picaresque between dialogue with the public and improvisation to freshly recreate the story of a small criminal who gets ahead thanks to the picaresque learning of the street: a whole story of survival and overcoming the powerful circumstances and fresh language.

The masters are no longer those of Lazarillo. Neither blind men, nor friars, nor clerics from Maqueda nor hidalgos squires. The protagonist’s relationship is with a blind man from alcoholism, a Moor or the secret police but with the same critical background and development as a fragmentary journey through the suburban precariousness of marginal youth. These lazars also learn from life even with beatings and setbacks.

But if something stands out, it is the interpretation of Roberto Hoyo. Dancing or with a litrona in hand, with phrases that are pleasing to the public, recounting episodes in the world of drugs and theft between the songs in an easy-going tone. The interpretative turn to show the anger after so many moments of humor is even more remarkable. Because violence has surrounded his life and here Hoyo is just as powerful as in the episodes full of comedy. In the end, music is the lifeline of a world leamok , like the name of the company, which means “shit” in Cambodian but sounds better. Although, honestly, that trip to Cuba street with the ball of hashish in the short piece will always be unforgettable.

Last Moon by Mercutio Montesc

Any show evolves. The passage of time can refine it and round off the result. This is what happened with Última lluna by Mercutio Montesmonths after its premiere on May 20, 2022 at the Teatre El Musical. Undoubtedly, having eliminated some “paseíllos”, a total of ten minutes, and having created an ending with a break in the fourth wall and extras, has given this replacement more consistency in the school program of the Escalante Theater Center for a performance that will It is expressed in registers that can be assimilated by young people in high school, and older, who will feel attracted by the visuality and nocturnal nature of the plot, full of scenes well thought out for their current ways of thinking. They understood them and would not be shocked by some of them as some veteran public would, to the point that in the discussion after its completion they asked almost twenty questions, which shows their interest.

Going to the content, the teacher Nel Diago told me years ago, in those comments that are made when leaving a theater, that with Shakespeare you can do anything except kill him. A phrase that stays with you and that sums up all the experiences lived from the vision of so many colorful montages of the works of the genius from Stratford. We have already contemplated all range of proposals, from the archaeological to the crazy attack of adapter or director. That in Shakespeare all the depths of the human being are recorded has served to justify any not always successful theatrical transformation, Hamlet in jeans as they say ironically, although it is clear that representing it literally can be boring in these times.

Laura Sanchis and Javier Sahuquillo have dared a sui generis transformation of Romero y Julieta with their company Perros Daneses. They have recreated the confrontation between the Montagues and the Capulet from the Shakespearean tragedy, bringing it to the concerns of today’s young people in their twenties. It is not the first time that Sahuquillo has wrung its neck at the story of desperate lovers separated by the hateful enmity of their families novelized by Matteo Brandello, the inspiration for so many theatrical plots. He already did it in Verona , from the dramatization of the story by Lope de Vega in Castelvines y monteses. Nor is it the first time that Laura Sanchis has chosen secondary characters from the theater, such as Mercutio, Romeo’s confidant and friend, and turned them into protagonists of a new story, as she did in Nagg i Nell, the beggars in Samuel ‘s Endgame Beckett. The fact is that they have put these characters on the scene giving them their own entity and extending their history as well as adding references tending to the most current.

Sahuquillo and Sanchis lead us in Última lluna by Mercutio Montesc to a futuristic dystopia in an apocalyptic world ruled by totalitarianism and divided into two castes: the young, montacular, and the adults, capulet; the innocence and corruption of goodness respectively. Those who face each other are not families but generations. To do this, Sanchis and Sahuquillo have focused on the relationship between Benvoli, Mercutio and Romeo, the three friends from Shakespeare’s original, fundamental in the development of the action, just as Mercutio would have wanted to tell it. They shift the spotlight to the couple of friends Benvoli and Mercutio to talk about friendship, loyalty and betrayal.

This dystopia with a futuristic air is present from the beginning. The aesthetic of the opening scene is reminiscent of 1984to George Orwell. With a closed curtain and on each side two curtains with the established symbols and the word “homeland”. This is the name of the world that emerged from pandemics and wars where adults dominate aimless youth dominated by algorithms that act like a mobile phone or computer in the palm of their hands. This beginning is really reproducing the thinking of those on the verge of twenty-five, psychological victims of a pandemic that has left them without thirty months of the best years of everyone’s life and has delved into an already existing problem: the idea established that there is no future, there are no hopes, there are no possible life projects when youth is handcuffed in one way or another. The public of these ages identifies with this situation described in another time. Six actors on stage condemned not to touch, kiss, or live, and this pushes them to break the law to find a place in the world. Homeland is a society divided by the limit of twenty-five years. It is a narcotic and repressive world with the wild: the victims of a dictatorial social reality. Transgressing costs life. There are even small mountainous terrorist groups as a social response. But we are facing a world where hedonism has triumphed to spread in a society with dull and superficial thinking. Transgressing costs life. There are even small mountainous terrorist groups as a social response. But we are facing a world where hedonism has triumphed to spread in a society with dull and superficial thinking. Transgressing costs life. There are even small mountainous terrorist groups as a social response. But we are facing a world where hedonism has triumphed to spread in a society with dull and superficial thinking.

At the age of twenty-five he stops being a monastic and enters the world of the Capulet. One of these six young people, Teobaldo, reaches that age and when he passes to the other society he celebrates a party. He can invite a mountain. Romeo upon arriving at the party falls in love with Juliet. But the rest of the friends decide to transgress the rules and go disguised as adults, dressing in clothes typical of the Capulet. The party is celebrated and after the fun the tragedy begins on the way back. Then the leading role derives from Mercutio and Benvoli, the true center of the action. Previously, the action takes place where Teobaldo challenges Romeo to a duel, which culminates in a tragedy and which leads to his hatred of the “illegal” wildcats as squatters.

The script focused on both is transgressive in every way and not just in the plot. It swaps Juliet into a male actor and Romeo into a female one. Eroticism, repressed for the montagues, is present and goes beyond love, with a clear drift in defense of sexual freedom. Young people assimilate it naturally. The entire social beginning is maintained beyond history because the complaint is directed towards those who betray as soon as they enter the circle of the society that hoards power. To do this, Sanchis and Sahuquillo approach from the perspective of social and human conflict above any romanticism and sentimentality. It is the story of friends who end up being persecuted by Teobaldo, who was also a Montague before being a Capulet. Loyalty ceases to exist when the sense of social belonging abandons the old principles. Something common when you reach adulthood.

Although the addressee is the public in their twenties (or from adolescence) the diegesis is interesting for the adult public. And to consummate the atmosphere for this audience, there is nothing better than directing the person who best knows how to create environments for them throughout his career: Borja López Collado. We remember his works From him Halloween party , Sifilitik.o and Lycanthropywhere we find the nocturnal world, parties and discos, youth personal relationships, drugs (here “powder”), or sexual relations. There is no other Valencian author and director better than him for reproducing the hidden underworld and in this work he does so with exemplary sufficiency. His work has given the script packaging and strength and gradually increased interest. His direction is excellent and he remains in the memory for a young aesthetic identified with his mentality. Sahuquillo himself often reiterates that he wants to see works where there is a direction and here it is with a successful style and overwhelming adequacy without falling into vulgarity.

For the musical part and the sound space, he uses Kique Gasú in the beatbox , who returns with his proven solvency in Tirant, together with Aurora García Agud, excellent in handling the keys, and Marc Servera on the guitar (also Gasú on occasions). The sounds reproduced are the environmental base of the montage, always restrained and never dominant. They have to become embedded in the subtext of the action and they succeed. Even the guitar plucks are subtle and mark rather than star: barely perceptible. As also happens with the images designed by Pablo Català Escalera: they have a reinforcing function, especially in the expressiveness of faces and characters. Many technical elements with a versatile and all-encompassing presence but always at the service of the story without overlapping or standing out above it. Even Pablo Fernández’s lighting has a subordinate presence, even distressing at night, reinforcing situations and characters with nuances within the dominant darkness. A merit of López Collado’s direction is this use of so much technique without abusing it to the point of killing the argument: it enhances the mysterious with the dark.

On the other hand, we have seen the six actors born. Here we can see how much Raúl Ferrando has grown in the TEM and Isidro Mora in the Principal, Raúl Lledó, Aurora García Agud, Kike Gasu, Paula López Collado and Marc Servera. Different interpretive styles, some better than others, but very well chosen. With its virtues extracted by the management. Paula López Collado shines in an exemplary way. She is the one who has it more difficult appearing in various roles, being her the first to die, having to express eroticism, or showing herself with a controlled histrionics as a premonitory blind. We saw her born in that Amoureux solitairesfrom Russafa Escènica in 2015 and I think that if she continues with this evolution she will soon be a complete actress capable of representing any role with disparate characteristics, as she has demonstrated in this show. Kike Gasu stands out not only as a musician but as a violent and angry Tebaldo. Raúl Lledó grew and became more convincing as he ran through the action as Benvoli. Aurora García Agud is very determined from the beginning, and her Romeo has the necessary simplicity. Not to mention her clean voiceover of hers alongside the music. Marc Servera is more subdued, although he complies and is very precise with the guitar and Juliet’s dress. And what to say about Raúl Ferrando. That he continues to grow. His Mercutio Montesc is not easy at all because he has to move between interpretive extremes, from the intimate to the talkative; from being resolute and determined to doubts, or from an energetic and even brutish character to having an enormous sense of faithful friendship. It was difficult for Isidro Mora to match in the substitution of Escalante but he delivered.

If there is any objection to the editing after simplifying the excessive journey of Benvoli and Mercutio that caused an abrupt break in rhythm until the irate reappearance of Teobaldo prior to the denouement, it is the fencing duels. Here the actors show a weak point to improve. They have time ahead. The very close and not at all forced denouement, even if Mercutio’s fate is known or guessed, is best finished off with a coronation accompanied by extras leaving the stalls.

This creation selected by the Escalante Theater Center as a pilot experience for teenagers and co-produced by Perros Daneses, Yapadú Artística and TEM, is worth it. This theater intended for a young audience is very appreciated, which is in tune with their concerns and way of thinking, especially that generation sunk since the pandemic. Because the oblivion to which they are being subjected is claimed and transferred to the world of adults: it is no longer that society offers them precariousness and junk employment as a vital alternative as their predecessors, but rather that it does not give them any alternative other than submitting to the vicissitudes of fortune: that is, to nothing.

It is also important that young people learn to enjoy text theater.

 

ARTISTIC SHEETS

Lazarus of Leamok

Date of the performance: January 24, 2023. Date of the review: January 25, 2023 (update of the one carried out in August 2020 at the Sagunt a Escena festival). Nau Ribes.

Text: Roberto Hoyo. Cast: Roberto Hoyo. Music: Marco Ferreira. Artistic advice: Luis Melià.

For+ by Xarop Theater

Date of performance: January 29, 2023. Date of review: January 29, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performers: Carles Benlliure and Rebeca Castro. Original and live music: Ricardo Belda and Arantxa Domínguez. Directed by Carles Benlliure. Dramaturgy: Rebeca Castro. Creation team: LAPinzón, Piluka Art. Dolls and costumes: Rebeca Castro. Audiovisual: Piluka Art. Technical design: Escenasons.

Chinchulina and the China Nightingale from La Canica Teatro

Date of performance: February 3, 2023. Date of review: February 4, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Text: Pablo and Alba Vergne. Direction: Pablo Vergne. Cast: Alba Vergne. Photography: Giuseppe Marconi. Production: The Marble.

La serpillère de Monsieur Mutt de Ma Compagnie Company

Date of performance: February 10, 2023. Date of review: February 10, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performer, choreography and staging: Marc Lacourt. Scenography and sound: Pauline Valentin / Samuel Dutertre.

Tarzan of Mar Mar Company

Date of the performance: February 21, 2023. Date of the review: February 21, 2023. Teatro Principal.

Cast: Aritza Rodríguez, Javi Tirado, Irene Hernando, Gabriel Ocina and Eriz Alberdi. Author: Kike Diaz de Rada. Address: Jose Carlos Garcia. Lighting design: Ion Chavez. Sound space: Igor Iglesias. Music: Fran Lasuen. Costumes: Naomi Loiti. Technicians: Antxon Unzaga, Maitane Serrano and Igor Iglesias. Translation: Idoia Barcelo.

Save the great song by Col·lectiu FRENÈ.TIC

Date of the performance: February 24, 2023. Date of the review: February 26, 2023. Teatro Principal.

Performers and authorship: Gonzalo Santamaría, Matías Marré, Marilén Ribot, Raül García and Suso Imbernón. Stage direction: Jimena Cavalletti. Technical direction: Abrahan Gómez. Wardrobe: Sara Recatalá. Scenography: Col·lectiu FRENÈ.TIC

Crew of Farrés Bros. i Cía.

Date of performance: March 7, 2023. Date of review: March 9, 2023. Teatro Principal.

Performers: Jordi Farrés and Pep Farrés. Creation: Jordi Palet, Pep Farrés and Jordi Farrés. Direction and text: Jordi Palet i Puig. Scenography and puppet design: Jordi Enric, Farrés Brothers y cía. Alfred Casas. Music: Jordi Riera. Lighting: Jordi Llogueras. Voice in off: Pere Arquillé.

Last Moon by Mercutio Montesc of Danish Dogs

Date of the performance: May 20, 2022. Date of the review: May 22, 2022. Teatro Principal.

Authors: Laura Sanchis and Javier Sahuquillo / William Shakespeare. Address: Borja López Collado. Cast: Raúl Ferrando (TEM) – Isidro Mora (Main), Raúl Lledó, Aurora García Agud, Kike Gasu, Paula López Collado and Marc Servera. Movement and assistant director: Júlia Cambra. Lighting: Pablo Fernandez. Audiovisual space: Pablo Català Escalera. Musical composition and live music: Marc Servera, Aurora García Agud and Kike Gasu. Stage space: Javier Sahuquillo and Pablo Fernández. Set design: David Durán. Costumes: Gabriel Meseguer. Stage fight: Borja López Collado. Executive production: Javier Sahuquillo. Production Assistant: Raquel Violero and Gabriel Meseguer.

Boo! by Teatre de l’Abast and La Fam Produccions

Performance date: March 9, 2023. Review date: March 10, 2023. Place: Martín y Soler Room (Les Arts)

Original idea and direction: Lucía Aibar and Victoria Mínguez. Text: Master Manuel. Dramaturgy: Lucia Aibar, Manuel Maestro and Victoria Mínguez. Cast: Neus Alborch, Rebeca Artal-Dato, Estela Domínguez, Aina Gimeno and Juanma Picazo. Music: Carles Rodenas. Choreography: Cristina Fernández. Lyrics: Lucía Aibar, Manuel Maestro, Carles Rodenas, Ramon Rodenas. Set design: Txema Rico. Scenographic construction: Oriol Casso Samsó. Design and construction of puppets: Vicente Andreu and Muppetece. Lighting Design: Sergio Heredia. Costumes: Pascual Perís. Vocal advice: Mary Porcar. Photographs and video: Lluerna Audiovisual Creation. Graphic design: Laura Valero. Linguistic advice: Neus Alborch. Executive production: Lucía Aibar, Sergio Heredia, Victoria Mínguez. Production assistant: Ramon Rodenas. Musicians: David Andreu,

Bowa’s travels from La Gata Japonesa Company

Date of performance: March 22, 2023. Date of review: March 22, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performer and author: Elena Vives Espejo-Saavedra. Address: Lucas Escobedo. Original music: Voltaire Project. Lighting: Carlos Cremades Mendi. Stage design and costumes: La Catera.

Allò que ens uneix d e Escalante / La Matallina

Date of performance: March 30, 2023. Date of review: March 30, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performers: Elisa M. Matallín, Raquel Heredia and Anna Estellés. Dramaturgy and authorship: Elisa M. Matallín. Direction: Elisa M. Matallín and Anna Estellés. Puppets and scenery: Somiatruites. Direction and musical composition: Versonautas and Raquel Heredia. Lighting: Lumierescene (Carlos Molina) and Anna Estellés.

Marroch’s Perseverance

Date of performance: April 23, 2023. Date of review: April 25, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performers: Diana Huertas, María Palazón, Marie Pastorelli, Melodía García. Choreography and direction: Salvador Rocher. Dramaturgy and text: Adrián Novella. Scenography: José Luis Huguet. Costumes: Emilio Morales. Music: Alexander Espinosa.

Soul of LaBú Theater

Date of performance: May 3, 2023. Date of review: May 3, 2023. Nau Ribes.

Performer, authorship and direction: Anna Ros. Scenography: Martí Doy and LaBú Teatre. Costumes: Victoria Cretenze. Music: Marcel Vall and Joel Condal. Lighting: Sergi Illa.

Big Bouncers Jungle

Date of performance: May 10, 2023. Date of review: May 10, 2023. Nau Ribes

Performers: Cecilia Colacrai, Mireia de Queros and Ursa Sekirnik. Author: Anna Rubirola and the three interpreters. Address: Big Bouncers. Scenography: Maria Alejandre. Costumes: Big Bouncers and María Alejandre. Music: Oriol Roca. Lighting: Joana Serra.

The cause of the sentits of Companyia Elpetit

Performance date:

Performers: Lali Ribalta and Gloria Román. Direction and Creation: Eulàlia Riberta and Sergi Ots. Design and construction: Txell Janot.