Spanish theatre appeals to society in times of discord

Madrid. The National Dramatic Centre (CDN), the main Spanish public institution for drama and classical theatre, presented its new season, which seeks to meeting with society in a moment of special fragility due to the emergence of extremes and discord. The annual programme will include up to 29 of its own productions, of which 14 are world premieres, as well as 50 complementary activities that seek to bring the public closer to the stage.

The CDN is organically dependent on the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INEM), which in turn is part of the Ministry of Culture of the Spanish government, chaired by a left-wing coalition headed by the socialist Pedro Sánchez. The director of the CDN, Alfredo Sanzol, explained during the presentation of the season that The word that accompanies us and serves as a point of reference is encounter. The paradox that dramas deal with is that encounters that begin with a separation can end in union, and vice versa, and within a plot, the unexpected twists produced by encounters transform the reality of the story..

In his explanation, Sanzol highlighted the importance of the past in building the future.

Faced with the threat of disintegration with which they control us, encounter is essential. Even at the risk of conflict, or precisely because of conflict, the creation of the new requires the presence of the other, and the presence of the past.

The new programme, which will begin this month and end in June 2025, also aims to maintain its commitment to parity, which is established by law, and this season will have 45 percent of dramaturgy and direction by women and 55 percent by male creators. To deploy the 29 productions and 50 complementary activities, the CDN will use its extensive network of theatres in Madrid, among which the Sala Grande of the Teatro Valle-Inclán stands out, which will open the season with five productions: This Is Not an Embassy (Made in Taiwan)created and directed by Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) and with dramaturgy by Szu-Ni Wen, which offers a portrait of Taiwan as a territory that has been losing its official diplomatic representation. The second production will be Congress is not workinga political comedy written by Joan Yago and directed by Israel Solà, about the Congress of Vienna in 1814. The third is 1936based on a text by Albert Boronat, Juan Cavestany, Andrés Lima and Juan Mayorga, in which he reflects on the shock what the military coup d’état of July 18, 1936 meant for Spain.

Then it will be put on the poster Ourswritten and directed by Lucía Carballal, which tells the story of a Sephardic family and their collective feeling of belonging and roots. Finally, the season will close with The Patheticwritten and directed by Miguel del Arco, and which deals with learning to die through the figure of an orchestra conductor immersed in the recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

Meanwhile, five productions will be presented in the Great Hall of the María Guerrero Theatre: Tierrawritten and directed by Sergio Blanco, based on an autofiction story in which he pays tribute to his deceased mother; Nothingby the novelist Carmen Laforet; The ones over therewritten and directed by Claudio Tolcachir, and which denounces through social satire a current problem consolidated as the situation of the riders (bicycle couriers who deliver packages to homes). To conclude, a poster will be put up Tearwritten and directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen, and Orlandoan adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf.