The short story A very old man with enormous wings, by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, was staged by Mapa Teatro and Purisai Duiraisami Kannappa Thambiran Parambarai Theru Kothu Manram from Tamil Nadu, in the traditional art form of Theru Koothu, from South India. Marquez’s story itself contains the metaphor of this intercultural and human theatre experience: a man from another world, appears one day, having fallen from the sky, in the back garden of Pelayo (a countryman) and his wife Elisenda, as they watch him fall in amazement.
For both companies this is an otherworldly experience, a meeting at a point of difference: contemporary theatre from the «new continent», searches in old popular theatre tradition from the «old continent», the possibility to discover a ritualistic art form that is alive and vibrant, and a total language, capable of lighting up the dark paths of contemporary theatre. The Theru Koothu, an ancient epic art form, in turn, also discovers in the work of a contemporary author and in the viewpoint of our theatre, the possibility of exploring new horizons and revitalising their tradition. And so, we discover how a post-dramatic theatre perspective, moves towards a so called pre-dramatic theatre experience, and vice versa, opening up between past and present, a space for dialogue in the art of representation.
Artistic Team
Touring
1996
A very old man with enormous wings 1996