As part of the forthcoming Spanish Golden Age season at Arcola Theatre there will be a series of enrichment activities, including complementary talks, dramatic readings and events exploring the context of the plays and the wider cultural significance of the Spanish Golden Age on Theatre and art in Spain and across the globe.
One of these events, held at the Instituto Cervantes on 25 February at 6.30pm, will be an opportunity to hear from the directors of the season, in conversation with Dr Rodrigo Cacho, a Spanish Golden Age expert from Cambridge University.
The platform round table discussion will focus on the Spanish Golden Age of Theatre within the context of staging productions for today’s theatre audiences. The discussion will give an insight into the Spanish Golden Age of Theatre and Art in general, give an overview of the large scale repertory season Arcola Theatre are staging and explore the choices, decisions and discoveries made by the directors, actors and creatives putting the season together.
The event will also be a reflection of the cultural context of the plays of Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and the other Spanish Golden Age playwrights of the period – debating the cultural factors leading to this explosion of art and Theatre expression as part of the ‘Golden Age’ period in Spain and how this may mirror today’s cultural context for producing Theatre in an economically changed environment.
Participants:
LAURENCE BOSWELL (USTINOV STUDIOS THEATRE ROYAL BATH, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)
Laurence Boswell has been Artistic Director of the Ustinov Studios Theatre Royal Bath since 2011. Prior to that Laurence has had a glittering career directing for the professional stage, in London, regionally and across the globe. Laurence was also Artistic Director at the Gate Theatre, where Laurence won the 1992 Oliver Award of Outstanding Achievement for his first Spanish Golden Age season.
He also curated a significant Golden Age Season for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2005.
MEHMET ERGEN (ARCOLA THEATRE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)
Mehmet Ergen has made such an impact on the emerging theatre landscape in London, since he arrived from his native Turkey in 1989, aged just 22 and speaking little English. Mehmet has been Artistic Director of the acclaimed Arcola Theatre since founding the Theatre with Executive Producer Leyla Nazli in 2000. Prior to that Mehmet was founder and the first Artistic Director, running the Southwark Playhouse from 1993 to 1999 as well as playing a significant role in the development of the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC). Today, he is also Artistic Director of ‘Arcola Istanbul’, Talimhane Tiyatrosu, which he founded in 2008.
Mehmet has won a variety of awards for his work and directs extensively abroad in Israel, Ireland, Canada and Turkey.
DR RODRIGO CACHO (CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY)
Dr Rodrigo Cacho is senior lecturer in Spanish Golden Age culture at CambridgeUniversity. His principal research subjects are comparative literature, burlesque poetry and prose, European mock-heroic poetry and work of Francisco Quevedo. Rodrigo will chair the discussion.
Organised by Arcola Theatre & Instituto Cervantes Londres, the event will be in English and will last roughly 1hr 30mins with a Q&A included at the end of the discussion.
Admission is free but booking is essential due to limited capacity in the auditorium.
To reserve a ticket, please contact: reservas.londres@cervantes.es / 02072010752
This event will also be supported and filmed as part of a wider programme entitled Contemporary Directions, a theatre project at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance that explores the role of the directors in 21st Century. More here.
This event is supported by:
