41^st BADAJOZ INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

The 41st edition of the Badajoz International Theatre Festival will be held from 24 October to 3 November at the Theatre López de Ayala. Like every year, this cultural event brings together a selection of both Spanish and foreign companies.

It maintains its international character with the presence of four proposals from the United Kingdom, Holland, France and Portugal: 'Finding Joy' by Vamos Theatre; the street show 'The Yelling kitchen prince'; 'Speakeasy' by Compagnie The Ratpack and 'Conchas' Teatro D'Orfeu/ Marionetas Mandrágora .

The presence of companies from the region of Extremadura this year is special as El Avispero Producciones with '@Lone' (“When the web traps you”) and Suripanta Teatro with 'Caimanes' premiere their productions in this edition. Albadulake will also be present with an innovative show, 'Genoma B', based on Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba  or the monologue offered by actor Pablo Bigeriego. This selection is closed by Panduro Producciones from Extremadura.

The little ones have a special section with two companies and three sessions on Sunday 28th October: 'Conchas' by Teatro D'Orfeu/ Marionetas Mandrágora (Portugal) and 'El reto de Zeus' by Panduro Producciones.

For this forty-first edition the theatre has enabled a season ticket for 9 shows with which viewers will benefit from a saving of almost 50% on the price of the single ticket.

 

 

 

 

COUNTER-SCENE - THE FUNAMVIOLISTAS

Wednesday 24 October - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Festival of Theatre of Badajoz
• Company : Funamviolistas (Madrid)
• Author : Osqui Guzmán
• Directors : Osqui Guzmán and Leticia González de Lellis
• Cast : Maite Olmedilla (viola and voice), Lila Horovitz (double bass and voice) and Ana Hernández (violin and voice)
• Synopsis : Comedy created from different points of view about woman as artist. It will be in their dressing rooms where the intimacy of the artists is revealed as a sort of Counter-Scene of the show. They are different because of their weaknesses, their fears and their burdens. Abandoned by love, moving away from their children and their homes, calming with pills the anxieties that coexistence produces, and above all, taking dealing with success.

Through an ingenious instrumental, vocal and gestural interpretation, ContraEscena reveals in a comic and dramatic key the secrets of three women artists on tour, faced with the challenge of reconciling their responsibilities, doubts and personal aspirations with the inexcusable coexistence between them. It soon becomes clear that they are very different because of their weaknesses, fears and mania. And yet, something seems to unbreakably unite them.

The joy of good humour and reconciliation finally prevails in ContraEscena. An intelligent comedy to remind us that at the end of the road we are left with the good taste of having laughed and enjoyed this great show, life itself, where we are all main characters.

• Duration : 80’

 

 

 

 

CRIME AND CURTAIN - RON LALÁ

Thursday 25 October - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Ron LaLá Company (Madrid)
• Original idea and collective creation : Ron Lalá
• Text : Álvaro Tato
• Director : Yayo Cáceres
• Choreography : Régis Truchy
• Acrobatics : Thomas Ferraguti
• Cast : Juan Cañas, Iñigo Echevarría, Jacinto Bobo, Fran García, Miguel Magdalena and Daniel Rovalher.
• Synopsis : The theatre is dead and detective Noir has to find the murderer before the Anti-Art Agency reveals the secret of his dark past. To do so, he will travel through the history of the Theatre in search of hidden truths while a network of mysterious characters conspire in the shadows... A tribute to universal theatre in the form of a black genre thriller, set in a near future in which the arts are forbidden and our planet, turned into City Earth, is led by an artificial intelligence with an army of drones. An investigation against the clock in which the killer could be anyone. Even you, spectators.
• Duration : 90’

 

GENOMA B - ALBADULAQUE COMPANY

Viernes 26 de octubre - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Text : Free adaptation of La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca
• Directors : Juan Antonio Moreno and Ángeles Vázquez
• Cast : Sandra Carrasco (juggling, Hula-hoops and manipulation), Noemí Martínez (flamenco dance and performance), Vivian Friedich (Cyr wheel, string and dance), Ana Esteban (balance, dance and voice), Irene Acereda (flamenco percussion, flamenco dance and voice) and José Carlos Torres (guitar and voice).
• Synopsis : Five sisters imprisoned in five miriñaques. Five women oppressed by a deviant society based on gossip and hearsay", which is embodied by the protagonist with an iron soul, Bernarda. A coffin on stage as a vanishing point from this beginning. A dead man who appears alive. A free soul that, like a troubadour, channels the emotions and conflicts experienced by the five sisters.
• Duration : 65’

 

 

 

DIARY OF A MADMAN - PABLO BIGERIEGO

Stage pit

Friday 26 October - 23:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Pablo Bigeriego (Extremadura)
• Author : Nikolai Gógol
• Director : Jorge Moraga
• Performer : Pablo Bigeriego
• Synopsis : Ivanovch is a solitary, mediocre and complex civil servant who aspires to widespread recognition and improvement of his social status. Through his intimate diary he will immerse us in his nonsensical plans to achieve the social position that everyone denies him, an extraordinary narration that tries to give coherence to the complicated mental illness that the character is developing.
• Duration : 60’

 

 

 

ALLIGATORS - SURIPANTA TEATRO

Saturday 27 October - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Suripanta Teatro (Extremadura)
• Author : David Barreiro
• Director : Paco Obregón
• Cast : Pedro Rodríguez, Olga Lozano, Víctor Mendoza, Sol López and Jesús Martín
• Synopsis : Contradictions, evils, conflicts, and in short, the deep unhappiness of contemporary man viewed through a hard-boiled plot but with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor that oozes the ridiculous and pathetic of certain human behaviors very well described in their characters and situations.
• Duration : 80’

 

 

 

SHELLS - TEATRO E MARIONETAS DE MANDRÁGORA

Babies’ show

Sunday 28 October – 12:00 y 13:30

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Teatro D'Orfeu/ Marionetas Mandrágora (Portugal)
• Author : Franziska Aarflot
• Direction : Ensemble creation
• Cast : Clara Ribeiro and Ricardo Falcón
• Synopsis : Two very curious travellers wander through the creation of new words and sounds, combined with musicality and body language. Music and puppets for babies.
• Babies up to the age of five and accompanying persons.
• Duration : 45’

 

 

 

 

THE YELLING KITCHEN PRINCE - BRAM GRAAFLAND

Minayo Square

Monday 29 October and Tuesday 30 October – 18:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Author, director and performer : Bram Graafland
• Synopsis : The Yelling Kitchen Prince is the owner of the world's only gadget that combines drums and organ with built-in kitchen. It revolves around the theatre, a circus act and a concert, but its climax comes when the artist prepares a pancake. This very special prince works with resources from the clown, juggling and circus disciplines with spectacular effects.
• Street show that will take place at Minayo square.
• Duration : 30’

 

 

 

 

SPEAKEASY - COMPAGNIE THE RAT PACK

Tuesday 30 October - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : The Rat Pack (France)
• Author : Xavier Lavabre and Vincent Maggioni
• Choreography : Régis Truchy
• Cast : Xavier Lavabre, Vincent Maggionni, Clara Huet, Ann-Katrin Jornot, Guillaume Juncar, Andrea Catozzi
• Synopsis : A show based on body language, inspired by silent films and hip-hop, reveals all the talent of these artists. The music is composed by Chinese Man sound designers.

We are transported to the gangster movies of the 30s in the United States. They were succesful as a portrait of the social context of prohibition.

Most of the artists in this project were born in the 1980s and grew up in the 1990s, shaken by the works of the heirs of the “gangster movies” such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

The six performers are acrobats, actors and dancers, and they excel displaying a fantastic technical level.

• Recommended for all audiences from 8 years old onward
• Duration : 60’

 

CUZCO - WICHITA CO.

Wednesday 31 October - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Teatro del Poble (Valencia)
• Author and director : Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez
• Cast : Silvia Valero and Bruno Tamarit
• Synopsis : A couple travels to Cuzco in a desperate attempt to save their relationship.

During the trip, they meet a series of characters that will affect the purposes of their journey: a happy Spanish couple with whom they will share an itinerary from Cuzco to Machu Picchu; an Italian woman worried only about finding her happiness; an old Peruvian and his son, exiled in Argentina, immersed in a kind of journey of rediscovery of their own homeland. As a backdrop, the Inca and colonial past, the terrorism of the Shining Path, Andean poverty, and the reflection of a seriously wounded Spain.

Far from uniting the depleted couple, the journey will awaken each one's true needs, their own private and personal tragedy, their ghosts. In short, the journey will reveal the impossibility of dreaming tomorrow, the failure of the last opportunity.

• Duration : 80’

 

 

 

@LONE (WHEN THE WEB CATCHES YOU) – EL AVISPERO PRODUCTIONS

Thursday 01 November - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : El avispero (Extremadura)
• Author : Simón Ferrero
• Director : Isabel Martín
• Performer : Simón Ferrero
• Synopsis : A reflection on the current universe of social networks. A network that traps you to show our maximum happiness, but can also bring out the worst in each of us.
• Duration : 60’

 

 

 

FINDING JOY – VAMOS THEATRE

Friday 2 November - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Vamos Theatre (United Kingdom)
• Author and director : Rachael Savage
• Cast : James Greaves, Bidi Eredale, Louise Mellor and Sarah Nelson
• Synopsis : The play tackles the subject of dementia with humor and a deep sense of humanity. Joy is 83 years old and a fighter, loves to dance and is losing her memory. Her grandson Danny, a rebellious young man, decides to take care of his grandmother. Both discover a shared joy and a growing love during their cohabitation. But is that enough to meet the challenges ahead?

Approaching the subject of dementia with humour and humanity, the award-winning Finding Joy has been performed before audiences across Europe and the UK, including a successful career at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016. Praised by both the press and audiences for its consummate full mask skills, engaging narrative, physical dexterity and emotional insight, the company continues to engage and attract audiences across borders and boundaries with its wordless theatre.

• Recommended for all audiences from 12 years old onward
• Duration : 75’

 

WHEN FIVE YEARS PASS - ATALAYA

Saturday 03 November - 21:00

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Text : By Federico García Lorca
• Company : Atalaya (Andalusia) in co-production with the Drama National Centre
• Direction and dramaturgy : Ricardo Iniesta
• Performers : Jerónimo Arenal, Manuel Asensio, Raúl Sirio, María Sanz, Raúl Vera, Elena Aliaga, José Ángel Moreno, Carmen Gallardo and Silvia Garzón.
• Synopsis : It represents some of the omnipresent basic themes in Lorca's total work: time, love and death; A young man, in love with his beloved, tells an old man that, for reasons that cannot be explained, he will not marry her... until five years pass. The young man, being pure, detached from the real contour, who only lives and makes us live the intimacy of his dreams and desires. All the other characters: the dead child, the dead cat, the rugby player, the mannequin, the clown, the harlequin and the card players, are symbols of cravings, of ideas, of sensations; of subconscious experiences.

It represents some of the omnipresent basic themes in Lorca's total work, such as time, love and death; and intertwined themes, such as the importance of dreams, frustration, his own inner journey and sterility. The narration of this work does not merley convey the double image of that life, but the tension of its own present through writing.

• Duration : 80’

THE CHALLENGE OF ZEUS - PANDURO PRODUCTIONS

Children's theatre

Sunday 4 November - 12 h

• Festival : 41 Badajoz Theatre Festival
• Company : Panduro Producciones (Extremadura) in co-production with the Regional Government of Extremadura
• Author : Fulgen Valares
• Director : Olga Estecha
• Cast : Sylvia Oliver, Simón Ferrero, Sol Díaz, Fernando Nieto and Rafael Molano
• Synopsis : A children's comedy told with comic tints that tackles the challenge of the demigod Pan who has to put an end to the boredom that has settled in the spirit of his father Zeus. To do so, with the help of the muse Talia and the stray cats of Olympus, he will improvise a play with which to entertain the god of all gods.
• Recommended for children 8 years old and older
• Duration : 70’