The National Dramatic Center (CDN) has scheduled from October 6 to 29 the theatrical show performed in sign language and by deaf actors “Ricardo III”, a commitment to art and a way to end preconceived ideas about theater.
Directed by the Portuguese Marco Paiva and performed by David Blanco, Angela Ibáñez, María José López, Marta Sales, Vasco Seromenho and Tony Weaver, in Spanish and Portuguese with subtitles, the work “is a proposal that challenges people to communicate from all the senses and with a very important visual load”.
Paiva explained today at a press conference in Madrid that “Ricardo III” is a character that “has been haunting him for a long time”, not only because he is one of Shakespeare’s ‘least Shakespeare’, but also because of the musicality of his verses. and for the complexity and modernity of the issues it raises.
For the director of the CDN, Alfredo Sanzol, “Ricardo III” fulfills its mission of supporting “a theater that goes beyond the norms, from what is established, from what it is supposed to be, because that is the reason why “We do art and theater. It is a pleasure,” he said, “to do a season with a show that, until now, was only part of festivals.”
The work is an adaptation of the classic signed by Magda Labarga: “I had to clean everything that was not essential, which would allow us to connect with the essence of the character and that could be expressed in sign language, with all its beauty,” she said. noted Labarga, also assistant director.
“I was aware – he said – that we were doing an exceptional thing (…) I asked myself many questions in the writing process, about what is lost, and I came to the conclusion that the same as when you translate Shakespeare from English to Spanish; the rhythm is different, the language is different, but there is the strength and power of the images”.
And told from “a culture that lives in Spain, the deaf culture,” Paiva has claimed, an argument that has also been defended by the actors, who have insisted that this theater is for everyone, it is adapted and everyone can enjoy it, while they They always have to “nurture themselves with the visual.”
Paiva has chosen a woman to play the complex and twisted Richard III, the Spanish Ángela Ibáñez, who has said how important this role is for any actor: “It is full of nuances, and he is the main one, the one who calls the shots. “I feel like the captain of the ship,” she noted.
Ibáñez warns the public that “this is a challenge, it requires more visual attention, there is no music, we have to put ourselves in our place.”
“Welcome to my world, we can finally present it and let you know sign language,” added María José López. “Within sign language there are different parameters, we respect poetry, we do prior work on vernacular visual research that is typical of the deaf community; in reality – says the young actress, causing laughter – for us Shakespeare is easier than other authors “.
“What will happen when the spectators leave the theater,” asked the director, who seriously trusts that people will begin to include the deaf in the normality of their lives.
“We are doing something that had not been done until now, we disdain the idea of the word being spoken and we focus on artistic creation and communication with the public,” he summarized.
And he recalled that exactly a year ago his theater company Terra Amarela, a platform for inclusive artistic creation that he founded in 2018 in Portugal, debuted with a play in sign language, but this is the first time they have premiered in a space that ” sublimes” its culture, the Teatro Valle Inclán in Madrid.
The director acknowledges that the audience’s reaction then was varied and enriching: “From those who were anxiously looking for the subtitles to, in the end, let themselves be carried away by the bodies of the artists as if they were watching contemporary dance, to those who were understanding things or the that they were lost all the time.”
2023-10-04 12:49:10
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