Atalaya Teatro opens the new edition of the 'Classics at the Museum' series with a renewed version of Elektra

The Museo Universidad de Navarra presents this month a renewed edition of the series Classics at the MuseumAtalaya Teatro opens this Friday, at 7:30 p.m., with Elektra.25. The company, directed by Ricardo Iniesta, returns to the tables this proposal, 25 years after mounting it for the first time and incorporating changes and innovations that enhance the theatrical value of what was one of the great stagings of Spanish theater in recent decades. Tickets are still on sale (18 and 20 euros). 

As part of the activities that accompany the Performing Arts and Music events, its director, Ricardo Iniesta, will give a masterclass at 18:00 to bring the keys to the show and the work done by the Company around the classics. Admission is free with prior withdrawal of an invitation.

In the words of Teresa Lasheras, director of Performing Arts and Music of the Museum, "the cycle opens its gaze to the theatrical texts of all times to reflect on the elements that allow us to say that a work has become a classic and answer questions such as whether the canon can be made larger and more inclusive, why these works are still relevant in the present, what happens to them when they change cultural context or era, how to work with them from the present to stage them .... All staging is current, contemporary, but not the starting point that classical texts imply, that journey between texts and theatrical productions is what the cycle wants to show the public".

Likewise, the director of Performing Arts and Music points out, the cycle continues to be linked to the theatrical heritage of the Golden Age, key to Spanish culture, in whose field the University of Navarra is an international reference thanks to GRISO, the Golden Age research group". 

ELEKTRA FROM THE 21ST CENTURY

Elektra.25 The show is based on Sophocles ' play and Hugo von Hofmannsthal 's version for Strauss ' opera and, as Iniesta explains, the maturity of bringing it to the stage two and a half decades later has been reflected in the show, which has evolved notably: "The text and the sung chorus, which we have developed and researched a lot, are as important as the image and the physical action.

It varies, above all, the actor's work, but also the text. The only element we have left as a reference is the bathtub, the scenography, so surprising 25 years ago". About the chorus, he explains that it not only puts the mirror in front of the characters, but also throws the questions and proclamations to the public, in the manner of classical Greece. 

Thus, the director points out the changes they have made on the vision of different characters. "It's supposed to be revenge. And this has also changed. In our vision 25 years ago Elektra and Orestes were, quote-unquote, the good guys. But here it has changed. They are vengeful beings and the spiral of revenge does not lead to a good end. There is no empathy or questioning in themselves, they are bloodthirsty like their own fathers. And it is Chrysothemis who introduces a third way between revenge and execution. We have also varied the vision of Clytemnestra, who is a victim of patriarchy, of Agamemnon, and this is also new in our vision. This theme is very current.

Regarding Atalaya Teatro's exploration of the classics, Iniesta recalls that their first work was precisely in 1996, the year they staged Elektra, when the company had been in existence for 13 years. "In these 25 years, they have been a constant reference for us and we have learned a lot with the Greeks, Shakespeare, Fernando de Rojas.... It is a constant learning process to delve into the classics and we do it not only in their words, which is very important in all of them, because they are great poets, but also seeking to delve into the power of the images and the physical action that these classics pose to the dramaturgy. And we are also very interested in the context in which they move and what they mean universally," he explains. In this sense, he values that "the classics are very current and, the further back we go, the more projection they have in the future".

OTHER PROPOSALS

As part of the cycle, the Állatok Collective will represent The Hungarian Animal on February 18, at 7:30 p.m., a little-known text by Lope de Vega worthy of belonging to the canon of his most emblematic works. The play proposes a feminine version of the myth of the savage hero, a story of passions, betrayal and revenge that lacks neither humor nor poetry. Tickets: 18 and 20 euros. This performance also includes a meeting with its director, Ernesto Arias, at 6 p.m., with free admission with prior withdrawal of an invitation until full capacity is reached.

As the director of Performing Arts and Music of the Museum explains, "Greek theater and the Golden Age are two of the most important references we have in Western theater and we wanted to start there because both have that quality of being foundational, fundamental. On the other hand, Atalaya Teatro is an Andalusian company that is about to celebrate 40 years working with classics from all eras with a very contemporary language led by Ricardo Iniesta, while Colectivo Állatok is very young, a group of actors graduated from the RESAD who decided to start this production after a verse workshop with Ernesto Arias and embarked on an adventure with more experienced partners who have made it possible. I find it interesting to see this diversity in the companies to point out how important it is to combine enthusiasm and youth with experience to keep moving forward".

As part of the Classics at the Museum series, on February 9 at 6:00 pm, the Museum proposes to address the ways and criteria for updating the classics in a conversation with Ignacio García and Carlos Mata. The academic and artistic perspectives come together in this conversation to accommodate different proposals and approaches.