THE NEW CLOTHES
Free adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", with its own content, such as the migration, the labor exploitation, the fair trade.
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
OLIU Full video
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







