Pedro Almodovar supports Saint Teresa of Jesus by Paco Bezerra: “Your cause is not anti-clerical”

It was said to be a “premier flavor”, but in a dramatized reading I’m dying because I’m not dying It actually exuded something else: a bit of vengeance, a bit of vengeance, a bit of defiance and a touch of triumph. It was the first time that a work by Paco Bezerra had been canceled out of the Teatros del Canal program; And not a summary, but the whole work. A script that you can buy and read, on the other hand, is possible if you want to know what you’re talking about, not just the voices.

“Everything is related to the synopsis,” said Bezerra after the reading in a discussion held in the Sgae Foundation’s Berlanga room in Madrid this Tuesday night. “If they had at least read the book, I would have understood, but reading only the synopsis is too reductive,” he added, referring to the controversial withdrawal of his work from Madrid’s community-based and directorial theater program. Blanca Lee. “This,” “Censorship,” “What Happened,” flew through the night without naming names. Until the end, no one gave the proper name, no one addressed the Teatros del Canal in a literal sense, everyone seemed to want to talk about “it”, but without daring to define it. Just in the last few minutes, someone asked Paco Bezera what he thought Jesus would want if St. Teresa were here today. He replied, “I’d like to introduce you to Marta Rivera de la Cruz.”

Marta Rivera de la Cruz is the Minister of Culture of the Community of Madrid and ultimately responsible for removing the play about Teresa de Jesus from the theater program; What happened at the last minute and with the claim of “budget imbalance”. As explained in this newspaper, the public investment that had to be made to carry out this work amounted to only 5,000 euros, since it was almost entirely subsidized by the European Fund and co-financed by a private production company. On the other hand, as the author repeatedly repeated, in his opinion, the reasons are not budgetary, but political, or perhaps ideological. A version supported by a member of the artistic direction of the theater, as revealed by elDiario.es.

The room was full. The locations were quickly sold out and the public stayed out. Paco Bezerra himself made sure that no seats were left unoccupied, placing some of those who ran out of tickets in the slots. They even installed a kind of improvised zero row with chairs brought from somewhere. Ana Belen, Gloria Muñoz, Nathalie Poza, Aytana Sánchez-Gijon and Julieta Serrano read what was actually a monologue as a group or in fragments. It was strange at first, but eventually the audience realized that they were all Santa Teresas, and I don’t mean just the actors.

The public had the opportunity to intervene in the colloquium. Someone asked Bezera to tell “the inside story of the case.” “Intrastory is pathetic,” answered the playwright. Another person asked if any other theaters, private or public, had contacted him to resume the canceled performance at Teatros del Canal. Bezera said no. At that time, Jesús Cimaro of the theater company Pentación Espectáculos and the Merida Theater Festival gave a speech; In addition, manager of several scenic spaces in Madrid, such as Teatro Bellas Artes, Teatro La Latina and Reina Victoria. Cimarro, who was in the audience as another audience member, confronted Bezerra and revealed that four weeks ago he asked the producer out. I’m dying because I’m not dying Catalan Beato, programming the work at the Teatro de Bellas Artes for October 2024. Cimaro said he was assured in writing by the producer that “it couldn’t be”. Bezera insisted that he knew nothing of the offer and confirmed that he had heard nothing from the producer since the production was cancelled. Cimaro reaffirmed his offer and indicated that he would call again the next day to insist.

“Nobody has called me personally, neither private nor public theater,” claimed Bezera. “And that means something: maybe we are more dependent on the community of Madrid than we think and that there is no private theater because private theaters also receive public support,” he added. Later, the author wanted to clarify that he didn’t even pick up the phone to call anyone, because he didn’t want them to think that the purpose of the visibility he wanted to give the incident was to “grab a piece of the pie.” .” “I’m not interested in a play right now, I don’t want to do anything, I just want people who have done something wrong to show their faces,” he said without naming them.

Mathias Umpieres was to conduct a piece which, had it not been for an inexplicable withdrawal, they would have been rehearsing these days. He also directed a dramatized reading. “Fear is underrated,” he said at the colloquium, adding that those who decided to cancel the show “are causing a lot of people to lose their jobs.” The director called it a “privilege” for Bezerra and himself to denounce “political interference” because there are many others who feel “tremendous fear”. In addition, he pointed to the public, he said that many people who were there this evening – including Pedro Almodovar, the director of the National Drama Center Alfredo Sanzoli, the director of the Cervantes Institute Luis García Montero, the actor Asier Etxeandia. Or the actresses Marisa Paredes, Goya Toledo or Silvia Marti – were “brave”. This public denunciation brought Paco Bezera to the Culture Commission of the Madrid Assembly, in a speech that Umpieres called “historic”.

Everything that happens on the ground I’m dying because I’m not dying. The double life of Teresa It makes sense and helps us understand who Teresa of Jesus was by using the resource to bring her up to the present. Mystical works are still relevant today, because they speak about the condition of women five centuries ago, which still have something in common with women today. (The moment of the strongest production this Tuesday was when Aytana Sánchez-Gijón, in the role of Teresa, who demands historical memory, shouts, riding on the lion of the Congress of Deputies, the names of many writers who did not go. Through the same story as the writers). The work deals with the place of women in society and culture as a means of achieving intellectual freedom. In this parallelism, the author states that drugs have always been used as a catalyst for an inner journey. 16th century St. Teresa may have had mystical trances over mushroom-tainted rye bread, and 21st century LSD consumption. “The drug allows you to go places, to travel without moving,” Bezerra explains. This is a common theme, as in many other works. But that’s what makes it scandalous, and it’s cited as one of the reasons for the poster’s disappearance. “I’m a child of my time, I grew up with Julieta Serrano, who makes the points in the dark” 44-year-old Bezera stepped onto the stage, on which the same actor stood up and in front of the director of the aforementioned film.


in the dark There is a film by Pedro Almodóvar that premiered in 1983 and which, in addition to Serrano, also starred another person in the room, Marisa Paredes, along with Carmen Maura or Chus Lamprivé. In it, the nuns of the degraded Order of the Redemptorists live in a monastery that was given to their dependents. Sister Estiercol, played by Paredes, makes cakes laced with LSD, the same substance that Saint Teresa de Jesús de Bezera uses for her inner journey. “They are objects [las drogas] which are demonized as culture,” Bezera said. “This is what we saw on TV when we were kids. “I wonder if my parents didn’t tell me why other 45-year-olds are coming to tell me what to do,” he said to applause from the audience.

Perhaps because of the hints, Pedro Almodovar took the floor. “You reminded me of a lot of time,” the filmmaker told the playwright. “I don’t know if it was as funny as you, but people were laughing,” he added. “Movie in the dark This was done 40 years ago and nothing happened 40 years ago. Moreover, neither your work nor my film is anti-clerical, but in 1983 there was no Catholic sensibility, or not so acutely. It has become a kind of crime,” the director continued. After that he immediately said in the dark He had problems only in Rome: “Pope John Paul II asked to see her and he did not agree, he did not want to dress her at the Venice festival and, as it all came out, he took her away. Venice was very successful and everyone could see our Juliet.” “It’s very sad that after 40 years this is happening,” concluded Almodovar, and ended his speech by recommending Bezerra’s action: “You should do a monologue,” which the crowd noted.

In the mouths of five actors who read the text (SGAE Jardiel Poncela Theater Award in 2021), the public discovered that the plot of the story – the martyr turns out to be an illegal immigrant, a pauper, a rape victim, a prostitute, a junkie – is actually a vivid analysis of the misery and injustice of Spanish society. The moral inquisition continues, those who are different are feared, those who do not follow the established path are censored, women are exploited simply because they are women. And it is also a passionate declaration of love for writing, creativity, art and music, because of its great potential to unite us as a community and, through culture, to find a powerful space for understanding. You just have to read the work.

Source: El Diario

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