León, Guanajuato.- Rosy does not anticipate what is about to happen to her, although she is the prima donna of this work, “From the magician to the madman, a tarot revelation”, which the company Theater of Certain Inhabitants presents in the Old Rooster Squarean emblematic 19th century building in the center of the city of León, recently rehabilitated as a cultural center.
Rosy wears urban sneakers and loose clothing, a Coldplay shirt. Her appearance is not different from that of the rest of the spectators who enter the central courtyard of the Old Plaza de Gallos. She has been chosen as “The traveler” of this first session, not to say staging, not to say intervention and ritual. She will be a different traveler on each of the three nights that the work will be presented in this venue whose restoration has respected her age and the wounds in the epidermis of its walls.
The change of travelers during the three presentations will make each one emotionally different even if some adventurer decides to attend all three sessions. It is a journey of self-knowledge, a transition that will not only be undertaken by the chosen person, but each of the viewers will be practically pushed to the confines of his being.
Twenty-two members of the company stand frozen in a circle as wide as possible in the central courtyard. They look away from the central point, motionless, while the attendees settle in the surrounding corridor. In this patio the first act takes place, not to mention the preparation session of Rosy, our traveler.
The 22 actresses and actors represent the major arcana of the tarot, the archetypes that emanate and shape the human psyche and collective thought. The Magician, The Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The High Priest, The Lover, The Chariot, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, The Judgment, The World and The Fool, who is not the arcana 22 but the zero.
All the actors dress in black and assume different responsibilities within the epic that Rosy must assume. A mystical and musical experience is intuited. Throughout the presentation, a piano, violins, guitars, a harp… enough to make an orchestra will be used.
The first arcana of the deck will be presented to the traveler. They will be revealed as the stations of a journey in which Rosy must unravel her pains and her joys, she will dance and be aware of the conflict between her wishes and her duties; she will derail and crash head-on into a wall, she will turn her mind upside down in search of a new order, she will embody the death of her storms inside a coffin. She will be reborn in temperance, but she will again be tempted by ambitions that could bring down any tower, however tall and fortified.
“Above is below”, “knowledge is boring if it is not transformed into facts”, “the only territory to conquer is that of the skin inwards”, “do not name sacred something that is not”, “making decisions is one of the most painful processes of the human being” “what has to die in your life that is no longer useful for your growth?”, “the spirituality that is not lived from the flesh is useless”. These are some of the words that Rosy will hear throughout his journey.
We are all the traveler
Theater of Certain Inhabitants celebrates 25 years of existence with a piece that exceeds the limits of the proscenium and genres and theatrical formality. It is not something new, butFrom the magician to the madman, a tarot revelation”, lasting 150 minutes, is a work that is being built by the company, the public, the stage. The piece transcends the script, it cannot avoid improvisation, it becomes a ceremony to pain, to joy; It acts on the very particular emotions of each of those present. It is a work that at the same time opens the wounds and wants to heal them. The traveler, finally, is all those who have decided to enter the amphitheater of an enclosure whose qualities are powerfully exploited by the company.
The purists will highlight the piece’s rigorous research to propose a story in which not everything is said on paper but will have to find a way to its outcome on the fly. In the path of the hero each path will be different.
Directed by Claudio Valdes Kuriwho embodies “The magician” the work is a co-production of Mexico City, the State Institute of Culture of Guanajuato, the Cultural Institute of León, and the Cervantino International Festival, with the support of the BBVA Foundation and Teletec.
This work has to be presented in other cities, find venues so that more travelers know the arcana.
ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx
Theater of Certain Inhabitants embodies the arcana of the tarot in the Cervantino