Laura Lopez| Segovia (EFE).-
The worst moments of the coronavirus pandemic have left their mark on the programming of this edition of Titirimundi, three years later, in the form of plays that reflect on distance, pay homage to the elderly, or have been born from the break that the health crisis forced the puppeteers to take over.
An express example of this is “Distance. Memory Capsules”, an installation by La Societé de la Mouffette & Coma 14 that has arrived at La Cárcel_Segovia Creation Center of Segovia to stir consciences during this 37th edition of Titirimundi that is celebrated in the city from last Wednesday to this Monday.
The pandemic and its memory
These are six boxes or “memory capsules” in which different moments of the worst stage of the coronavirus crisis have been recreated: an empty hospital bed, an interior patio of the neighbors during confinement or a supermarket razed to the ground. toilet are the scenarios recreated in miniature.
The viewer approaches each of these capsules and attends small four-minute pieces made to move the public through audio, light and video with memories of that time that seemed buried.
Through dramatic texts, real testimonies and poetry by Denise Despeyroux, Antònia Vicens, Rulo Pardo, Jorge Muriel, Itziar Pascual, it is intended to create “a mechanism for collecting information so as not to forget”, according to the company, formed by Tolo Ferrà (direction and video scene) and Vera González (playwriting).
This Sunday, the penultimate day of the 37th edition of Titirimundi, is another of the highlights of the festival, with more than twenty works, almost half of them in the courtyards of emblematic buildings in Segovia.
In total, from Wednesday to tomorrow, Monday, there will be 288 performances produced by 35 theater companies from countries such as France, Belgium, Denmark, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Argentina.
The pandemic and its moods
Another of the pieces in this edition where the imprint of the coronavirus pandemic can be seen is in “Échappée Vieille” by the Belgian company Tof Théâtre, which will perform three performances this Sunday outside the Royal House of the Moneda, a historic building from the 16th century.
In this unique space, the company offers the public an “installation/animation/show” with three human-sized puppets in a “crazy, happy and nostalgic” show that pays tribute to the elderly who remained isolated during the first part of the health crisis.
Also to sectors that were not considered “essential” at the time, such as culture or leisure for the youngest and whose importance the company has wanted to claim.
The work tells the story of two residents of a residence who plan to escape to feel “the flavors of life” again, renew their social contacts and recover the party spirit that they miss so much as prominent DJs.
Tof Théâtre, which has more than thirty works behind it, is presented as an example of “reduced realism”, which “perverts” the traditional techniques of puppet manipulation and reveals how the puppeteers move their characters to the public view.
art in pandemic
But the echoes of the covid crisis in Titirimundi are not only reflected in the plots of the works that can be enjoyed at the festival, they are also found in the works that were made possible thanks to the confinement break, a moment that many took advantage of to create .
This is the case of the veteran Escarlata Circus, which has brought to this edition of Titirimundi “CUL”, a “collection of latent universes” made with everyday objects such as matches, knitting needles or silver foil that is displayed on those days in the chapel. from the Esteban Vicente Museum of Contemporary Art.
“I locked myself in the workshop and the objects began to speak to me, and I to dialogue with them, and this little piece came out,” explained its creator, Jordi Aspa these days. EFE
The entry The echoes of the pandemic resonate in Tiririmundi was first published on EFE Noticias.