THE NEW CLOTHES

Synopsis

Genís of Matafaluga and Griselda of Margalló, minstrels, comedians and puppeteers of the Middle Ages, tell the story of two good Catalans weavers and tailors forced to emigrate, and after a long journey, ended up making a costume "very special" for a presumptuous Emperor from a distant lands. A clothing that, according to them, can only see the good people and smartest because it becomes invisible to the eyes of the silly and evil people.

Contents

Besides own morality of Andersen's tale, which says that we should not believe that something is true, only because others believe it, if we are seeing that is false, we added various issues related to labor and migration -or immigration, depending on the own perspective-. Therefore, the protagonists are here two local weavers and tailors, who are forced to seek work abroad, pushed by the suffered misery. Then, amid laughter, we intend to do a little reflection on:

- EMIGRATION: we want the viewer ponder on why someone has to leave his home, abandoning family, properties and territory to go running a lot of vicissitudes in places that is strange, and where he does not even know if it will be welcome.

- WAR AND PEACE: because, as evidenced in the show is the war that takes these artisans to misery and hunger and thus forces them to migrate.

- LABOR EXPLOITATION: arrived in this country far, weavers, hoping to earn a living, they fall into the hands of the Prime Minister, which keeps them locked in the palace, working in harsh conditions, almost without stopping and without getting anything in change, except threats and false promises.

- FAIR TRADE: the Prime Minister, which is also responsible for providing the wardrobe Emperor's, it is becoming rich at the expense of the weavers, because he pockets whatever it pays. The Emperor does not think on who makes the clothes, but to be presumptuous and he wouldn’t say no when the Prime Minister he proposed to take advantage of the weavers.

Finally, and thanks to the ingenuity they are saved, but the message remains clear that often the unequal conditions between people -as a metaphor of the North-South inequalities- encourage the abuse of the powerful over the neediest.

CREDITS

Author, direction, design and construction marionettes, scenes and props: Carles Cañellas
Dressmaking marionettes: Susanna Rodríguez

Actors - Puppeteers:
Carles Cañellas ... Genís of Matafaluga
Susanna Rodríguez ... Griselda of Margalló

FULL VIDEO

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Medium-format show for two actors, masks and sixteen puppets of various techniques, the main: the marionettes. For children or families and all audiences. Indoor or outdoor.

DURATION: performance: 1 hour / stage set up (indoor-theatre-lighting): 2 hours / (outdoor-sun): 1 hour / dismantling: 1 hour
AUDIENCE: from 2 years upward / maximum recommended capacity 300 people
SCENIC SPACE: can be performed indoor or outdoor
minimal measures: width: 5m / depth: 5m
indoor: height: 3m / preferably with background or black box theatre
outdoor: wind-sheltered area / a platform is not required when the audience is arranged on tiers (banks) or in an amphitheater, but in case of parterre with more than 150 spectators, we need a podium or elevated stage approximately 40-80cm
SOUND: own sound equipment of 500w or connection to the P.A. of the space on stage
LIGHTING: indoors or at night is needed 6kw of frontal light and 1 backlight semi zenithal near to back-curtain
CURRENT: power outlet on the stage / potency 2,5Kw/h + lighting

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