THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
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OnStage
G
CHEAP SEATS Check out Studio Theatre’s new production, “Circle Mirror Transformation,” at a pay-what-you-can performance Saturday at 2 p.m.
www.studiotheatre.org.
Jerry Nelson Soto, left, Juan Caballero and Emme Bonilla in “El Caballero de Olmedo”/“The Knight From Olmedo” by Lope de Vega.
STAN WEINSTEIN A passion for Spanish drama by Lavanya Ramanathan
“Passion” is a word that José Luis Arel- lano García, the director of GALA Thea- tre’s new production, “El Caballero de Ol- medo,” frequently reaches for when de- scribing the dramatic traditions of Spain, his native country.
Spain was home to “Caballero” play- wright Lope de Vega, the 17th-century writer who imbued every line with that passion — and the love, jealousy and du- plicity that it inspires. To elicit authentic emotion from the ac- tors who would star in “Caballero,” there was only one thing to do: jet the actors to Spain itself. In Madrid, the cast participated in workshops to learn the art of creating classical Spanish theater, but there was a more ambitious reason for the trip. “The most important point of the work- shops was that the actors try to smell the energy . . . to smell the reality of the coun-
“It’s tragedy. It’s comedy.
They say it’s our Shakespeare.” — producer David Peralto
try,” says Arellano García. “What is going on with this passion, with these people?” It’s no accident that GALA is launching its season in such dramatic fashion: It is the Spanish-language theater’s 35th anni- versary, and “Caballero” is an old favorite — the company last performed it in 1985, in English. This time, to ensure that the production will live up to the momentous occasion, it is a project of two countries. It will be performed in Spanish, with actors performing songs from Spain’s baroque era, on a set designed in Spain. The Span- ish Embassy pulled a few strings to make it possible. “The whole project of producing and collaborating on the whole production with actors, designers, producers . . . the
whole idea of people from two countries working together — it’s exceptional,” says Hugo Medrano, GALA’s artistic director. As part of the workshops, the actors went to the Prado in Madrid to see the 16th- and 17th-century paintings of Veláz- quez and El Greco. But to experience Spain as one might
have in Lope’s time, all they had to do was observe the architecture and landmarks of Spain’s capital city. “We’re still living in the baroque,” Arellano García says of Madrid. “Caballero” follows a blossoming love
between a knight and a king’s daughter that quickly devolves into a violent turf battle between two towns. It is frequently compared to “Romeo and Juliet,” perhaps because Lope shared Shakespeare’s love
for damning twists of fate and for expos- ing the flaws in human nature. But the play is unusual in that Lope deftly bal- anced the comic and the tragic. “Everybody loves Lope’s plays when
they see them,” says producer David Peralto. “It’s tragedy. It’s comedy. They say it’s our Shakespeare.”
Adds Arellano García: “I don’t think
we’re going to bring something new. We’re going to bring something very, very old: the passion. Classic authors, they speak about something that’s very deep in our souls.”
ramanathanl@washpost.com
El Caballero de Olmedo/ The Knight From Olmedo
In Spanish with English supertitles.
Thursday-Oct. 17. GALA Theatre-Tivoli, 3333 14th St. NW. 202-234-7174.
www.galatheatre.org. $20-$36.
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