Laura Lopez | Segovia (EFE).- The only library in the world of ropes, knots and paper balls that one day were thrown into the bin has come to the 37th edition of Titirimundi to demonstrate that the analog school has “more strength than ever” to catch the attention of the little ones and awaken their thirst for knowledge.
José Antonio Portillo, who was a school teacher before dedicating himself to the show, has created over the last twenty years an enormous archive of cylinders of fabrics that contain “messages of ropes and knots”, manuscripts and objects created by children in the school or during their workshops throughout Europe.
All these objects have been on display since yesterday on some shelves that form a large circular room in the Patio of the Palace of the Diputación de Segovia, which since yesterday has been visited by children and adults in evening passes, each of which is totally unique because its course depends on questions from the public.
“This is an analogical school, which over time has shown that it continues to be very strong because it invites the child to want to know, to want to ask, to want to know… and it is a timeless school”, explained the artist in a screening of press this Friday.
In groups of between thirty-five and forty people, children and adults enter this peculiar library and, after a few minutes of exploration, begin to ask the director about the stories behind these memorabilia and discuss among themselves the stimulating objects found.
“They come in here and I play it with a ball of paper. There are no effects, there are no sounds, it is the closest thing to a school day, there are only objects, words and silence”, has described the ideologue of this show, which invites the public in each place it visits to leave your creations with him to nourish his archive.
Singular projects in the face of “voracious” tourism
Portillo has valued, in statements to the media, the “effort” made by Titirimundi and the companies to incorporate into the programming “unique projects” such as his, whose transport and assembly is so complex that it usually closes functions in each city during a month to be profitable.
“I hope that the economic items return to their natural state because if not, singular projects will not be able to come”, the teacher has claimed.
He has thus referred to the difficulties that the festival has experienced in recent years due to the cut in funding by the Junta de Castilla y León, a situation that endangered the continuity of the festival in 2021.
This year, the director of the event, Marian Palma, has denounced the problems they have had to carry out the programming without knowing the contribution that both the regional Executive and the central government will make to this edition, through the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music from the Ministry of Culture.
Juan Antonio Portillo has also underlined the importance of the festival due to its “uniqueness”: “I come from Benicasim, the city of music festivals. Whenever you want, I’ll exchange a music festival for Titirimundi’s ”, he joked.
“We are in a moment of very voracious tourism, but I believe that in the end people will look for the unique”, reflected the playwright.
Beyond Portillo’s peculiar circular cabin, this Friday the functions in the program have multiplied compared to the two previous days before the arrival of the weekend, with five shows in theaters, seven in patios, four on the street and two presentations from books.
In addition to the traditional Circo de las Pulgas, almost thirty passes from Compagnie de L’Echelle (France) will take place throughout the day in the courtyards of historic buildings in Segovia, such as the Garden of the Episcopal Palace or the ruins of San Agustín. , the Spanish Teatro Arbolé, Ymedio Teatro and Teloncillo or Claudio Levati & Niels Peter Kloft: Dansk Rakkerpak (Italy-Denmark).
On the street, the groups Nakupelle (United States-Finland), Troula (Spain) or Pikz Palace (Belgium) will gather around them the usual crowds of children and adults that form in the streets and squares of the city, spaces that Segovians will have to share from today with visitors who come from other provinces.
in theaters
Already in the theaters, near the end of the afternoon and even at night, some of the works dedicated to adult audiences will take place, such as the Spanish La Pai and Escarlata Circus and Fekete Seretlek & Studio Damúza (Czech Republic-Slovenia), which opened the festival at the Teatro Juan Bravo last Wednesday.
Although the official Titirimundi program began last Wednesday, the companies have participated in the tour organized by the festival since April 28.
In total, it will visit 39 towns in the province of Segovia, twelve spaces in Madrid, four municipalities in Castilla y León and Gavá (Barcelona), Redondela (Pontevedra) and Barañáin (Pamplona).
The school campaign, Titiricole, will have twenty-five performances at the Municipal Library of the capital, which will be enjoyed by students from fourteen educational centers in Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid and Madrid.
In addition, these days there are performances for the public with difficulties accessing the theaters, such as those admitted to the Pediatric ward of the Segovia Hospital and different workshops for professionals and family audiences. EFE