Multidisciplinary Garcia Lorca docudrama set to debut in Ecuador

By Susana Madera

Quito, Nov 30 (EFE).- A multidisciplinary docudrama on early 20th-century Spanish poet, playwright and theater director Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) will be presented for the first time in Latin America, allowing theater-goers in Ecuador to get a glimpse of the man behind the myth.

Featuring flamenco music, dance, text and other elements, that 90-minute work titled “Federico Garcia” will be performed on Thursday at the Teatro Centro de Arte in Guayaquil and on Dec. 2 and Dec. 4 at the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito.

A special performance for vulnerable groups also will take place in Quito on Dec. 5 at the request of Mayor Santiago Guarderas.

The docudrama unfolds behind a translucent screen for the projection of images related to the life of that emblematic member of the Generation of ’27 who was killed by Nationalist forces at the start of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War.

It also features interviews at different intervals with specialists on Lorca’s life and body of work and with the late poet’s niece, Vicenta “Tica” Fernandez-Montesinos Garcia.

“She’s probably the only living person who knew Federico directly,” Pep Tosar, who has a triple role in the docudrama as actor, playwright and stage director, said in an interview with Efe.

In the work, Tosar takes the audience on a journey through the landscapes of the Spanish regions of Castile and Andalusia and offers a guide to a better understanding the inner world of a poet who he says explored themes of life and death “with equal intensity.”

“When telling the life story of a figure like Federico, the main goal is to try to take his myth out of the performance, especially that of him as a martyr. By drawing connections between some vital episodes in his life and a portion of his work, we attempt to discover the human being,” Tosar said.

Behind Garcia Lorca’s myth and genius, according to the stage director, was an extremely sensitive and curious person, a “sponge capable of soaking in what’s in the air, what’s not visible.”

He also was a man who was “honest, endearing and very connected to his free spirit. He loved human beings and dedicated his entire to work to them, to defending, creating space for human beings.”

Having debuted in 2015 in Barcelona, Tosar said “Federico Garcia” combines elements of a theatrical work while making notable use of documentary and multidisciplinary language.

“There’s a dancer, three musicians and myself. I do all the textual parts, which include a lot of prose fragments that have been less popularized, as well as fragments of what has been called Federico’s ‘impossible theater,'” Tosar said.

The work is divided into 10 scenes and contains a structure that includes Garcia Lorca’s life, art and legacy and aims to provide as multifaceted a look as possible at the poet and playwright.

The performance features five dramatic elements.

Two of them are flamenco guitar and vocals, which are compatible with the work’s dramatic tone and also serve as a vehicle for introducing some of Garcia Lorca’s poetry set to music.

Dance also is an integral part of the work, with the dancer occupying a central role as the “physical projection of the poet’s soul.”

A fourth element is the actor, who offers a selection of Garcia Lorca’s poems, prose, letters and plays, while the fifth is a documentary video that serves as the work’s narrative engine and transports the spectators through the most human pathways of the artist’s life. EFE

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