LAS CERVANTAS
Written by Inma Chacón and José Ramón Fernández
Date
20 October
13 November 2016
Location
Sala Max Aub
Price
18€
Institution
Naves Matadero
This is a true story.
On the night of 27 June 1605 in Valladolid, next to a house on the banks of the Esgueva River where Cervantes lived with five women nicknamed “Las Cervantas”, or “The Cervantes Girls” (his wife, two of his sisters, his niece and his daughter), a knight is mortally wounded and cries for help.
The wounded man dies in a neighbour’s home without explaining what has happened. The mayor finds a piece of paper in the dead man’s pocket and decides to keep it without showing it to anyone. He interrogates the Cervantes family to cover up the murderer, thus tarnishing the summary of the case, and, together with other witnesses, sends the writer, one of his sisters, his niece and his daughter to jail, who are later sent back home under a six-day house arrest.
It is hot and the sickening smell of the Esgueva floats through the windows. While the Cervantas are waiting to be interrogated, they prepare their statements and any possible contradictions. This is how we will get to know the women who lived with the author of Don Quixote and influenced his writing, their fears and strengths, and the way they dealt with life during a period when a free woman who could read raised suspicion. The husband, brother, father and uncle are in the room next door, trying to write a novel that narrates how some dogs are fighting on the corner where the Cervantas’ house stands.
On the night of 27 June 1605 in Valladolid, next to a house on the banks of the Esgueva River where Cervantes lived with five women nicknamed “Las Cervantas”, or “The Cervantes Girls” (his wife, two of his sisters, his niece and his daughter), a knight is mortally wounded and cries for help.
The wounded man dies in a neighbour’s home without explaining what has happened. The mayor finds a piece of paper in the dead man’s pocket and decides to keep it without showing it to anyone. He interrogates the Cervantes family to cover up the murderer, thus tarnishing the summary of the case, and, together with other witnesses, sends the writer, one of his sisters, his niece and his daughter to jail, who are later sent back home under a six-day house arrest.
It is hot and the sickening smell of the Esgueva floats through the windows. While the Cervantas are waiting to be interrogated, they prepare their statements and any possible contradictions. This is how we will get to know the women who lived with the author of Don Quixote and influenced his writing, their fears and strengths, and the way they dealt with life during a period when a free woman who could read raised suspicion. The husband, brother, father and uncle are in the room next door, trying to write a novel that narrates how some dogs are fighting on the corner where the Cervantas’ house stands.
