Medea adriftthe theatrical adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Extremaduran cartoonist Fermín Solís, is presented in La Laguna in Zálatta Theater on December 1 and 2. The assembly directed by Isidro Timón, head of the company Bad Theaterwhich produces it, was premiered in Cáceres at the end of 2021, subsequently undertaking an extensive tour that has taken it to several Spanish towns and Portugal with great success among the public and critics.
After passing through Seville, Valencia and Bilbao, this new stop on his tour is “a sign that this Medea It is an adaptation that continues to attract the attention of programmers and audiences,” explain its promoters. The two performances of La Laguna will be performed at Zálatta Teatro.
Fermín Solís conceived Medea adrift for its adaptation to the theater and sought the complicity of Isidro Timón to materialize it. With this work, the Extremaduran cartoonist left behind the great success of his comic Buñuel in the turtle labyrinth, which as an animated film, won the Goya and the European Award for Best Animated Film. Giving a twist to her own career, Solís approached unknown territory with this new work.
In the Medea original, one of the most performed, versioned and performed classical plays, the magician princess of Colchis, wife of Jason, kills her children out of lack of love, and flees Corinth, Athens and Asia Minor, harassed by humans and gods, object of the fury of Zeus.
Using a loophole provided by Euripides’ text, Solís imagined in his work the destiny of the character of Medea, placing herself at sea, drifting on a huge iceberg that is progressively shrinking.
Based on the text of the comic, in which Medea lives the present, but also the past through her memories and dreams, Timón and Solís himself, authors of the theatrical text, expanded the original words of the comic, turning them into monologues.
In them they accentuate loneliness, the condemnation that the character suffers to live until the end of days because of her immortal condition, and at the same time they emphasize, looking at Medea’s past, the power, the role of women in her time and situation. , intelligence, your ability and knowledge to direct your destiny, tenacity, the fight for what you love and want to achieve, revenge that does not measure consequences and only has its value and, also, doubt, inner listening.
The scenic conception of Medea adrift, starring a single actress, Amelia David, is based on the images of the comic, which are projected in the background simultaneously with the stage action. Director Isidro Timón imagined how to suggest the space of the iceberg and came to the conclusion that the plastic material lent itself to scenic possibilities. As he explains, it could “receive projections and lighting, surround the actress with its light”, show its visual power “to emulate ice, its sound, passability…”, becoming the cold and revealing environment that is seen in the drawn vignettes. by Solis. Surrounding this environment, the musical composition of Lorenzo González stands out, recreating in his sound space the sea, the movement of the air, the storms, and the loneliness of the character.
Extremaduran critics recognized the value of this show. “Timón’s production – wrote the critic José Manuel Villafaina – investigates with rigor and depth in a difficult but original staging (…), glossing the metaphor of a world that sails towards nowhere and that harms itself without never disappear, as happens to Medea.”
For his part, the literature professor at the University of Extremadura Miguel Ángel Lama also praised the production, highlighting “the immense presence” of the “magnificent” actress Amelia David, “on which much of what is offered to the audience is based.” public”.
Trajectories
The illustrator and writer Fermín Solís was born in Madroñera (Cáceres) in 1972. He won the Newcomer Author Award at the Barcelona Comic Fair 2004. In 2009 he was a finalist for the National Comic Award for his Buñuel in the turtle labyrinth. The bulk of his work is part of what has been called the new wave of comics, with traditional and sometimes autobiographical stories. Although he has also experimented with genres such as children’s comics. Some of his notable titles are: The year we saw it snow, My body in works and Medea adrift. He is currently writing his second novel and working on developing the television series The VHS Gang based on his book Operation Frankensteinas screenwriter and executive producer.
The playwright and director Isidro Timón (Cáceres 1961) graduated in Stage Direction and Dramaturgy from the Higher School of Dramatic Art of Extremadura (ESAD). He has written more than 40 theatrical texts, including his own and versions, and as a stage director he has composed around thirty productions of his own texts and those of other authors.
In 2015 he founded Maltravieso border scene, a project that he co-directs with Amelia David and contains a performing arts school, a theater company, an alternative theater hall and a center for production and performing experiences.
His published works include The three deaths of Remedios López, Time, Genesis of a war, Captive bodies, Antigone. XXI century, That day…Detroit (narrative), The cobblestone sower (narrative) and Being – Veleities (narrative).
Amelia David (Badajoz 1976) graduated in Interpretation from ESAD. In addition to her work as an actress, she carries out pedagogical work in workshops and courses for young people, in educational centers, and teachers in public centers, private schools and at the Maltravieso School of Performing Arts.
Among his performances, largely linked to Maltravieso Teatro, stand out Mansaborá, Hipólito of Euripides, Vis to Vis by Isidro Timón, Miguel Hernández: the wounded cry by Cristina D. Silveira, The Maids by Jean Genet and Opening by Václav Havel.
