Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Londres

Theatre directors Paloma Pedrero, Yolanda García Serrano and Daniela Fejerman present their works for the first time in London this autumn, in three productions at Cervantes Theatre. The representations have the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the collaboration of ONCE, the Arts Council England and the Cervantes Institute in London, whose director, Ignacio Peyró, has highlighted “the need to make visible the great moment of female dramaturgy in Spanish-speaking countries.”

The associate director of Cervantes Theatre, Paula Paz, highlights Paloma Pedrero as «one of our most successful and represented contemporary authors, nationally and internationally.” From the Cervantes Theatre, they would like London to also have the opportunity to enjoy their theatre again, this time in both Spanish and English language.

Last year, the theatre selected The Eyes of the Night as part of the first cycle of Spanish Contemporary Theatre, which takes place together with Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), in order to commission its translation and perform it in a dramatised reading. 

“This year, we go one step further and present the work in a production, as headliner of a year dedicated to our creative women. Furthermore, Paloma Pedrero will be with us both Thursday, September 12th and 13th, together with a deluxe cast that includes two blind actors who play the role of Angel, both in the Spanish and English versions,” says Paz.

A life full of opportunities for change

Madrid-based actress, director and author Paloma Pedrero, whose theatre works have been translated into several languages, presents her short cheater piece The Eyes of the Night at the Cervantes Theatre in the British capital. The play is performed from September 11th to the 28th at 7:30 pm, with performances in Spanish on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and in English on Fridays and Saturdays.

Translated into English by the prestigious Hispanic artist Catherine Boyle, the work reflects on life being full of moments of change that can pop up at anytime. It is a work of great complexity and beauty that reveals the deepest desires and fears of a middle-aged business woman who will need to dive into the darkness to see the light.

An unexpected encounter between a woman, who supposedly has triumphed in life, and a blind man who she has hired to spend a few hours in a hotel with can be the trigger for a new life. Both will have to be able to open up and let themselves go with the flow.

The first drama of award-winning Yolanda García Serrano

Teatro Al Cervantes will also host Madrid-based screenwriter, director and writer Yolanda García Serrano, with the play Run!, translated by Jessica Rainey. Winner among others of a Goya award for best screenplay for the film All men are equal, García Serrano presents his first drama to the British public, a true story of two siblings, he is in jail and she comes to visit him.

García Serrano’s work deepens emotions such as fear, guilt, loneliness and the desire to escape from the past that always returns to the present. The play is performed on October 4 at 7:30 pm in Spanish and October 5 at the same time in English.

A comedy about stupidity without barriers

Argentine film director and screenwriter Daniela Fejerman also presents for the first time a play in the United Kingdom. Her work Stupid People is performed on October 11 and 12, in Spanish and English respectively, in the Cervantes Theatre.

In the play, two brothers argue about who should care for their lonely mother, a couple who sleep together again after a year of separation, a pregnant policewoman, a British father who aims to pick up his son on his birthday and a desperate man who assaults an off-roader driven by a local dignitary.

Stupid People is a comedy about stupidity, which knows no economic or social barriers. Fejerman, based in Spain, recognises that only in recent times has she begun to write dramaturgy: “I started to write this text as an exercise of freedom: making a film is a long and exhausting process. My last feature film, The Adoption, had cost me a lot, and I felt that the theatre was a space where I could move without so many determinants.”