Live theatre is back!

Last Friday and Saturday live theatre made a welcome return to our daily lives. In the Santo Domingo Convent in Ronda, the theatre group Pequeña Compañía del Proyecto Platea presented the play “Novias”, a comedy written by two actresses from the group. Here is a review by Paul Whitelock who attended on the Friday night.

‘Novias’ came about as a means of escape for Emma Cherry and Charo Carrasco during the Covid-19 lockdown. Together they wrote the plot which tells the story of four women who each go to the last fitting of their wedding dresses in a bridal gown boutique. From that meeting emerges a series of humorous reflections. “It’s a very fresh, very dynamic comedy that makes you forget all about the pandemic during the hour and fifteen minutes the play lasts,” the authors maintain.

Directed by Ronda actor Marcos Marcell, the play worked very well on many levels, with enthusiastic performances from the four actresses, Emma Cherry, Charo Carrasco, Ana Belén Sánchez and Nieves Rodríguez. Marcell was full of praise for the play that the writers and actresses have developed. “We are very happy to present a comedy that is 100% Ronda and which is a response to the situation that we are living through at the moment. It is an open window to hope and joy and is aimed at the whole family”, he explained.

And what a surprise for me when I realised that the role of María (Ana Belén Sánchez) was being played by the receptionist at my local car repair workshop! And what a surprise it will be for her when I call her first thing on Monday morning to congratulate her!

With four very well presented live songs, and a very funny and unexpected denouement, we spent a very pleasant hour or so in the open air in the courtyard of the Convent.

The audience, limited by Covid-19 to a capacity of 80 people each night, gave a standing ovation at the end of the performance on Friday when I was there. And I realized that the audience wasn’t all from Ronda. Our group of six, for example, was very international and consisted of a South African, a Hungarian, a Polish lady, a German, and two British people, all residents of the Serranía de Ronda. Long live internationalism!

And long live live theatre!