Shakespeare and BA renew love affair

By Juan Carlos Fontana

For the Herald

Third Shakespeare Buenos Aires Festival. The brainchild of director Patricio Orozco, this tribute to the Bard opens today running until Saturday 16. Venues include the just-inaugurated Globe Theatre (Avenida de los Italianos 751, Parque Mujeres Argentinas, Puerto Madero-Costanera Sur), and all events are free admission.

Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 7pm is the kickoff with Ser o no ser, a comic tragedy written and directed by Luca Franceschi featuring Alberto Castrillo-Ferrer. Spain’s Compañía El Gato Negro questions here the boundaries between being and non-being through a character that kidnaps the actor that is playing it. Only that the actor is kidnapped in his own body, so it is up to the performer himself to decide whether to continue existing or not.

Tomorrow, next Monday and Tuesday at 5pm is the turn of Mucho tango y pocas nueces, an adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing, written and directed by Héctor Presa with his group La Galera Encantada. This musical version talks about love, misunderstandings and betrayal through the lyrics of tangos sung and danced, among others, by Gabriel Velázquez, Luciana Lester, Leonardo Spina and Soledad Agüero.

Besides the plays, the festival will feature themed bicycle rides and walks , talks and even a workshop by actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Details and full schedule at buenosaires.gob.ar/ festivales

MACBETH. This version of Shakespeare’s tragedy by Javier Daulte uses contemporary elements in the costumes, the use of choreographed scenes and the apparition of the Weird Sisters as if they were pop rockers. Ambition, madness, betrayal and death are at the core of what the director defines as a tragedy of youth that blends imagination and the sublime with the catastrophic aspect of life.

This version has already raised some controversy among viewers, and is returning to the stage for a short summer rerun. Featuring Alberto Ajaka, Mónica Antonópulos, Luciano Cáceres, Agustín Rittano, Julieta Vallina, Alberto Suárez and Leonardo Saggese, among others.

Where and when: Teatro San Martín, Martín Coronado Hall (Corrientes 1530, 0-800-333-5254). Thursdays to Saturdays at 9pm, Sundays at 8pm. Tickets: $80 ($40 on Thursdays).

ROMEO Y JULIETA. The star-crossed lovers as translated into Spanish by the Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda. The romance of the Verona teenagers is told in a musical adaptation in a atemporal setting, which allows for multiple readings of the sotry of Montagues and Capulets and the tragic ending of the protagonists.

Featuring Guillermina Calicchio, Julián Pucheta, Mónica Buscaglia, Mónica Santibañez and Osvaldo Bermúdez, directed by Héctor Presa.

Where & when: Museo Enrique Larreta (Vuelta de Obligado 2155, 4786-0280). Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm. Outdoor performance. Tickets: $60 ($50 for pensioners).