One of my favorite plays, although I came to it rather late in life, is Ramón del Valle-Inclán’s Luces de Bohemia. (I wrote a short review of it here, although I found an error in my review: the concept of Esperpento defines chaotic Spain, not the world, as I wrote in my review).
At any rate when I saw it was showing at the oldest working theatre in the world, the Teatro Español in Madrid (you can read about it here), I immediately bought tickets for Celia and I.
The play was wonderful, the lead, Max Estrella was exquisitely performed by Ginés García Millán. The stage was well set, minimalist obviously, but with good taste and enough elements to add texture and depth. It even had a live band, something rare in Spanish theatre in general. The play, although tragic, perfectly describes today’s Spain despite it being written a hundred years ago.
If you have never been to the Teatro Español, it is in a little square, right smack in the middle of downtown Madrid. A Saturday night in Christmas time, with all the tourists, domestic and international, it was literally unwalkable, everybody with their cameras taking photos of the Christmas lights… If you are thinking of coming to Madrid this Christmas, don’t, unless you get tickets to see Luces de Bohemia.
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