For a decade, La Joven, a theater company led by David R. Peralto and José Luis Arellano Garcíacarries out invaluable work aimed at the adolescent and young audience, probably the most reluctant to fill the stalls. Every year about 27,000 schoolchildren see one of his productions, designed expressly for them and performed mostly by young people their age or, at least, close to them.
The new production of La Joven – ‘A monster comes to see me’ – is deeply consistent with this double intention of her works, where the theatrical has a social or educational extension, and which on this occasion is the relationship of young people with cancer -The Cancer Association is the company’s collaborator here. Part of the novel Patrick Nesswhich was adapted to the theater in 2018 by Sally Cookson and Adam Peckcreated with the young company of the British Bristol Old Vic (and made into a film by Juan Antonio Bayona).
‘A Monster Comes to See Me’ tells the story of a 13-year-old boy, Conor, who has to face his mother’s terminal illness; Her father lives on another continent and her grandmother sees her as an enemy rather than a help. Conor also suffers from bullying at school and shows a sullen attitude that makes him reject the help offered by teachers and classmates. Every night, at 12:07, he receives a visit from a ‘monster’ coming from the tree – an old yew tree – that stands next to his house and who tells him a story that, finally, will serve to open the young man’s eyes,
The stage adaptation of Patrick Ness’s novel is moving, exciting, not at all subtle in its intention: to touch the hearts of the audience, to soften them and, perhaps, to make them reflect. José Luis Arellano has created a schematic show, with the only scenery being some chairs that the performers themselves move and a large tree full of screens that presides over the scene.
Its staging is dynamic, fresh; The ‘fantastic’ elements of the story take a backseat to Conor’s story, to the inner suffering of a boy who refuses to accept reality – “You must tell the truth or you will never leave this nightmare behind,” he tells him. the monster – and whose fight is with himself.
Arellano has a magnificent ally: Elisa Hipólitowho embodies the protagonist, to whom he lends an exciting sweetness and vulnerability. Daughter of the actors Carlos Hipólito and Mapi Sagaseta (the breed goes with the greyhound), the young actress shows a revealing attitude from the moment the lights turn on; He also has poise and sincerity. He is accompanied by a wonderful cast of ‘veterans and newcomers’ in which a always moving Cristina Bertol like Conor’s mother and the imposing Eduardo Aguirre de Cárcer like Monster.
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