Laura Lopez |
Segovia (EFE).- The first puppet version of the emblematic film “El verdugo” by Berlanga proposes a necessary review of the “grey” and “dark” Spain of the sixties in a single screening this Thursday, the second day of the 37th edition of Titirimundi.
This at least is the objective that led the company El Espejo Negro to adapt the script by Luis García Berlanga and Rafael Azcona on the 60th anniversary of the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, as explained in statements to the media. the director of the theater group, Ángel Calvente.
In his opinion, “El Verdugo” by Berlanga is “magnificent” to show “a Spain that has changed but not in the background, a Spain that wants to return to that darkness, that gray Spain, that Spain of those above and those of below”.
It is a show aimed at both adults and the youngest, which is why, since it premiered last January, the company from Malaga has taken the show to various schools.
“It is very important that they get to know a Spain that is very far away for them but that it is inevitable that they have to review and soak up… then we have a debate and that is very good because the boys say ‘But, what happened? And how is this?’”, has reproduced the playwright.
Calvente acknowledges having spent it “like a dwarf” when creating this adaptation, which remains “very faithful” to the original script but also contains “licences” such as musical numbers or touches of surrealism, the company’s trademark, which will fulfill 35 years in 2024.
Around thirty “Bunraku” style puppets, originally from Japan, made with foam rubber and glue, will be brought to life tonight by the tables of the Juan Bravo Theater, to which four actors will give life.
The technique used offers mechanical “exquisiteness” and delicacy in expression, although the company has adapted the sculptures so that they are lighter and their movements faster.
A bad year for theater due to elections
On the path that “El Verdugo” will continue after passing through Titirimundi tonight, Calvente has reported that they have twenty performances scheduled for the coming months, in Logroño, El Ejido (Almería) or the Teatro de la Abadía in Madrid.
But he has regretted that it is “a very bad year for the performing arts” due to the coincidence of the municipal elections, which are held on May 28, together with the autonomous ones in many communities in Spain and the general ones, which will be expected by the end of the year.
“It shows because nobody wants to take a step until it is known who is staying, who is going to enter… the budgets are there, but they are up in the air”, commented the playwright.
Weekend
Throughout this Thursday there will also be a dozen street shows that will animate different corners of Segovia on the eve of the beginning of the weekend, when the flood of most functions is expected.
Until next Monday, May 15, 288 performances by 35 companies from ten countries will take place in the city with genres such as object theatre, glove and string puppets, blackjack shows, cabarets, concerts or shows of ” clowns”.
This Thursday the companies Nakupelle (United States-Finland, with their comedy of visual gags and circus skills “Paper Work”, or La Mandale (France), with their glove puppet show “Los impávios” were deployed through the streets of Segovia. Bretons”.
In the Plaza del Azoguejo, at the foot of the Aqueduct, the peculiar “food truck” of the Belgians Pikz Palace remains installed, which in three passes this afternoon will become a stuffed animal butcher shop that offers children “Barbie thighs” and “Winnie the Pooh Burger.”
Of the functions that are held in the hall, two performances by Juan Antonio Portillo and his “Library of Strings and Knots” are planned, which is presented as “the only one” of this kind and “the second largest composed based on manuscripts not published”.
In the patios you will be able to find, as usual, the emblematic show of El Circo de las Pulgas, which performs six shows every day in Abraham Senior’s patio, and the Tof Théâtre company, which debuts in this edition with “Echappée Vieille”.
Founded by Alain Moreau in 1987, this Belgian company offers an installation-animation-show with three human-sized puppets that pays homage to the elderly who spent the first part of the coronavirus health crisis locked up and alone.
This Thursday afternoon, workshops such as “Titiricuento” begin, in which Iryna Messi and Marta Ramiro will try to “create a pool” of puppeteers by teaching children to create their own characters with paper and clothespins. in a day that has been marked by the version of “El Verdugo” by Berlanga. EFE