Two prisoners in solitary confinement during Argentina’s 1970s dictatorship are permitted to meet for one hour a week. To escape their harsh reality they tell each other the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Forced to remain seated throughout their encounter, they allow their minds to soar free by constantly reinventing Cervantes’s hero, the knight errant who mistakes windmills for giants and prison for paradise.
Through the use of simple props and quick-fire dialogue, Ecuador’s leading theatre company exemplify the power of theatre to transport us into the realm of the imagination even as we remain bound to our seats.
‘Hammers home man’s gross capacity for inhumanity – and his transcendent ability to endure’ LA Times (Los Angeles)
About Teatro MalayerbaFounded in Quito in 1979 by three immigrant artists, Arístides Vargas, Susana Pautasso and María del Rosario ‘Charo’ Francés, Malayerba are one of the continent’s most revered theatre companies, acclaimed for their poetic and politicial explorations of the rich cultural diversity and complex history of Ecuador and the South-American continent, as well as issues of migration, exile, political violence and collective memory.
Supported by the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador.
Pre-Show talk: ‘Remembering Dictatorships in Latin American theatre today: Is it finally time to move on? ‘ – Friday 4th October at 6.15pmFind full information on all our talks here.
