The Brave Little Tailor

Musical story with puppets, shadows, and projections by the Etcétera company (2014 National Theater Award for Children and Youth), suitable for all audiences aged 3 and up.

The Etcétera theater company, under the direction of Enrique Lanz, stages this play by Tibor Harsányi based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, using objects typical of a tailor's shop: patterns, mannequins, crinolines, needles, irons, scissors, and rolls of fabric.

Puppets, objects, shadows, video projections, and actresses come together in a musical production, offering a contemporary take on this classic tale.

It is a co-production by the Teatro Real, the Etcétera company, ABAO-OLBE, and the Granada International Music and Dance Festival, with the collaboration of the Granada Science Park.

The show premiered at the Teatro Real in Madrid (December 2013) and is recommended by the Spanish Theater Network.

Duration: 50 minutes.

Tickets: €14 and €10

THE SHOW

TheHungarian-French composer Tibor Harsányi ( 1898–1954) wrote this score for puppets in 1950 and adapted the Brothers Grimm fairy tale himself , a German folk tale collected in Children's and Household Tales (1812), although its earliest literary versions date back to the 16th century. The Spanish translation of this musical tale is by Felicia Sastre.

This is a suite for eight instrumentalists and a narrator, who together tell this epic, tender, and humorous story. The music is easy on the ear, suitable for children and adults alike. Composed to be performed with puppets, it is highly descriptive and makes it easy to follow the actions, changes of scenery and characters, moods, etc.

As in other creations by the Etcétera company, there is a story within a story. In this case, it is the story of a theater's costume department, which tells its version of the tale while introducing us to the world of theatrical costume design, its terminology, tools, and usual activities.

The space, the sets, and the puppets are full of simple but effective tricks, so that nothing is what it seems and everything is magically transformed before the audience's eyes. Trompe l'oeil, plays on perspective, changes of scale, multiple performance spaces, elements that appear, disappear or transform, artifice and stage craft characteristic of Etcétera's poetics, all combine to enchant the audience's senses.

These elements aim to create a show that becomes an aesthetic experience, where theatrical magic, humor, and theme, combined with music, provoke moments of true happiness and reflection to be enjoyed by the whole family.

THE PLOT

The play tells the story of a little tailor who kills seven flies that are bothering him in his workshop with a single blow. Surprised by the number, he decides to go out and tell everyone about his feat, so he embroiders a belt with the words "seven at a blow." He arrives near a palace, where the peasants and courtiers, upon reading his belt, believe that he is talking about seven men. Impressed by his courage and strength, the king, upon learning of his presence, entrusts him with saving the kingdom from various dangers: two giants, a wild boar, and a unicorn. As a reward, the tailor will receive half the kingdom and the hand of the princess. The brave little tailor manages to overcome the obstacles thanks to his many tricks and ruses, and ends up marrying the monarch's daughter.

The Brave Little Tailor fulfills the desire of many to see the weak, the small, and the clever triumph, since sagacity is something that can be acquired. The show addresses the theme that knowledge is worth more than strength, focusing on values such as gender equality and non-material wealth, that which comes from work and knowledge.

ARTISTIC CREDITS

PUPPETS ETC.

The company, founded in 1981 in Granada by Enrique Lanz and Fabiola Garrido, has become a benchmark for quality in contemporary Spanish theater thanks to the excellence and versatility of its work. Its productions are synonymous with rigor and avant-garde.

Etcétera has premiered various shows, including: Sypnosis (1985), Trans (1990), Peter and the Wolf (1997), La serva padrona (1998), The Story of Babar the Little Elephant (2001), Dreaming of the Carnival of the Animals (2004), El retablo de maese Pedro (2009), La caja de los juguetes (2009), El alma del pueblo (2013), and El sastrecillo valiente (2013).

These creations have enjoyed significant public and critical success, allowing them to perform at the most important international puppet and music festivals, traveling to some twenty countries and performing in the most renowned theaters on the Spanish scene.

Etcétera's work is known for staging musicals with puppets for all audiences, and the company is a leader in Spain in this genre. What sets their work apart is the poetry of their shows, the meticulous aesthetic search to create the puppets, and continuous research as the driving force and core of all projects. This allows each show to be different in aesthetics and technique and ensures constant renewal.

Noteworthy is his collaboration with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona for twelve seasons and with the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he has presented five of his shows.

Its missions also include researching, documenting, and promoting traditional and contemporary puppet theater. Between June 2012 and August 2014 , the exhibition Puppets: 30 Years of Etcétera, held at the Science Park in Granada, showcased an anthology of its first three decades of work and was visited by nearly 800,000 people.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport awarded it the 2014 National Performing Arts Prize for Children and Young People for "the quality and innovation of its creations throughout its long career in the field of traditional and contemporary puppetry." The jury also recognized the work of Títeres Etcétera "in its search for new theatrical languages and the merit of having introduced puppetry to large-scale theaters."