Name: El Público
Start: 2015-02-24T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2015-03-13T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Teatro Real

Admin

Organization

Singer

Baritone

José Antonio López

Director

Austin Santos

1. Caballo

Jesús Méndez

2. Caballo

Rubén Olmo

3. Caballo

Thomas Tatzl

1. Hombre

Josep Miquel Ramón

2. Hombre

Tenor

Antonio Lozano

3. Hombre

Soprano

Gun-Brit Barkmin

Elena

Erin Caves

Emperador de los romanos

Isabella Gaudí

Julieta

Conductor

Pablo Heras-Casado

Stage director

Robert Castro

Set designer

Alexander Polzin

Lighting designer

Urs Schönebaum

Chorus master

Andrés Máspero

Teatro Real de Madrid

El Público

Madrid

Spain

Teatro Real

The Public is Federico García Lorca’s most difficult and mysterious work, and one of the legends of modern Spanish theatre. Lorca wrote it in Cuba, just after his trip to New York, a period of intense experimentation in both his art and his personal circumstances.

The Public deals openly with the subject of homosexuality. It is intended as a war cry against bourgeois hypocrisy and a call for freedom in love and art. Two different ways of understanding Art are explored in this work: the Teatro al Aire Libre, commercial and looking to please the public, and the Teatro Bajo la Arena, which intends to reveal what is hidden beneath and  to question established values.

The work also deals with the theme of masks in the theatre, this leads to the heart of the piece and defines a reality in perpetual change, a kind of dream where characters and identities constantly exchange their roles. In this way, The Public takes us down into the inner reaches of consciousness and challenges the notion of individuality and free will. We are not one, but many.

The Public also considers the subject of art as an instrument for transforming reality, not just politically but in its entirety. Lorca and his fellow Surrealists were convinced that art can transform human beings. In the same spirit, composer Mauricio Sotelo and librettist Andrés Ibañez, worked together with sculptor and set designer Alexander Polzin. They rose to the challenge of transforming The Public into a 21st century opera.

El Público is Federico Garcia Lorca's most difficult and mysterious play, one of the great classics of modern Spanish theatre. Lorca wrote it in Cuba, just after his trip to New York, at a time of intense experimentation in art and life. Homosexuality is addressed openly in El Publico, and the play is a cry of defiance against bourgeois hypocrisy and a plea for sexual and artistic freedom. It has been transformed into an opera thanks to Gerard Mortier, who commissioned the composer Mauricio Sotelo to create an opera for the Spanish repertoire of the 21st Century. This production from Teatro Real de Madrid is the world premiere recording of El Publico as an opera. Pablo-Heras Casado conducts the Klangforum Wien and the Chorus of the Teatro Real.

El Público Sotelo

Public

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading