Beijing Opera: A moment with the Monkey King.

Though I'm planning one special post over Huguang Guildhall, I'd like (with my photographs and video), you enjoy a little bit of this character before talking about the theatre building where he is performing.

There is no much to say about it: The Monkey King is a very popular character in China and omnipresent in all its literature since 16th century. Chinese Opera got dozens of pieces where he is the hero, showing magic skills, acrobatics, pantomime, singing and doing any naughtiness you can imagine. Watching him on stage is a truly enjoyment.

Huguang Guildhall is a beautiful theatre built around 1812 and rebuilt many times. There is a Beijing Opera Museum inside and some art craft shops which sale only articles about Beijing Opera (Masks, Puppets, T-shirts, pictures, etc.). It is one of four or five small not in court-theatre working today. Most of their work are addressed to foreign tourism; it seems common Chinese people don't like anymore this kind of theatre, at least in Beijing. There are one big state managed theater, Chang'an, where, they said, work the best actors and Chinese opera companies of our days.

This was one of my several visits to Huguang Guildhall looking, as spectator, for a basic instruction of Beijing Opera. This Guildhall puts on stage only parts of famous and spectacular Beijing operas, never an entire one (usually in two parts with 10 minutes of intermission)and they change of operas every day of the week; so it was easy for me to stay there during one hour or one and a half maximum and coming back every week; without an understanding of it and a bad Chinese comprehension, believe me, it is necessary if you want to enjoy it. After that I could face the Chang'an Theatre and its many large-scale operas.

The part of the Monkey King opera I saw that night lasted for approximately 40 minutes but this is only a 5-minute "solo". I video recorded it one of the last days of October, 2005. We don't see an acrobatic Monkey King but more juggler, playing in a martial art style with this characteristic warrior lance; you will notice, I think, those nice vocal tone and rhythm changes inside his speech. I don't know his name but I recognize him from a few other occasions and I really like his work; maybe without a very fine technique, I have seen him make some mistakes and retake his work very quickly and without big problem, he is very funny and I feel he is very able to stay in contact with those terribly ignorant spectators he has every evening.

A Monkey King Moment in Beijing (2005)

China: Court theatres in the Qing Dynasty. (Part I) The Grand Stage in the Summer Palace in Beijing.

In October 2005, walking as a simple turist through the huge complex of the Summer Palace in Beijing, among its fantastic imperial buildings, I found one of the most beautiful chinese structures I’ve ever seen, the Grand Stage or Daxi lou.

I’d rather more than talk about my experience watching it, to share the information I found about it. At the end (I know it) my experience is felt with my photographs and videos.

This is the first ocassion I made use of scanned photographs besides those of my own, but it worths.

Court Theaters in the Qing Dynasty.

In the period of Emperor Kangxi, an administrative structure called the “Southern Repository” was set up to administer court theatrical performances and training, in order to serve various royal celebrations and festivals. In 1827, the Southern Repository was hanged to the Shengping Office, In the palace and royal gardens, stages were built especially for performances. All these stages boasted elegant and exquisite architectural styles. (1)


Stage complex at Tangle Garden in Old Summer Garden.


This first theatrical complex was a three-storey stage and was located at Tangle Garden in Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Garden), but was destroyed by fire. (2)






The Southern Repository Stage (3)


The Southern Repository Stage was built in the 18th century and used for rehearsals. There was an entrance and an exit at the back of the stage. The entrance resembled the gate of a temple which symbolized a general going out of the city for battle and a minister coming back to court through the temple gate. (4)
(Foto)

Stage at the Imperial Mountain Estate in Chengde

This three-storey stage was located in the Fushou Garden at the Imperial Mountain Estate, but was destroyed by fire. (5)




Deheyuan Theater in the Summer palace. The Grand Stage. (6)


Deheyuan Theater in the Summer Palace is located in Deheyuan (the Garden of Virtue and Harmony) of the Summer Palace. It was the largest theater in Qing Dynasty and it is also the best’preserved and largest-scale palace theater of ancient times in China.

Deheyuan Theater, also know as the “cradle of Beijing Opera”, was originaly built in 1891 and completed in 1895 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. It cost 700,000 taels of silver. It is a complex structure comprising a three storey building for performances and two-storey make-up building. It is a theater where Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi watched dramas. The Empress, a lover of opera, would on occasions dress as a member of the troupe, her interest in Beijing Opera promoted the development of Beijing Opera to some extent.

Video: Daxi Lou Grand Stage at Summer Palace, Beijing. 2005.

The Grand stage (Daxi lou) is 21 meters in height and 17 meters wide. It consists of three storey, each having its own entrance and exit. The top storey is called Futai, the middle Lutai and the bottom Shoutai, where differents operas and plays could be peformed at the same time (7).

The theater was designed to expand acoustic resonance and to facilitate performance of immortals and ghost dramas. The small building on The Shoutai was were the band accompanied. There were also performance props such as seven “suspending well” on the ceiling of Shoutai, one “water well” and fice ponds, spinning board, a windlass and a high-pressure water machine which made it possible to enact scenes of gods coming down to earth, apparitions fleeing underground and water spewing forth. The “immortals” could descend from above and “ghost” turn up from under the ground.

Distinguished Beijing Opera actors of the Qing Dynasty, like Yang Xiaolou (8) and Tan Xinpei (9), performed here for the Empress Dowager.

This Gran Stage (Daxi lou) inside the Summer Palace, the Free Tones Pavillion (Chang Yin Ge) inside the Forbidden City (also called "Pavillion of Cheerful Melodies"), and the Clear Voice pavillion in Chengde Summer resort, Hebei Province, were renowned as the three great stages during the Qing Dynasty (10). The Summer palace Grand Stage is the largest of all them.




(1) Page 192. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(2) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(3) I couldn’t find where this place is exactly located, Summer Palace or Forbidden City.
(4) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(5) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003. Of course this can't be the theatre we can see today in Chengde, inside the Lhasa Palace replica, even do, I have my doubts, it could have been rebuilt.
(6) Most of the information about The grand Stage in the Summer Palace come from the sight itself (Information sight); Page 194 of “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”(Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003); and Page 66-71 of “Classical dramas and Theaters in Beijing” (Beijing 2005)
(7) “Fortune”, “Salary” and “Longevity” stages.
(8) Yang Xiaolou (left in the picture) (1878-1938) came from an actor’s family and carried on his father’s excellence in the wusheng (warrior) role. Coached by his adopted father Tan Xinpei, yang was called the “Master of Wusheng”. (“Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”… )





(9) Native of Hubei, Tan Xinpei (1847-1917) came from an actor’s family and was first apprenticed to Cheng Changgeng. It was specialized in the laosheng (old soldier) role and is considered “the king of theatre”. His famous performances were done in two important operas: Dingjun Mountain (Dingjun shan) and Yangping Pass (Yangping Guan). He standardized the use of Hubei accent and zhongzhou intonations to form his own singing style. He created the first school for Beijing Opera, the Tan School. He and Wang Yaoqing were innovators and their innovations had vast effects on the development of Chinese drama. (“Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”…; “L’Opéra de Pékin. Quintessence de la culture chinoise.” By Yu Bian. Editions en Langues Étrangères. Beijing, 2005) )

(10) It is possible to visit today this three-storey stage inside an astonishing Lhasa Palace replica.

“Covarrubias in Bali” A book about a Mexican and his love for Bali’s Performing Arts.

I was amazed by this book the moment I saw it on the book-shelves at one of Bookazine’s branches in Singapore in October 2006. For some stupid reason I didn’t buy it, so every time I mentioned or recalled it, I regretted not buying it. Perhaps that wasn’t too bad, since that gave me time to learn more about Miguel Covarrubias and his work.

It was that same year, in December, that looking for English books in another of Bookazine’s branches, this time in Bangkok, Thailand, that I had the chance to see it again. Although “Covarrubias in Bali” might not be the highest quality art book in the market, specially these days when we see an improvement in the quality of art books, for any Mexican (like me) it can represent something important, and for a Mexican my age even more so, and I’ll explain why.

Most of Mexican elementary education books from the 70s were full of illustrations by Covarrubias’ hands, moreover, for many elementary students there were the well known “monografías” that everyone would buy at any stationary. Many of these “monografías” were made with Covarrubias’ illustrations: maps of the world with colourful drawings of traditions and costumes, clothing, important sights of every country, all of them done with beautiful colors and with a simplicity I could call innocent (made, after all, by a caricaturist), innocence that showed a general view of the culture, innocence that taught.

Then, when I saw this book, I didn’t see Covarrubias, I saw my childhood and a big part of my education on World Geography. I was drawn to it because of the time that had passed, because of the memories. I loved that book.

After the surprise of the first encounter I became aware of what I had in my hands, “Covarrubias in Bali”… That was the first opportunity in my life to understand more deeply the work of a man who, under the light of my crude cultural background had been nothing more than an educative illustrator. Since that instant I can see in him a great Mexican artist, a traveler, an scholar, a polyglot, a social anthropologist, and of course the illustrator and, specially for me, a researcher of performing arts.

Covarrubias traveled with his wife, the American dancer Rose Covarrubias, to the island of Bali on two occasions in the 1930s; there, they observed, studied and took notes on every aspect of the island’s performing arts in the island. Bali is a special case, an even unique one, in human history: a small portion of earth possesses such richness of theatrical manifestations such as dances for rituals and entertainment, ritual theater, opera, music, and puppet theater.

The Covarrubias couple worked during those two stays getting practical information for the promotion of Balinese culture around the world, and they succeeded in their time: many editions of sia Magazine, interviews, articles, commercial confection of Bali style clothing, world recognition of its theatrical wealth, etc. Bali arrived to forever stay in the world of the common western man (who Covarrubias always addressed) thanks to this couple and some other artists and researchers who visited this Pacific Island looking for a sanctuary away from the stressing technological and consumerist moment they lived.

The importance of this illustrative and photographic material can’t be measured. Every dance seen by them has a drawing with all the general aspects of the performance, and many others with the main poses, steps, movements; Rose took dozens of photographs of all that, and I hope, somewhere there are even films.



The Covarrubias diary and field notes become a delicacy for our eyes, thanks to the beauty of the lines and strokes, for the interpretation of movements and the specialness of the subjects.

As a Mexican I felt proud for what a compatriot did exploring strange worlds, but as a performer and a man of theater I felt deeply grateful because of the material he left for us; this book is a source he opened almost 80 years ago.

Slideshow of the book(1):



“Covarrubias in Bali”
By Adriana Williams and Ye-Chee Chong
Editions Didier Millet
Singapore 2005

(1) If the site is blocked (I live in China) you can find the video with the URL address on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkv8UDnkyeo
or in my Youtube chanel:
www.youtube.com/teatroesferico

Slideshow with photographs of playwright Antonio González Caballero (1993)

In 1994 Gaceta Publishers (Editorial Gaceta) and Escenología published a book with three González Caballero's plays (1); one year before Edgar Ceballos, the editor, asked me to go with González Caballero and have a photo session with the teacher and get the main photograph for the new book. The photo session was at a small square close to González Caballero's home in Pino Suárez Street, Downtown Mexico. I kept with me the 16 photographs taken that time.

Now, 14 years later, I share in a slideshow those photographs of my teacher and friend.

Slideshow with photographs of González Caballero (2):

(1) See my Blog about González Caballero and his Acting Method:
agcmetodo.blogspot.com
(2) If you have problem trying to see the video in this page go to my youtube chanel:
www.youtube.com/teatroesferico
or directly to the page in Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcW1q6CaaB0

Beijing’s Modern Puppets Company, a big disappointment.

I’ve been living in Beijing for one and a half years and during all this time I’ve tried to find a traditional big sized puppet performance, but when I asked about where to go and see it the reply I got was to go to the provinces and look for shadow theatre, not big puppets. The Chinese Puppet theatre was born in the South of China, and the place with the major tradition is Fujian Province (1); although I plan to travel to that region, I expected Beijing, as a capital city of a reborn Empire, to support (as part of its cultural plans) a National Puppet Company, or at least to give money for some performances by traditional trouppes. One day I found some big puppets on sale in Panjiayuan’s artcrafts market in Beijing, and another day in the central city of Xi’an I found another kind of big puppets, but never a performance. Should I wait for my Fujian trip or even go to Taiwan, where they say you can find the highest techniques of puppet work (2)? Maybe it’s bad luck, I thought.

It was at the beginning of this year, 2007, with the celebration of the Chinese New Year, that one Puppet Company from Beijing decided to perform one traditional piece about the Monkey King story, making use of that kind of puppets I wanted to see. The advertisements said it was a rare opportunity to be a spectator for this kind of theatre. I was very excited, of course.

Finding the theater was easy, the taxi driver knew very well where the theatre was located; it seemed to be a venue for Beijing’s children he said. Like a bad copy of a Western medieval castle, the theatre facade was not the best introduction to the spectacle; trying not to compare that with my experience at the Bunraku National Theatre in Osaka (3) and The Joe Louis Theater in Bangkok (4), I went to the pink and orange colored building and took my seat.

It was a disappointment. What I saw was a ‘modern’ attempt to imitate traditional Chinese Opera with medium sized puppets and, worst of all, a very poor technique. Yes, it sounds strange, Chinese traditional artists are known for their high technical level. Well, not here. Imitation is not creation. Children entertainment is not an Art. I have to recognize that the “puppets” were nice and attractive like many puppets are, and it was funny to see their movements, specially since I know the movements that belong to the real Beijing Opera, but nothing there was no amazing technique or work like in Japan’s Bunraku or like at the Joe Louis Theater in Bangkok.

The video tells everything, not just my words(see new addition); I hope to finish soon the editing of the visual material I have about Bunraku and Thai Puppets and to present a good point of view and of comparison between those theatres.


We do know this: Mainland China and India are the sources of Performing Arts in Asia, and China without doubt is the source of the Asiatic Puppet Theatre, but I’m sure that, now, it is companies from Japan, Indonesia and Thailand that perform with the highest technique in the world, and not mainland China anymore. Has China lost the sources of its tradition and all it has left is its Shadow Theatre in the South? After my trip to Fujian I will answer this question.


(1) About one Fujian Puppet performance:
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/205147/
(2) About a taiwanese master and its company in France:
http://www.hexagramm.fr/petitmiroir/anglais/histoire/maitre_uk.php
(3) I visited the Bunraku National Theatre in Osaka in July 2006.
(4) I visited the Joe Louis Theatre in Bangkok in December 2006.
(5) Link to my videos in Youtube recorded in Wuzhen village (close Shanghai) showing one Chinese Shadow theatre performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq4fVPPvhD8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfuyqjD1v20

ADDITION:

After one comment about the way to say my judgment over this performance, I decided to put the raw video and photographs I took that ocassion. It shows, in my point of view, in a claire look what I was talking about.

Non edited video:

Eisenstein film about Mei Lanfang Art.

They say when in 1935 Mei Lanfang performed in the former USSR he changed the theatrical point of view of the most important creators of that land. Einsenstein, among those creators amazed by this Chinese Star and crazy about excentric moments and people in history, decided to take advantage of Mei Lanfang visit and asked him for a special session of filming on March 29th, 1935; the result was 5 minutes of film Mei Lanfang performing his Beijing Opera new style; although the film projected by Einsentein never was finished, it is an invaluable visual material. (1)

I found a short part of this film and I love to share it (2).

Eisenstein film:

(1) George Banu wrote his version of that visit: "Eisenstein qui le rencontre dès le 12 mars lui propose de le filmer. Et le 29 mars, juste à la fin des représentations, une longue séance de tournage aura lieu, mais sans que le film projeté soit réalisé. Par ailleurs Eisenstein écrit la fameuse étude A l’enchanteur du jardin des poiriers, qu’il va reprendre trois fois dans la période 1935-38, et il offre à Mei son article, paru en anglais, The Principle of Film Form, avec une dédicace lourde de significations à l’heure du « réalisme socialiste » : « A M. Mei Lanfang, le plus grand maître de la forme, mon article essentiel sur la question »" (Mei Lanfang : procès et utopie de la scène occidentale, by Georges Banu)
(2) Film extracted from a Chinese documentary.

Muay Thai, Muay Bora, Thai Boxing. Bangkok is the cradle of a culture of performance.

Muay Thai at Lumpini Stadium, Bangkok (2006)

Thailand is the mythic Siam, Bangkok its capital since the 17th century, and its people, the ‘Thais’ a world in itself: they’re a proud people because they are clean of any foreigner invasions and because they have preserved their unique cultural manifestations. Performing arts are an essential part of this preseved legacy: Dance (Lakhon), Theatre (Kohn), Shadow theatre (Nang yai), Puppet theatre, and their impressive martial art, Muay Thai. Obviously, in the source of martial arts there is no performing art but just martial action. However, time has made this very special fight form into a successful spectacle among the other performing arts created by Thai people. I went to Lumphini Stadium in Bangkok to feel, as a spectator, this impressive perfoming art, and it didn’t disappoint me.

Lumphini Stadium is one of the meccas of Muay Thai, crowds of Thais and foreigners go there to yell, to bet and to live a night full of excitement, whose only source is the ring/stage. Like in the ancient theatres and spectacles from Asia and Europe, life in this places is unpredictable: there are explosions of energy everywhere, there is movement, music, food, money, exitement, and the drama stemming from the fight, from the action itself. Fighters here are stars, they know they are seen by thousands, they are attractive, seductive, they have studied every movement made inside the ring; they hold the public in their hand, to win means to get fame and money, but the pinnacle of their whole professional life lays on the ring/stage, moments before, during, and moments immediately after the fight, the apex maximum is the lapse where drama occurs.

The Western world knows Muay Thai as a Thai Boxing, a kind of fighting style that has become an international and regulated event, sport and TV spectacle. However, many of its ancient traditional rules remain at its base: their ancient training techniques, the ritual aspect thatmany fighters opt not to perform,yet which requires they show respect for their masters through one ritual dance, called Wai Kru. During the whole event traditonal music is played with ancient Thai instruments, and the fighters keep in mind a strict ethic-religious (buddhist) code in their behavior on the ring. But, those strong links with the traditional past notwithstanding, commercialization, ratings and money itself have provoked a lax attitude and fighters have lost many of those links. To avoid that, groups of purists have retaken the ancient model of this martial art, Muay Boran, which literally means ‘ancient fight’. Muay Boran doesn’t use the international boxing rules, but the basic ancient ones; it could become a brutal fight, but buddhist behavior is still present, as well as Wai Kru (dance), costumes (if they can be called that), music, rules… It’s a comprehensive ritual in the middle of the 21st century arena.

There are some Muay Boran competitions year long, but usually unknown to the masses; Muay Boran is specially ‘performed’ in the main venues every night as a demonstration of a national treasure. Imagine yourself in the midst of a crowded stadiums with TV crews, people yelling and betting, eating, searching for a better view, even jumping in excitement, and two traditional fighters dancing and fighting as their ancestors did.

The night of December 8th 2006 i had the opportunity to see and feel one of these impressive fights along with the usual Muay Thai. I took a video and some photographs, which I think are the best way of sharing this unique experience.

Slideshow of photographs from December 8th, 2007 at Lumpini Stadium.

Muay Boran video (not edited): ritual dance (Wai Kru) and one fight full of strength and surprises.

Muay Thai video: one spectacle in itself. The public yells at the rythm of the beats.

These sites contain a lot of information about the history, rules and fighters of this martial art. The last link is a French site with an interview with an anthropologist who joined as a Muay Thai fighter and who talks about the ritual and religious aspects of this martial art.

http://www.muaythai.com/
http://www.bangkok-city.com/muaythai.htm
http://www.wmtc.nu/html/wmc03_mthist.html
http://www.horizonmuaythai.com/history.html
http://www.eurasie.net/webzine/article.php3?id_article=460

Recalling INHALACIONES

Esférica Ludens, Compañía de Arte Representacional presents:

‘Inhalaciones’

Author and director: Gustavo Thomas
Cast: Guadalupe Durón, Javier de la Vega, Cecilia de León, Francisco Camacho
Design of Scenography and Illumination: Gustavo Thomas, Edgar Ocampo
Video, Photography: Edgar Ocampo and Esférica Ludens
Atrezzo: Esférica Ludens
Executive production: Gustavo Thomas
Technician: Viridiana Martínez, Foro Contigo América
Production: Esférica Ludens, Compañía de Arte Representacional.

Foro Contigo América
Mexico City, Mexico.
July-September 2000

"Inhalaciones" (2000) Slideshow. An Esferica Ludens Theatre Production. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

(Noh Theatre) Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō: Nō appreciation event.

On Saturday July 29th 2006, in Kyoto, Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō (1) presented a special Nō appreciation event at Kanze Kaikan (Kanze theatre). It was summer and children were on holidays, it was a good opportunity to reach and to teach them how to appreciate Nō theatre in a practical way. The next day the same company would perform a full 6 hour long session of Nō and Kyogen. (2)

The program of the Saturday appreciation event read: ‘Young performers will give a demostration of Tamoe, Ikkaku sennin, and Tsuchigumo, as well an explanation on costumes and a small lesson of Nō performance.’ Tickets cost ¥1,500 (¥1000 for students). (3)
From 10:00 am to 2:00 pm entire families, in a Theatre full to capacity, amused themselves while learning about one of their most precious national treasures.
As I wasn’t able to understand Japanese I decided only to record on video some scenes of the demostration and some part of the explanations and lessons. I’ve always thought that’s the best way to share online my visit experience .

This was the event’s schedule:

9:30 Entrance.

As the organiser asked, we arrived at 9:30, yet the whole theatre was already full of people. Most of them were children but there were also old people.





10:00 Demostration of Nō plays: Tamoe, Ikkaru sennin, and Tsuchigumo.

They started on time and presented part of three plays, with explanations about movements, ways of singing and stories.

The video shows one of the Nō players performing a whole scene without a costume, which helped explain the choreography and the perfection of the details. (4)

12:00 All the next activities took place at the same time (5):

Theatre’s hall: explanation of costumes, masks and texts.

The hall was divided into four sections for the explanations: one for costumes, one for masks, and another one for texts. As all of them were done in japanese, so I decided to enter the theatre and see what was going on inside.

Theatre stage: lesson on how to wear a costume, mask, and on walking with them on.

These are extremely beautiful images of professional Nō players dressing up children with real costumes and masks and showing them the right way to walk wearing that on stage.

First floor: small lessons on singing, holding a fan, dialogue, choreography with objects, etc.

People were happy and excited waiting their turn for the small personalised lessons on singing, dance and dialogues; I say personalised, because Nō has only one way of teaching its acting: from master to student, one on one.

At that moment, Nō had become a family experience, an entertainment, and an exceptional way for one strange meeting: the common people of our age with a refined traditional performing art.

Slideshow of photographs of Costume, Masks, Fan and Recitation Workshops.

(1) Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō is the Nō company in charge of managing the Kanze theatre. As many other Japanese theatre companies its structure of power consists mainly of a big family, recognised for centuries, though today some parts of this structure have changed and some non-family members can be accepted.
(2) See post of 21th of february, 2007:
http://gthomastheatre.blogspot.com/2007/02/kanze-seinen-nekyu-n-three-n-plays-and.html
There I give detailed information about that performance, including a sinopsis, video and photographs.
(3) Of course, I didn’t translate the theatre brochure, I took one extract from a note inside an English language magazine. About the costs of tickets, I could get a student discount thanks to my chinese Qinghua university ID card.
(4) It’s a pity I lost the other part of the video where the same player shows the same movement and choreography with the whole Nō costume.
(5) That way of giving the explanation and lesson was not problematic at all, it was even exciting, as it created a brilliant work dynamic where everyone could do something, wherever you went you’d find somehting interesting to learn. It was a kind of No carnival, joyful and noisy. A fantastic experience.

Recalling “La Cura”

“La Cura”




Author and director: Gustavo Thomas
Actors: Guadalupe Durón, Natalia Guadarrama and José Antonio Ordaz (1)
Design of Scenography and Illumination: José Enrique Gorlero (2)
Choreography: Ariel Miramontes
Atrezzo: Javier Tovar
Executive production: Marisa Gómez
Technician: Azgard Ramírez
Production: Roma Teatro…

Foro Luces de Bohemia
Mexico City, Mexico.
June-July 1998

José Enrique Gorlero:

“Historias enajenadas en el pasado. Lenguaje en síntesis, apretado, meticuloso. Referencias de la ficción y de la realidad. Búsqueda personal por los meandros de historias compartidas. Gustavo Thomas construye en la profundidad de su laboratorio; allí los actores son el origen del viaje. Fracaso de la memoria (el tema, sin duda, compete a esta generación); derrota amorosa. El suceso que pudo haber sido, la caricia que debió existir. Inseguridad del presente. Crisis. Probablemente “la cura” sea metáfora, ausencia, vocación de cambio.
“La sexualidad como un pasatiempo de los derrotados, la intimidad como una consecuencia de la soledad más profunda. Compromiso y otra vez, ausencia. Criaturas de fin de siglo: un ciego, la que se vende, el fantasma o el ángel de la muerte.
“Quizá la reflexión de Thomas incluya una severa investigación de recursos teatrales, la misma síntesis textual que deviene en imagen, sonido, economía de espacios y gestos. Sí, es la otra generación que sobrevuela nuestro teatro, con la fuerza que seguramente alcanzará las transformaciones.” (3)


(1) After La Cura these three actors and two more enthusiasts joined me in a new project called Esferica Ludens, Compañía de Arte Representacional which lasted till 2005 and is one important part of my artistic life.
(2) José Enrique Gorlero: friend, poet, playwright, theater director and light designer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina who lived in Mexico since 1975 till his death some months before La Cura’s season.
(3) This review was made by a writer who used words in such a way I can’t offer a translation that does it justice.