SALVADOR TÁVORA COMPLETES HIS TRILOGY DEDICATED TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FLAMENCO AND BULLFIGHTING

"La Cuadra" company will begin a British tour in February, after completion of their new show

Silvia Calado Olivo

'Carmen', 'Don Juan en los Ruedos' and... an as yet untitled piece which will serve to complete Salvador Távora's trilogy, whose aim is to throw light on the links which exist between the world of Flamenco and the world of Bullfighting. The new montage will be, according to La Cuadra's director, "a group performance which will recreate an Andalusian bullfight, where I want to mix the traditional figures of Flamenco singing with those of the bullfight". To set up the project, the Sevillian dramatist has taken a creative sabbatical, after which he will return to the stage: in February a British tour is planned, with shows in London, Salford, Edinburgh and Southampton.

Lalo Tejada in Carmen

The reflection on life and death, which has been at the root of Salvador Távora's work, has given rise to the creation of a trilogy based around the relationship between Flamenco and bullfighting. First came 'Carmen', the Andalusian Opera of bugles and drums, which opened in Seville's Biennial Flamenco festival in 1998. Next came 'Don Juan en los Ruedos', the show which brought the mythical literary character into the arena. And now the third spectacle is in preparation, in which La Cuadra's director aims to "have a kind of Andalusian bullfight, the show containing a greater proportion of bullfighting at the forefront". To achieve this aim, Távora "wanted to convince one prestigious figure from the world of Flamenco, and another from the world of bullfighting so they could become part of this experience. I already have names in mind".

In contrast with previous productions, the dramatist has dispensed with leading role and plot: "It'll be a more choral, more collective show". Távora, who was awarded a Gold Medal of Merit by the 'Círculo de Bellas Artes' arts body in Spain, explains that the show "will revolve around the two modes of expression: traditional Flamenco musical theatre (I can't separate them) and bullfighting." And it will set both within "a choral framework, without being dedicated to a character like the mythical Don Juan and Carmen".

The storyline "will be of relationships, the story of the bullfight, how the 'alguaciles', or mounted bullfight officials clear the ring, how the townspeople are driven out, how the art of bullfighting on foot meets the art of bullfighting on horseback, how today's mounted bullfighter, who represents the knights of yesteryear, is not in charge of but subordinated to the orders of the matador...". With this matrix of relationships the dramatist seeks to "provide a vision of social transformation using the bullfight as a starting point". And, true to the social function of the theatre, strives for "the townspeople to be raised to a position of power". An aim which can be seen in passages such as "when the servants to the knights, who are the bullfighters on foot, the common people, drive out the knights". He clarifies that "I want to reunite that knight with his old servant, but without them being separated in terms of class".

World Tour

To give shape to the piece which is as yet only an idea, Salvador Távora has decided to spend three months without setting foot on the stages on which La Cuadra last played. Stages such as the City Center in New York, with the opera 'Carmen', just after the tragic attacks of 11th September; and with Don Juan, at the 'Festival Madrid Sur', where last November the company celebrated its thirtieth anniversary.

The company's return is set for February 2002, when it plans a tour of the UK, with shows in London, Salford, Edinburgh and Southampton. In April, La Cuadra plans performances in Taiwan. These performances will add to the more than three thousand which the Flamenco theatre company has already given of the twelve shows which have marked their career since their formation in 1971. Two million spectators in over thirty countries have witnessed the collective's creations.