Playwright, actress, teacher, stage director, and promoter and leader of the Baraka company, María Caudevilla is already more than a promise. With a solid training – she has a degree in Dramatic Art from the University of Kent, and an international doctorate in Performing Arts from the Complutense University and the London University -, among her productions are, with dramaturgy and direction, ‘Sueño Lorca o el Sueño de the apples’; ‘Miguel Hernández: farmer of the wind’; ‘We are not angels’ – the texts published under the title ‘Under the Baraka umbrella’ – ‘InAnna’, and ‘Oceanus’ – for children – among others. Likewise, he has made some forays into cinema through the short films ‘Elisa’, ‘Shocourt’ and ‘Inolvidable’. After its premiere with great success last year in the theater of the Universidad del Pacífico in Lima, we have now been able to enjoy ‘The Jungle of Miranda’, a suggestive and original rereading of ‘The Tempest’, by William Shakespeare – putting the focus on the character of Miranda, the only female in the play -, who has just won first prize in this year’s edition of the Torrejón de Ardoz Theater Competition for Stage Directors. – It is not the first award she has received. What has this award meant to you?—The recognition of the profession for the work of many years of research, study, team management and its consequent staging and tours. I feel lucky to have a team of professional artists who trust my vision and have the strength and resilience necessary to continue creating and telling stories together. —How did the project of collaborating with the Bardo Collective and the Peruvian director and actor Miguel Iza Deza come about? —I’m sowing seeds and some, I don’t know why, germinate. In this case, the actress Paloma Rojas introduced Miguel Iza and me with the idea of collaborating, of building a bridge between both countries. We had an artistic affinity right away and, in our second attempt, the support of Iberescena to produce ‘The Jungle of Miranda’.—How has your experience been working with actors from the other side of the Atlantic?—I want to return. And soon! The lack of resources, far from stopping the creative impulse, makes the theater collective find other ways through their imagination, something that I value very much. Miguel Iza proposed an unbeatable cast and team of collaborators, truly, with a lot of skill, immense generosity and great doses of enthusiasm. What more could you ask for?—Did you specifically and personally choose ‘The Tempest’ for this rewrite? What led you to it?—’The Tempest’ had many ingredients that seduced me: firstly, the happy ending, very necessary today given the lack of hope in our contemporary society; I was also touched by the redemption of their characters, their repentance and the possibility of seeing these men, politicians embodied in actors, make peace publicly; There was no lack of the magical element, that which we cannot explain, but that is there and accompanies us, more present in Latin America than in Europe; and well, Shakespeare and his universal and unfathomable genius, of course. —How has this rewriting work basically been?—Apart from prioritizing the theme of forgiveness (understood as an act of honesty that begins with oneself), I changed the perspective of the piece, as a playful and mischievous exercise, above all to contribute something new to the scene. This is how I make visible the experience of Miranda, Prospero’s teenage daughter and the only female character in the play, faced with the terrible events of betrayal, corruption and revenge of the men around her. On the other hand, the Amazonian context gives complete meaning to the shamanism already present in the source text, enhancing the concrete and contemporary reading of it, which in turn gives greater presence to the figure of Caliban, the only human being who inhabited the island, until Prospero’s exile. Added to all this is the translation and adaptation of the bard’s poetics. Stage director, playwright, producer and teacher María Caudevilla—What is the fundamental conflict of ‘The Jungle of Miranda’?—Freedom. All the characters have a deep need for freedom. The conflict arises from each person’s strategies to achieve it. Some of them tragic, passing over a brother or nullifying the essence of their being, distancing them from the true meaning of their passage through this life. This is an accurate mirror for us, contemporary viewers who suffer daily from the fear, even dread, of free will. I am referring to the deep, interior and sincere freedom that Erich Fromm tells us about, not the freedom of slogans, which perpetuates suffering, discord and polarity, fueled by social networks and the inflammation of ideological and radical information. .—How would you describe the character of Miranda, who takes center stage here?—Miranda, in this proposal, experiences an important awakening of her consciousness. Discover desire, your personal power and love. In his monologues, Caliban reveals to us a protective father with an “inquisitive gaze” and Miranda’s desire to be free, to escape from the island and the exile to which she was destined for being the daughter of the Duke of Milan. This girl’s empathy towards the men who were traveling on the ship that sank the storm leads her to act secretly and develop her own magical abilities to restore peace and understand love as the desire for the good and freedom of others.« “The freedom of slogans perpetuates suffering, discord and polarity, fueled by social networks”—Is Shakespeare one of your reference playwrights? What would they be?—Of course, his genius is moving, brutal, funny, very close, irreverent, and very extravagant. Being able to read him and enter that cadence of iambic pentameter is hypnotic. I’m also especially attracted to Anton Chekhov. I can’t read him in Russian. A shame! At the same time, his translations make me cry, and it’s rare that that happens to me when reading theatre. It is very difficult for me to read theater, it is a demanding exercise for me, although necessary and, in the end, rewarding. And Federico! Always! At any time and at any time! I have not yet found contemporary references, much more so in dance, which leaves nothing written… except in the air and on the skin. —And among the stage directors, would you highlight any that particularly interest you?—Our dear Pina Bausch was always a great inspiration for me. Today, Wajdi Mouawad, Katie Mitchell, Jan Lauwers, Hofesh Shechter and Crystal Pite would be among my notable references.—In our scene, do women, especially in the field of management, encounter more difficulties than their male counterparts? ?— This is what the data collected in this regard by the Classical and Modern Association states. In my case, I have found and find family conciliation very complex, especially in early childhood, because I want to accompany my daughters in their personal journey, to be close to them to listen to and attend to their deep needs. Also now in their adolescence, with the tremendous challenges they face, and I will always love them. I will always want to be a support for them and that does not mean I have to give up my vocation and my desire to contribute to society with what I do. I am fortunate to have a partner who supports and facilitates me on this personal and professional path. I take responsibility for my decisions and the place I occupy as a mother, while I am increasingly aware of the demands and mental load that this role entails and the importance of finding support in the community, not only family, but social, because childhood is everyone’s responsibility. The prevailing individuality alienates us and makes this collective task difficult for us. Living with one’s back on childhood is a guaranteed human failure. We are mothers and we are professionals with a lot to contribute. I also observe in my colleagues, those who do not practice motherhood, the tremendous level of demand they subject themselves to in order to acquire skills that until recently were only allowed to men. In any case, there is personal work, without a doubt, and also an important social disadvantage on which to shed light in order to improve. “I make visible the experience of Miranda, Prospero’s teenage daughter, faced with the terrible events of betrayal, corruption and revenge.” —Have you suffered any type of discrimination?—Some unfortunate comment or another, yes. Not so much discrimination. Or I haven’t lived it as such. —How do you see the current Spanish scene? Have you managed to recover from the blow of the pandemic?—We are not as bad as at that time, but I see very empty theaters and a lot of precariousness in production. I also observe the enormous effort of my generation (with a high level of performance and training, as well as talent) to make a place for themselves in the guild and not be abdicated to starting from scratch every time they embark on a new artistic creation project. But that’s another melon for which the pandemic is not responsible, I’m afraid.
#Tempest #Shakespeare #perspective
