Directed by Sue Dunderdale.

Translated by Catherine Boyle.

Chile, 1974. In the extreme isolation of the Andean foothills, three sisters are found hanged from a rock, their animals slaughtered beside them…
Justa, Lucia and Luciana are three Coya (indigenous Andean) sisters, and the last remnants of a large family who tried to survive in an inhospitable environment. Parents, siblings and neighbours have either died or fled the challenging landscape to find work in distant towns. Faced with ageing bodies, loneliness, and terror of unknown forces which seem to be closing in on them, the sisters make a decision which shocks a nation.
Against the backdrop of the Pinochet regime’s ascent to power, internationally-acclaimed playwright Juan Radrigán examines, movingly and at times humorously, the effect of isolation and fear on the human spirit. With poignant echoes of the 2010 Chilean miners’ crisis and resonance with marginalised communities worldwide, Beasts is a haunting portrayal of love, fear and impossible choices.

‘… an observant, sensitive and sad play, never preaching, always generous and directed with matching generosity by Sue Dunderdale.’
The Sunday Times on The Way Home
‘… sparkily translated by Catherine Boyle.’
The Daily Telegraph the RSC’s House of Desires

Juan Radrigán’s awards include: Best Chilean Play (for When All is Said and Done); Circle of Critics Prize (for The Bull by the Horns, 1983 and The Exile of the Naked Woman, 2002); Apes Prize (for Drunken Ghosts, 1997 and When All is Said and Done, 1999); the Agustin Siré Prize from the Academy of Fine Arts, 2002, and the Altazor Prize for Best Dramatist, 2005.

• Post Show talks Tuesday 30 August, Tuesday 6 September & Tuesday 20 September
• On Saturday 10 September, in lieu of a performance there will be a play reading and seminar about Juan Radrigán and Latin American theatre

Developed with the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, King’s College London, Out of The Wings and National Theatre Studio.

More information and online booking is available on the Theatre503 website.

The Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

Tickets Free. Book online at www.amnesty.org.uk/ehtr.

As part of the Everyone Has The Right writing programme, Catherine Boyle’s translation of Juan Radrigán’s Las Brutas will receive a rehearsed play reading on 9 Novmeber 2010.

Las Brutas is based on a true story of three Cola (indigenous Andean) sisters who, in October 1974, were found tied together and hanged from a rock near their home. The play delves into the last months in these women’s lives in the isolated mountains of Pinochet’s Chile.

More information on this and other readings is available by visiting the Amnesty International Everyone Has the Right website.

El método Gronhölm

in Spanish, based on the play by Jordi
Galcerán adapted by
Mateo Gil & Marcelo Piñeyro

4th and 5th FEBRUARY 2010, 7.30pm
Tickets £7, £5 concessions
Contact: Bloomsbury Theatre Box Office
15 Gordon Street London WC1H 0AH
020 7388 8822 – boxoffice@thebloomsbury.com

EL MÉTODO GRONHÖLM Poster

There will be an exciting symposium on the Spanish Civil War
and theatre at the University of Leeds. There are also performances of
the play (in Spanish) on Thursday 3 and Saturday 5 December at
Stage@Leeds. Tickets are available from www.stage.leeds.ac.uk

Pieces of Piñera

Arcola Theatre

Sunday October 4 2009

Directed by Gráinne Byrne and Katarzyna Deszcz

Translated by Kate Eaton

Additional Support: Kirsty Housley

Sunday 4 October 2009
Starting time: 7pm

Join us for a welcome drink from 6.30pm
STUDIO 1
Tickets £10 / £8

Booking: www.arcolatheatre.com

Or call: 020 7503 1646

Cast: Helen Anderson, Andrew Bridgemont, Nina Fog, Jane Guernier, Jonathan Lermit, Sydney Smith

Following the success of “The Wedding” directed by Emma Bernard, Scarlet has continued to explore Virgilio Piñera’s plays in association with translator Kate Eaton. This showing of developed excerpts is the culmination of a short period of research and development with actors, directors and translator.

Piñera’s work is funny, satirical and frequently outrageous. Written between 1945 and 1969 he is concerned by the illogical plight of the individual condemned to play out meaningless games within a world of social obligations.

The aim of the evening is to invite feedback from the audience to help the Company to choose which work to develop into a full scale production.  Though the author was censored for many years because of his lifestyle and sexuality he is now celebrated as a literary master in Cuba but thirty years after his death he is still unknown outside of the Spanish speaking world.

Piñera is clearly something of a find…and not just for theatre anoraks either.  Evening Standard, “The Wedding” 2003, Evening Standard

If you like absurd/existential theatre then this is a great chance to see a newly translated work by a highly regarded playwright, T W Internet Magazine

For further details see the production website.

Hamelin by Juan Mayorga

In Hamelin a wealthy figure, Pablo Rivas, has been accused of sexually molesting a child from a deprived area. The parents of this child are suspected of ‘hiring out’ their son for money. Has Rivas acted on his confessed desires for children? Is Josemari, the child in question, telling the truth? Hamelin leaves the answers up to the audience. The investigating judge, Montero, gets no answer and neither do we. No Pied Piper saves the children in this city. The rats have multiplied, spewing forth at the end of the play from Josemari’s childish drawing as he sits alone -  betrayed, not rescued, by the system. Hamelin questions the ability of systems of law, psychiatry and bureaucracy to effectively help the weak and vulnerable in modern societies.

Tres sombreros de copa by Miguel Mihura

Three Top Hats is a surreal farce full of physical comedy and colour. It is the eve of Dionisio’s wedding and he is spending it alone in a little hotel. With him he has two top hats – he must decide which to wear to the wedding. His future father-in-law has given him a third as a wedding present. As he holds them, a young woman, Paula, bursts into his room. Paula is a member of a circus troupe that is in town. She sees Dionisio holding his top hats and mistakes him for a juggler. From this point on, Dionisio is caught up in a surreal evening of debauchery and madness in the hotel. Three Top Hats presents two different existences. On the one hand, Paula lives unconventionally in a world of parties and dances. On the other, Dionisio’s married life is set to be filled with routine. Yet both characters find their respective lifestyles monotonous. The play invites us to consider whether true happiness is ever achievable, or whether the grass just appears greener on the other side.

La llamada de Lauren by Paloma Pedrero

Lauren’s Call is a two-character play featuring a man and a woman, Pedro and Rosa. They are celebrating their third wedding anniversary on the same day as the carnival comes to town. It’s an ideal time to dress up! Pedro is dressed as a woman, Rosa as a man. Whereas Rosa is uncomfortable performing her role, Pedro enthusiastically adopts the guise of Lauren Bacall. Lauren’s Call is a play that explores gender identity as Pedro expresses his sense of unease at the male role assigned to him through his pleasure at becoming Lauren.

Himmelweg by Juan Mayorga

Himmelweg has been performed in promenade style at the Royal Court theatre and also has toured Ireland. The play is based on the experience of the Red Cross investigator, Maurice Rossel, who visited the concentration camp at Theresienstadt only to be duped by the model town that had been constructed to deceive visitors. In Himmelweg a Red Cross Representative tells the audience how he too was fooled – or let himself be fooled – by surface appearances and the seductive power of performance. Later, the audience witness how the performance was construed by the Nazi Commandant. As ‘theatre director’ he forces reluctant Jewish inmates to become his actors. Himmelweg is an important play by one of Spain’s most prominent contemporary playwrights that engages with current debates about the responsibility of individuals to speak out against political atrocities.

Written by Gwynneth Dowling

La fuerza de la costumbre by Guillén de Castro

We have chosen this play, ‘Force of Habit’, because it is relatively unknown, as is its author, in the canon of comedias which are produced with some regularity. Brother and sister, separated at birth, grow up apart-Felix is brought up by his mother to speak softly, fear thunder and stitch, while Hipólita grows up with her father in a war zone, learning to wield a sword. This play asks the question: Is gender learned or innate?

El condenado por desconfiado by Tirso de Molina

The protagonist of ‘Damned for Despair’, Paulo is a hermit who lives in a cave in the wilderness as a devoted ascetic. In a nightmare, his soul is condemned, and he is plagued by the question: Will he go to Heaven or to Hell? The devil takes the form of an angel in order to trick him, kicking off a journey of faith and despair. This play has been performed in the UK but merits a fresh look with a view to future performances.

El castigo sin venganza by Lope de Vega

‘Punishment without Revenge’ is the tragedy of a noble family, in which a devoted son falls in love unexpectedly with his father’s new bride. A tale of incest, honour and revenge, this play is one of Lope’s better-known tragedies.

El conde Partinuplés by Ana Caro

In ‘Count Partinuplés’ the heroine Rosaura, Empress of Constantinople, is forced to choose a husband in order to provide an heir to the empire. Her cousin Aldora, a skilled magician, introduces her to occult ways of choosing a prince, and she chooses the Count Partinuplés of France, who is already engaged. This epic, magical play is unique in that it was written by a woman and its fantastical elements make the play a rarely-produced gem.