From 9 May to 3 June, Madrid is celebrating a new edition of the Autumn Festival in Spring. In all, 23 theatre, music and contemporary dance productions will be put on by 23 companies from nine countries, offering the best in international performing arts to all audiences.
THEATRE
The opening of the 29th Autumn Festival in Spring will be left to Peter Brook, one of contemporary European theatre's most influential directors, and the company Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. Together with his usual collaborators, Marie-Hélène Estienne and Franck Krawczyk, Brook will present The Suit at Teatros del Canal (9 to 15 May). Using a profound and magical technique, the director once again strips the scene bare to let the audience's imagination fly.
On the same stage, Simon McBurney and his company Complicite will present The Master and Margarita, based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel (from the 13th to the 15th), and the legendary Comédie-Française will put on Le Mariage (from the 24th to the 26th). The multicultural Odin Teatret will premiere La vida crónica at Teatro La Abadía (from the 16th to the 20th), a play which anticipates the apocalypse predicted by many for the new millennium.
The participation of Robert Lepage, one of the most acclaimed stage directors, is highly awaited. He has chosen the Autumn Festival in Spring for the world premiere of his most recent creation, Playing Cards 1: Spades (Teatro Circo Price, from the 9th to the 14th). This is the first of four shows inspired by the rules, signs, mathematical calculations, mythology and characters found in any type of card game.
Particularly noteworthy productions by Spanish artists include Juan Navarro and Gonzalo Cunill's Tala based on Thomas Bernhard's Woodcutters (Sala Cuarta Pared, from the 23rd to the 27th), and Xavier Bobés' object theatre piece Insomnio (Teatro Pradillo, from the 23rd to the 25th).
DANCE
Young and established choreographers such as Pieter Ampe & Guilherme Garrido (Teatro Pradillo, from 29 to 31 May), Antonio Ruz (Teatros del Canal, from the 19th to the 20th) and Muriel Romero will be in charge of filling the festival with dance. Romero, former prima ballerina of the Bavarian State Ballet and of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, is now staging one of the most fascinating Spanish contemporary dance performances in recent times, Stocos (La Casa Encendida, 17 and 18 May).
The physical theatre company DV8 Physical Theatre returns to Madrid's stages with the play Can We Talk About This? (Teatros del Canal, 31 May, 1, 2 and 3 June), directed by choreographer Lloyd Newson, reflecting on multicultural politics, freedom of expression and censorship.
MUSIC
Another highlight of the festival will be the music, with performances by such leading figures as Vinicio Capossela in his jazz-cabaret Marinai, Profeti e Balene (Teatros del Canal, 20 May) and Chilly Gonzales, presenting his Piano Talk Show (17 May) on the same stage.
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