Piece by Ana Vallés

Four Spanish women, spirited and beautiful. It is essential to fulfill the demand of the husband and at the same time to be wife, lover, mother, friend and showpiece. Women only apparently ally themselves; rivalry determines their interactions. Despite emancipation, the woman remains trapped in herself.

An actress holds an address to the audience and then switches seamlessly into her role. Women play roles, in the piece as in life. Words often don’t mean much; people speak, but don’t understand each other. A stage floor strewn with blue paper reminds us of the blue flower that we, perhaps especially the women, are always searching for …

As much as the piece is trapped in the conditions of Spain and the position of the woman there, it equally reminds us of the relation of the sexes to each other generally. No man is in the cast here, but almost everything revolves around him. A passionate and poetic assertion of the woman’s wish for emancipation and of her simultaneous endurance of inferiority.

Matarile Teatro comes from Santiago de Compostela, the famous pilgrimage destination situated far off in the most distant corner of Galicia. The company was founded in 1986 by the author, director, and actress Ana Vallés, and is based in the Teatro Galán, a small off-theatre. The guest performance of the Matarile Teatro had been invited to the euro-scene in 2000 but was cancelled due to illness. Now we can make up for it. It’s the company’s first performance in Germany.