The Theatre Times *****
“Let Them Do Yeats Next!:” “AURIC” At The Brighton Fringe
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Seeking inspiration from the Spanish Golden Age of literature, AURIC presents an online audio experience ushering in our new online-live hybrid era of theatre. Via the medium of sound, the live recorded album ponders big ideas such as the cosmos, nature and humanity.
AURIC
1st MAY 7:30 pm
AURIC is a bilingual musical performance inspired by classical poetry from the Spanish Golden Age. The texts have been reinterpreted into spoken-word English by artist Paula Rodriguez and set to music by French composer Arthur Astier.
The show revisits some of the most inspiring texts from celebrated Spanish Golden Age playwrights like Calderón de la Barca and Cervantes lending a special focus to female authors Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Santa Teresa de Jesús.
AURIC offers the opportunity to rediscover this extensive heritage through extracts from plays, poems and songs. The philosophical and political nature of these classical texts seems timeless. They resonate even louder in today’s world when accompanied by contemporary music exploring diverse genres such as trance, indie-rock and flamenco.
The sounds and words invite the audience on a mystical journey through universal matters: freedom, equality and justice.
AURIC es un espectáculo bilingüe musical inspirado en textos dramáticos y líricos del Siglo de Oro español. Los textos han sido adaptados por la artista Paula Rodríguez y se acompañan de la música del compositor francés Arthur Astier.
La propuesta revisa algunos de los textos más célebres de dramaturgos como Calderón de la Barca y Cervantes, a la vez que presta especial atención a autoras como Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz y Santa Teresa de Jesús.
AURIC ofrece la oportunidad de redescubrir este legado a través de extractos de obras, poemas y canciones. El alcance filosófico y político de estos textos clásicos es universal. Su mensaje resuena aún más fuerte en nuestros días acompañado de música contemporánea que explora diversos géneros como el trance, el indie-rock y el flamenco.
Los sonidos y las palabras crean un espacio místico que invita a la audiencia a reflexionar sobre temas de actualidad internacional, como la libertad, la igualdad y la justicia.
TEAM
Paula Rodríguez is an award-winning actress and theatre-maker working internationally in TV, Film and Theatre. She trained at RESAD, Madrid and holds an Acting MA from RCSSD. In the UK, She has worked with directors Tim Supple and Kelly Hunter and at the Bridge Theatre, the Young Vic, Orange Tree Theatre, the Cervantes Theatre and Chichester Festival. She has also worked at Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, Corral de Comedias Alcalá de Henares, Almagro International Classical Theatre Festival, Teatro de la Abadía and Ilure Teatre (Spain), Golden Age Festival of Ciudad Juárez (México), Nuevo Siglo Drama Festival Chamizal and Heart of America Festival (USA), Gavleborg Folkteatern (Sweden), Shakespeare Festival Neuss (Germany), and Craiova International Festival (Romania) among others. Paula is also a director, writer, and producer. As an artist, she is interested in revisiting Spanish classics for modern anglophone audiences. She is the artistic director of Our New Gold Digital Storytelling Festival and co-founder of Teatro Inverso: their two shows ROSAURA and WONDERS have toured the USA, Latin America, and Europe since 2015.
Arthur Astier is a French composer and musician. He explores different styles of expression such
as performance installations, theatre, post-hardcore, immersive performance and film. He has worked alongside international artists such as Peter Brook, Christian Boltanski and Frank Krawczyk. He was part of Brook’s production of The Suit , which premiered at The Young Vic and toured internationally. In recent years, Arthur has composed music for The Singapore Repertory Theatre and has devised various shows in collaboration with Master’s students and researchers at Goldsmiths. University. He is the composer of the project Digital Umbilical winner of the Dansathon 2018 at Sadler’s Wells.
Photos: Oliver Mounir
INTRO
“Tackling classical texts as part of our creative work brings us closer together today. Classics from the Renaissance period have at their heart characters overcoming difficulties and confronting their realities just like we do nowadays at a global scale. The authors of the Spanish Golden Age, much like Shakespeare, lifted their plots from ancient stories rooted in many cultures and traditions hence their works still resonate worldwide. Translation and adaptation can play an important role in reinventing classical legacies for international audiences. One of the most interesting challenges, alongside exploring new formats for retelling these stories, remains finding innovative approaches to verse and heightened language in the modern day. Music, poetry, and spoken word, in person or virtually, become powerful tools for their dissemination. My objective is to revisit these stories from a more contemporary and relevant perspective.”
Paula Rodriguez
INTRO
“Trabajar con textos clásicos en el ámbito artístico nos acerca a la realidad actual. Los conflictos y adversidades que afrontan los personajes Renacentistas reflejan aspectos esenciales de lo humano y por ello, son atemporales. Los autores del Siglo de Oro español, junto con Shakespeare, buscaban inspiración en leyendas antiguas con arraigo en gran variedad de culturas y tradiciones, por lo que estas historias continuan resonando también a nivel internacional. La traducción y la adaptación juegan un papel importante en la revisión de estos clásicos hoy; uno de los desafíos más interesantes, junto con la exploración de nuevos formatos de representación, sigue siendo encontrar enfoques innovadores para el trabajo del verso y el lenguaje lírico en la actualidad. La música y el storytelling, en persona o virtualmente, se convierten en poderosas herramientas para su difusión. Mi objetivo es volver a contar estas historias desde una perspectiva contemporánea y relevante.”
Paula Rodriguez