Colectivo Állatok brings to MUN 'El animal de Hungría', a brilliant and unknown comedy by Lope de Vega that explores the myth of the savage in a female version.

The sharpness and poetic depth characteristic of Lope de Vega are brought together in The Hungarian Animalthe comedy that this Friday, at 7.30 p.m., Colectivo Állatok performs at the Museum Theater. This little-known work explores the myth of the savage in a female version in an agile and fun theatrical play in which eight actors present more than twenty characters. There are still tickets for the show, priced at 18 and 20 euros. At 6 p.m., Ernesto Arias, director of the company, will hold a meeting with the audience. Free admission with prior withdrawal of invitation until full capacity is reached.

The proposal was born from the interest of the young members of Colectivo Állatok, recent graduates of the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid (RESAD), in giving shape to this project together with Ernesto Arias. The director explains that the first thing that surprised them was the oblivion in which this text was found: "It was buried by the passage of time, without ever having been offered a staging. We consider it a work of great dramaturgical value and enormous quality, in which humor and poetry are combined at levels that make it worthy of being in the canon of Lope's most emblematic works, along with El castigo sin venganza, El perro del hortelano, Fuenteovejuna or El caballero de Olmedo. This prompted us to undertake this project".

For Arias, one of the keys to this oblivion is precisely the female point of view of the piece: "There are three female protagonists, three women with charisma and character, strong: Teodosia, Faustina and Rosaura. Through them, he develops the whole plot". In this sense, she points out that "throughout history, the companies were mainly led by men who, when they resorted to the classical repertoire, looked for male protagonists where the first figures could shine. Coincidentally, it was Margarita Xirgu who paid attention to this work and tried to perform it during Lope's tercentenary, a project that in the end was not carried out. The feminine character of the play, of course, caught our attention".

Thus, he explains that the famous playwright, "through the myth of the savage, with a woman who has grown up without contact with civilization, talks about the female condition, instinct, sexual awakening and the discovery of man and civilization. And he does it without any concealment and with a lot of humor".

This humor is "essential" in his dramaturgy. "Lope obeys in his texts the maxim of illustrating by delighting. I don't know to which he gives more importance, but surely to delight, because his works are very entertaining. They were very popular at the time and have been throughout history, but the illustration part cannot be ignored. He raises issues and entanglements where he almost always confronts the human condition with the social order. In this case, the feminine nature versus the social order, in a very amusing way, which is what he wanted, to win over the public," he explains.

The scenic proposal of Colectivo Állatok seeks to be faithful to the original play: "We want to maintain the essence of Lope's text, adjusting to the resources we have, trying to show the play in a very agile way: four actresses and four actors embody 30 characters, offering a scenic dynamic so that the audience receives that humor and poetry and can enjoy the text".