“Why do you tear me from me?” an “auto de fe” that opens on October 30

“To build this story, this contemporary Auto de Fe, this necessary act of faith, we have gathered the
experiences and the soul of a group of sensitive and deeply believing professionals; believers in the
transformative power of beauty.”

Within the theatrical cycle for the Day of the Dead, which the Ministry of Culture will carry out on October 28, 29, 30 and November 1, Fran Antón, a graduate in Dramatic Art and theater director, will premiere in the City a soliloquy, interpreted by Nuria Fernández, from the autograph texts of Santa Teresa de Jesús and Michelangelo Buonarroti, as well as other mystics such as Federico García Lorca or Vaslav Nijinski.
This work, which its art director defines as an “Auto de fe”, an “act of faith”, shows how Teresa de Jesús and Michelangelo Buonarroti, coincide through spirituality and work, on the same themes: the life, death and love, almost in identical terms. Work that will stir the viewer.

Coinciding with the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s sonnets and the canonization of Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada, from March 12, 1622, Santa Teresa de Jesús; the director, Fran Antón, will take to the stage of the Kursaal Fernando Arrabal Theater next October 30 for the first time, the play “Why do you tear me from me?”.

This work, born from Antón’s interest in working on the figure of Santa Teresa de Jesús, and from the research of Jaime De Los Santos, politician, historian and writer, on the character and on the echoes that relate her to the poetry of Miquelangelo Buonarroti, mainly due to the use of such similar phrases that both make when referring to love, which, like faith, continues to be one of the most present and defining abstractions for the human being and for his existence (Teresa en el amor a Dios y Michelangelo in the love of people); will show, through the text written by the art director, Jaime De Los Santos, how the interpreter Nuria Fernández, through her soliloquy, is going to unite the words of the universal artist and the great Doctor of the Catholic Church, with some reference to the great 20th century mystic, Federico García Lorca.
“What both Fran and I agree on is that wisdom… beauty is a supreme being, which somehow is deposited in the heads of some privileged beings; I mean that the ideas of Michelangelo, Teresa or Federico himself come, as well as from a neoplatonic theory, from a higher space”, indicates De Los Santos.

“Dostoyevski said only beauty will save the world and Teresa is Beauty. Teresa is, despite everything, Esperanza. Mystical poetry, which in Spain we also have especially embodied in her and in Saint John of the Cross, goes to the guts. In total, there are 37 Doctors in the Catholic Church and only 3 women, one of them, our Saint from Avila, must be for a reason”, he points out.
The directors of this “Auto de fe” consider that the lack of love is probably one of the most important crises that the 22nd century is going through.

This “act of faith” will also value the figure of another character from Ávila, a contemporary of Miguel Ángel and Teresa, who is Tomás Luis de Victoria, on the 475th anniversary of the presentation of his Motets. One of the best Spanish polyphony composers. To do this, four polyphonic singers will go on stage and accompany the actress, who will perform nine songs from this author’s score.
“An actress, Nuria Fernández, in love with the word, fills the scene, displaying her strength in front of a set that portrays the “true God”. A piece designed by Karlos Gil that continues the Christian tradition through that infinite and perfect circle here dyed in the red of the Saint’s blood, of God’s love. A God who is triune and manifests himself through the mouth of Teresa, in the form of light and as celestial music, that of the polyphonic quartet directed by Javier Carmena that paraphrases Tomás Luis de Victoria”.

An idea that Fran Antón has been working on for a long time and a project that began to materialize this summer.
A beautiful and very intimate show, which will lead the viewer to think that, in many circumstances, we are going through a crisis of values ​​in which the Saint, not because she is a Saint, but because of her writings, can be our lifeline.
“A challenge that in 2023 will go through many peninsular scenarios. With it, the name of Melilla will be carried throughout Spain”, assures the art director.