LAS MENINAS

During the last 20 years of his life, Velázquez stops painting, puts away his brushes and leaves all artistic pursuits behind to devote himself body and soul to his greatest aim of all: the Cross of Saint James. Year after year goes by, and he still hasn’t received it. He is beginning to lose his strength and feels that he is near the end of his days, so he takes up his brushes one last time to create the masterpiece of painting known as Las Meninas (“The maids of honour”). What lay behind such genius? Ernesto Anaya, a Mexican author of Chilean origin, received Mexico’s Oscar Liera National Award for Dramaturgy for this work, Las Meninas, which premiered at DramaFest with stage direction by Ignacio García, with a team that was 100% Mexican. In the director’s notes, Ignacio García situates the play for us with these words: ‘Las Meninas’ is a wild and eclectic theatrical text with well documented references and understanding of 17^th-century Spanish history, as well as its analysis of the light and shadow of the reign of Philip IV. The plot explores a fictional hypothesis on the origins of the painting, in which Maribárbola, a dwarf of German origin, is the one who goads the painter to take on the exploit of inventing a pictorial universe different from that of his contemporaries, and in which Maribárbola herself is depicted. The painting and its aesthetics provide the framework for narrating the action in this interesting play, halfway between both shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC: THE PLAY LAS MENINAS IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR AUDIENCES UNDER 15 YEARS OF AGE DUE TO THE CONTENT OF CERTAIN SCENES

Public meeting with LAS MENINAS
Includes the presence of the play’s art team
Friday, 14 October at 10 pm, Naves del Español-Matadero

This event is free entry until seating is full

 

Direction Ignacio García Actors Diego Velázquez Javier Díaz Dueñas
Infanta Margarita Aurora Cano
Menina 1 Ichi Balmori
Menina 2 Violeta Sarmiento
Maribárbola Arturo Vences

Fact sheet
Costumes Cordelia Dvorak
Lighting Matías Gorlero
Original Soundtrack Ignacio García
Assistant director Marisol Rocha
Executive producer Zazil Servín
Technical direction Raúl Munguía
Assistant producer Blanca Guevara   Producers and Co-producers
Producer Teatro de Babel – Dramafest
Associated producers Aurora Cano and Nicolás Alvarado
Co-producers (México) Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo
Fundación Cultural Televisa
Fundación Cultural Bancomer
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores
Instituto de México en Madrid
Co-producers (Spain) Embajada de España en México
Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo
Centro Cultural de España en México