MÍO CID. MINSTRELRY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

With this new show, José Luis Gómez restores the true nature and relevance of El Cantar de Mio Cid with a refined and highly personal interpretation, like a 21st-century minstrel accompanied by a pianist.

 €20 and €16. Special discounts with Youth Card and PIC card (Pamplona Iruña Card).

The greatest epic poem in Hispanic literature takes to the stage thanks to one of Spain's greatest actors and directors, restoring its true nature and relevance. Through an unusual work of minstrelsy, José Luis Gómez gives voice and body to the seminal words of Hispanic literature and brings the sound of our medieval language to life.

The Song of El Cid is an anonymous poem, passed down orally, divided into three cantos, which recounts the exploits of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in the 11th century. The original transmission of the Song placed the minstrel in front of his audience and, through his words, transported them to live with the hero the twists and turns of his story.

JOSÉ LUIS GÓMEZ ON THE PROJECT

The first time I approached the Song of El Cid, I did so with the help and guidance of my colleague at the Royal Spanish Academy, Inés Fernández Ordóñez. For that live reading we did as part of the RAE's 300th anniversary celebrations, I learned to pronounce the sounds of our medieval language and also to relate to the highly structured and poetic words of this text.

I also realized that the modern reading of the Song of My Cid, which today is individual and silent, distorts the reception for which the text was created. With this show, I aim to restore My Cid to its true nature, and I hope that, through my work as a minstrel, you will be able to fully appreciate the meaning with which it was conceived. The more life the minstrel's words carry, the more I remember the Russian master who put it so well: "Don't speak so that the audience can hear, speak so that they can see."

Artistic credits

Direction and performance: José Luis Gómez

Music: Helena Fernández Moreno

Assistant director: Álvaro Nogales

Playwrights: Brenda Escobedo and José Luis Gómez

Movement teacher: Mar Navarro

Sound space and video scene: Jorge Vila

Lighting: Raúl Alonso (AAI)

THE ARTIST

Actor, theater director, member of the Royal Spanish Academy, and founding director of La Abadía. After studying theater in Germany and Paris, his first projects in Spain were Kafka'sReport to an Academy, Handke'sGaspar, and Brecht'sThe Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. He received the Best Actor Award at Cannes for Ricardo Franco's filmPascual Duarteand later worked with filmmakers such as Almodóvar, Forman, and Saura, among many others. He has directed the National Drama Center, alongside Nuria Espert and Ramón Tamayo, and the Spanish Theater. He directedLife is a Dreamand the operaCarmen in Paris, and the operaSimon Boccanegra in Barcelona and Geneva.

In 1995, he created the Teatro de La Abadía, where the concerns that have marked his career converge: words and the body, legacy and the search for new languages, and lifelong learning. His most recent works areUnamuno: venceréis pero no convenceréis,Celestina,El principito, andFin de partida. In collaboration with the RAE, he conceived the seriesLa lengua navega a América (Language Sails to America) andCómicos de la lengua(Comedians of Language).

He has been awarded, among others, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Arts and Letters (France), the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the National Theater Award.