La casa de los celos y selvas de Ardenia

The Veranos de la Villa programming returns to the Fundación Juan March on the occasion of the first edition of its new project, Invited Playwright, an initiative in which a renowned theater director or playwright carries out the investigation and subsequent theatrical adaptation of a play that is not very –or never– represented from the classical repertoire. On this occasion, Ernesto Arias – ably assisted by Brenda Escobedo insofar as the dramaturgical research is concerned – has mustered sufficient courage to become the first director to stage The Abode of Jealousy and the Forests of Ardenia (La casa de los celos y selvas de Ardenia), the only comedy penned by Cervantes that has never been performed in a professional production. Until now. 

As in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, Cervantes presents a scenario in which the magical, the noble and the popular worlds coexist. In a single plot, he manages to interweave Charlemagne's knights, rustic peasants, mythological characters and allegorical figures, creating a structure akin to a hall of mirrors, enhanced by theatrical interplay full of humour and irreverence. With those ingredients, the on-stage result can only be fast-paced, hilarious and entertaining, in part thanks to a text that strays somewhat from the well-trodden parameters of Spanish Golden Age theatre in its eagerness to transform and innovate artistic language.

A Juan March Foundation production and the Ibero-American Festival of the Golden Age of the Community of Madrid. Classics in Alcalá with the collaboration of the Veranos de la Villa Festival  

CAST & CREATIVE

Cast: Carmen Bécares, Jesús Blanco, Óscar Fervaz, Inés González, Gonzalo Lasso, Lidia Otón, Carlos Pinedo, Carmen Quismondo, Jesús Teyssiere and Samuel Viyuela

Directed by: Ernesto Arias

Assistant Director: Pablo Rodríguez

2nd Assistants: Guillermo Carrera and Victoria Sandoval

Dramaturgy: Brenda Escobedo       

Stage design: Álvaro Sobrino

Costumes: Nuria Martínez

Lighting: Raquel Rodríguez

Original music: Jorge Eliseo

Executive Producer: Santiago Pérez Carrera

Distribution: María Moral - Zeena Producciones

Photos and video: Jorge de la Cruz

Community Manager: Marcela Vargas Hubner