Total hours: 24h
Contact: obrador@salabeckett.cat
43This course will be taught face to face. Should it ultimately not be possible to teach it at the Sala Beckett, it will be conducted virtually.
The author of La piedra oscura or of the version of Medea that we were able to see at the Teatre Lliure proposes a course on desire as a driving force of dramatic action.
What comes first is the body. This body can be made of flesh, wood or iron, it doesn’t matter. Before and after perhaps there will be words but the foremost thing for writing theatre is imagining a body that desires in the here and now. A body desires something and that something is nearly always in others; it belongs to others. This desire that puts in danger, in crisis, in theatre, the body that houses it. Because desire will unfold despite rules and prohibitions.
Desire is the need of what is absent. Desire contains a gap. Desire constructs an image that is missing. The character will try to achieve or avoid this image. While the “aim” is in the territory of the conscious, pragmatic and everyday, desire operates unexpectedly, often in secret and despite the will of the characters. One body desires. Afterwards, another body will observe the body that desires and lie in wait. Writing for the stage is concerned with this ambush.
Content and aims
The workshop is aimed at authors, performers and directors and, in general, all those people interested in performing arts creation, independently of their prior training and experience.
We will be working on desire as a substantial force for the theatrical phenomenon and its relationship with the other fundamental parameters: time, space and the word.
The final goal is that all participants acquire the tools for writing a short play that is autonomous and full of meaning.
Within the GREC 2020 Festival of Barcelona.
Supported by:
A graduate in Stage Directing and Playwriting from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático he holds a PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Highlights of his dramatic production include: La geometría del trigo (2019), National Award for Dramatic Literature 2019; Los días de la nieve (2017), Lorca Prize 2019 for the Best Author; Todas las noches de un día, winner of the 3rd AAT Theatre Texts Competition; La piedra oscura, Max Prize for the Best Theatre Author 2016 and the Ceres Award for Best Actor 2016, among others; Ushuaia, Ricardo López de Aranda Prize 2013; Cliff (acantilado), winner of the 4th LAM Competition 2010; Húngaros, National Award for University Theatre 2000, and Fiebre, runner-up for the National Prize for Short-Format Theatre in 1999.
He has also been responsible for various stage adaptations and re-writings: Medea (Teatre Lliure, together with Lluís Pasqual), Electra (Spanish National Ballet and Teatro de la Zarzuela, 2017), Fuenteovejuna (Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, 2017), Troyanas (Classic Theatre Festival of Mérida, 2017), Rinconete y Cortadillo (Sexpeare Teatro, 2016), Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín (Autumn in Spring Festival /Metatarso, 2016) and Proyecto Homero/Odisea (La Joven Compañía 2016), among others.
He is a regular contributor to the cultural supplement La Esfera de Papel and to the AISGE digital journal. He has published En esta casa (2020), his second book of poetry following Si descubres un incendio (2017).
Admission to the course will be based on order of arrival and CV assessment, which should be sent (with photograph included), filling in the form on the right.
Places on courses are limited. Places will be reserved once the course amount has been paid. Payment must be made within one week of receiving the corresponding acceptance email.
The dates indicated for each course or seminar may be subject to variations in exceptional circumstances. These will be notified when applicable.
For the course to take place, a minimum number of students must be registered. If this number is not reached, the course will be cancelled and the student will have the option of registering for a different course (providing that there are places available) or alternatively will receive a refund of the amount paid (100%). If a student withdraws, a refund of 75% of the registration fee will be applicable, providing that written notice is given at least 10 days before the start of the course.