Network of Cultural Centres, Spanish Cooperation
continuous state of recognition and strangeness, of identification and singularity, of Castilian Spanish spoken in other lands, with different accents, different tones, by different peoples. This first workshop coincided – thanks to effective management by all concerned – with the premiere of La piedra oscura in Bogota, directed by Victor Quesada. This production became unexpectedly relevant, in the wake of the recently signed treaty between the FARC and the Government. Suddenly, a play set in a prison cell in Santander, during the Spanish civil war, was re-signified to address Colombian questions of forgiveness, dialogue and of trying to become “we” again. I remember those days in Bogota in 2016 as a happy feeling of vertigo, like a sweet kind of altitude sickness. After Bogota came Santiago de Chile and from there, on to Asunción. Perhaps Paraguay was the country where the experience was most complete and most profound. This is a country that longs for an imaginarium, for presence, for permanence. It is an inland island, an ever-changing identity. The city bears open wounds, entire neighbourhoods are foreclosed, there are abysmal differences between one man and another, between one woman and another. Here, the people of the theatre struggle to reach their destiny, fearlessly and without hesitation in incredibly difficult circumstances, all to create a national theatre. In this respect, the work being done in the Juan de Salazar Centre, where I gave my workshop, which was later led by Eloísa Vaello Marco, is proving to be decisive. A year later I returned there, for the premiere of La piedra oscura, directed by Jorge Baez. In Asunción I still have dear friends, like Ana Ivanova and Manu Alviso, who for me represent a generation, together with others such as David Cañete and Paola Irún, who seek to create a theatre where perhaps very few would even expect it, but need it so badly. The hospitality I received from each and every one of them is unforgettable. I hope that my presence there, during the first edition of the Hispanic-Paraguayan Theatre Month, and next year, giving another workshop, on Theatre and Memory, will lend further momentum to their beautiful struggle. The tour finished in Lima nearly one month later. As well as the workshop at the Cultural Centre of Spain, which was then being directed by David Ruiz López-Prisuelos, I gave one on Theatre and Memory at the University of the Pacific, thanks to the intercession of the actor and theatre manager Sergio Llusera. Again, I met a devoted and generous team, men and women sharing paths, stories and challenges. The next year I returned to the city for the premiere of La piedra oscura, directed by Juan Bautista de Lavalle, which had previously been staged in the Centre’s own theatre, and before that, in Teatro de Lucía. There, I gave a workshop on Lorca’s “impossible theatre”, taking advantage of the different performance spaces offered by the Centre. How beautiful the sound of Lorca’s poetry, there in the heart of Lima, in that beautiful pink building. Also during my stay in Lima, I advised the director on Duende, a local production about Lorca. I have mentioned the three premieres of La piedra oscura – there was another one in 2019 in Santiago de Chile – because this performance enabled each of the casts involved to present to a local audience the two main themes of the text: the question of historic memory and the rights of the LGTBI collective. But of course, it was a round trip. That intense month has reverberated in everything I have written since. When I finish writing something for the theatre and I realise I’m not the same person I was before, then I feel that the effort was worth it. And that’s true of my travels, too. Upon returning to Madrid, I wasn’t
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