VALLADOLID / ZAMORA
Keep
Professionals from the theater sector, directors, producers and interpreters, have had little to celebrate this March 27, World Theater Day. The collapse of cultural activity as a result of the Covid pandemic has put many in a very difficult situation, “of disappointment, bewilderment and not knowing which way to go”, confesses Tomás Martín, director and producer of The chimera, and current president of the Artesa (Association of Performing Arts Companies of Castilla y León). They do not lose the illusion, but in some cases it is already uphill and it is increasingly difficult for them to face the future with hope.
He sees that the “empathy” that the administrations had in the first months of the pandemic has been diluted and translated into «Little aid, very poor and very expensive to put in the box», while the activity of the theaters and halls of small and medium-sized municipalities, the main programmers of their productions, is «collapsed.» «They are confused, they do not know very well what to do, it is difficult for them to open and the capacity limitations are taking their toll », Believes Martín, who considers that they will lose« another year »if things continue like this.
More “chiaroscuro” than “lights” they also see in Cal y Canto company, one of the oldest of the Community as far as street arts are concerned. And that his specific way of working – productions conceived to be seen in the open air with controlled capacity and respecting distances – should work in his favor, considers Ana Ortega, one of its founders, who understands this theater as “integrating” and ” a way of guaranteeing citizens’ access to live culture ”. Precisely because of its peculiarities and because of the crisis to which this pandemic has led them, it considers that “it would be worthwhile” for the regional government, hand in hand with professionals, make an “effort” to implement “a specific street arts plan”, especially since currently this type of theater cannot access a large part of the Community’s programming.
Heritage
Last year they were the first to suffer the cancellations – A large part of the festivals for these arts are concentrated in spring – and by 2021 he sees the same “uncertainty”. Also for your foreign dates. Markets such as Asia, with which they used to work, are closed, and in Europe “everything is very stopped”, although they hope to “start contacts again” after Easter. Nevertheless, sees in the rural areas of Castilla y León, and in its excellent natural and historical heritage, a potentiality still wasted from which they could mutually benefit. In this sense, the consolidation of the “Escenario Patriomio” initiative sees «a fantastic option», although it urges the Ministry of Culture to get on with it because «we are practically in April, and for the programs to go well and work with professionalism there is to count on time ».
Commemorate Theater Day by going up to the stage of the Calderón Theater in Valladolid to begin rehearsing what will be his next project (“The happiest day of our life”, by Laia Ripoll), it is perhaps for a company, in these times, the best of celebrations. Also “hopeful.” This is how María Negro and Alba Frechilla see it, members of Valquiria Theater. Optimists by nature – they embarked on this company in the midst of the economic crisis – they have not stopped working even in confinement, showing through social networks their most comical side through “pills” such as “Vecindiario” or “# Biografíasexprés” Experiences from which they confess to having discovered “new codes” and at the same time “learned a lot.”
They believe that they were lucky that in the most difficult months the programmers opted for postpone its montage «From Miguel to Delibes», framed in the centenary of the author, instead of canceling it. They defend that “our country has shown that culture is safe from the first moment” and of those first times that they took the stage with reduced capacity they recall “a very decaffeinated feeling” and at the same time “exciting: the audience was really looking forward to it” .
“Be hopeful”
It is precisely the public that encourages the theater entrepreneur Enrique Cornejo to continue “with strength and determination.” “His gratitude compensates me for all the troubles that await me when they tell me the box office and the expenses”, confesses who has the custom of receiving and saying goodbye to the spectators in almost all the functions of his beloved Zorrilla Theater of Valladolid. The last year he has lived fills him with “sadness” –“I am not an exception in society as a whole”– and among the hardest periods, he remembers the moment when he had to suspend the programming of the Valladolid Fair and Festivities. However, he insists: “We have no choice but to be hopeful. Hope is a necessity.
As “a disaster” qualifies the director of the Principal Theater of Zamora, Daniel Pérez, last year, although in that unfavorable situation the public theaters have at least been able to continue “badly than well” with the performances, open when they have been able and with the capacity restrictions that have been imposed on them. CTrust that the theater can overcome the current situation as it has known throughout history. Meanwhile, and to give a little boost to local companies, this scene launched a public tender and promised to pay them for new productions without having to wait for the premiere to get paid, an initiative that responds to the «palliative function» that, undoubtedly, believes this director, must comply with the theaters of public management.
See them
comments
