Azaña, a Spanish passion. By José Luis Gómez

Based on texts by Manuel Azaña, actor and playwright José Luis Gómez immerses the audience in a reflection on the history, art, and landscape of Spain through a self-portrait of one of the key figures in the historical and political development of our country.

Tickets: €20 and €18

“Recital of civil and sacred poetry” (El Mundo)

“An intellectual at war” (El País)

AZAÑA, A SPANISH PASSION

Duration: 60 minutes (approx.)

José Luis Gómez reunites with the man who has accompanied his professional career for years: Manuel Azaña, a key figure in the history of our country. Gómez organizes Azaña's words into three main themes. First, his life and political circumstances: in the recital, this is outlined through a partial self-portrait, some great texts in which Azaña takes pleasure in profiling his public persona, allusions to the option of governing with the Socialist Party, and military reforms. Secondly, there is the reflection on the history of Spain; the texts chosen here refer to the profound significance of the republican regime, secularism, and the civil war. Finally, and as the third main theme, there is the meditation on Spanish art and landscape, a meditation that runs through his entire work and to which we have tried to give due importance. Azaña, una pasión española(Azaña, a Spanish Passion) premiered in 1983 at the National Drama Center.

ARTISTIC CREDITS

José Luis Gómez (Huelva, 1940) is an actor, theater director, and member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Winner of the National Theater Award (1988), he received the Gold Medal from the Circle of Fine Arts in 2001 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts from the Ministry of Culture in 2005.

Trained at the Westfalia Institute of Dramatic Arts in Germany and at Jacques Lecoq's school in Paris, he has received numerous awards, including: the Cannes Film Festival Award for his performance as the lead actor in Ricardo Franco's film Pascual Duarte, a role for which he also received a Sant Jordi Film Award and a Fotogramas de Plata Award in the category of best theatrical performance for The Resistible Ascension of Arturo Ui. He has been nominated three times for the Goya Awards in the category of best leading actor and was a candidate for the Film Writers' Circle Medal for his role as a supporting actor in the feature film Todo lo que tú quieras. He has also worked with filmmakers such as Almodóvar, Armiñán, Bollaín, Brassó, Camino, Chávarri, Forman, Gutiérrez Aragón, De la Iglesia, Losey, Miró, Saura, and Suárez.

In 1978, he took over the management of the National Drama Center, alongside Nuria Espert and Ramón Tamayo, and two years later that of the Teatro Español. His most emblematic works from this period are the stagings ofBodas que fueron famosas del Pingajo and La Fandanga byJosé María Rodríguez Méndez, which inaugurated the CDN,La velada en Benicarló, an original text by Manuel Azaña, as well asLa vida es sueñoandAbsalón byCalderón de la Barca.

Since 1994, he has focused on the conception, management, and direction of the Teatro de La Abadía, which opened in 1995.