Historia del amor

Is there anything left to ask about love? Is there anything left to say?

Agrupación Señor Serrano believes so. They present a virtuosic display of audiovisual resources—hallmarks of their work—and a single performer on stage. The performer weaves a net connecting her own love story, the most famous love stories, and the most important ones: ours.

Founded by Álex Serrano in 2006, the company is known for gathering stories from the contemporary world, confronting them with one another to highlight parallels, and telling them through a blend of text, video, scale models, and more. This time, the piece juxtaposes stories of love and asks questions ranging from why love remains at the center of everything to whether love in the 21st century is any different. A woman on stage supports her narration with images and objects captured live by a video camera and projected onto a large screen behind her. Pau Palacios and Álex Serrano have worked on the dramaturgy with the collaboration of Cristina Cubells and Clara Serra, a specialist in feminist studies. Premiered at the Grec Festival in Barcelona in July 2025, History of Love now arrives in Madrid to ask us how many different love stories there really are.

How is love born? When does it emerge? Why is its pursuit a constant in our lives? History of Love is a performance with a single actress on stage that takes on the impossible task of trying to understand why we love and why we love the way we do. The piece unfolds through a double dramaturgy: on the one hand, exploring historical perspectives on love; on the other, presenting love today through the personal experience of the performer. From what angle is this supposed History of Love being told? Are the protagonist’s experiences truly her own, or are they ours?

Agrupación Señor Serrano frames this quest with a sideways glance at the myth of El Dorado: the promise of a city filled with treasures, hidden deep in the jungle, source of plenitude. A promise—like love—that has been rewritten and transformed throughout history, yet remains one of the driving forces of our existence. Why do we search for love? What do we hope to find? Is it a place, a goal, an expedition? How does the past shape the ways we love today?

All of this unfolds in a space somewhere between an archive, a laboratory, and a junkyard, where the performer discovers, manipulates, and dissects objects, remnants, and debris generated by millennia of human relationships. History of Love uses live video, performance, objects, and physical theater to build itself in front of the audience.

Rocío Bello
Season Dramaturg, 2025/26, Nave 10 Matadero