El Avaro
Museu da Marioneta
9 May at 10pm
10 de May at 5pm
ORIGINAL IDEA Jordi Bertran
CONCEPTION Jordi Bertran, Olivier Benoit, Miquel Gallardo
DIRECTION Olivier Benoit, Miquel Gallardo
ADAPTATION Eva Hibernia, Olivier Benoit, Miquel Gallardo
SCENOGRAPHY Xavier Erra, Xavier Saló and Delphine Lancelle
PUPPETEERS Olivier Benoit, Jean-Baptiste Fontanarosa and Asier Saenz de Ugarte
LIGHT DESIGN Daniel Ibor
TECHNICAL DIRECTION Jorge García or Sadock Mouelhi
TECHNIQUE Object theatre
FOR AUDIENCES OVER M/12
TIME 75 minutes
LANGUAGE Spanish
Object theatre assumes a different view of the world surrounding us, it is an invitation to perceive in each object traces of the humanity that has created it. It is this human dimension of objects the production wishes to reveal to us.
In this adaptation of Molière’s ‘The Miser’, it is no longer money that everyone covets, but water. The characters of this visionary comedy become taps (at times dressed with a simple cloth), pipes and hoses...
Two actors manipulate these objects in front of the audience and give life to no less than twelve characters, offering us a fresh and funny version of this great classic.
This performance has been presented all over the world and has been awarded prizes on several occasions. It is a production in which the pleasure of acting, connecting with the audience and laughing together take precedence, while dealing with a theme as serious as the lack of natural resources.
The Tàbola Rassa theatre company was born out of a collaboration between Oliver Benoit and Miquel Gallardo when, together with Jordi Betran, created a production of Molière’s “The Miser”. After the debut of the Catalan version, the work was also translated by the pair into Spanish, French and English by Oliver Benoit and Asier Saenz de Ugarte with the help of translator Tom Godwin. In August 2004, Oliver Benoit took over as director of Tàbola Rassa and trained two new members: the French actor Jean-Baptiste Fontanarosa, to replace Miquel Gallardo in the French version, and the Basque actor Asier Saenz de Ugarte, for the Castilian, Catalan and English versions. Since its creation, having performed in more than 15 countries, and with warm responses from both audiences and critics, the company gained considerable recognition, and have been invited to present “The Miser”, hold courses, classes and participate in conferences.
“For me, and for most, the highlight was the Tàbola Rassa version of Moliere’s The Miser (L’Avaro); I’ve written about it before – it’s a simple tabletop setting with puppets made of bath-taps, showerheads, pipes and so on attached to pieces of cloth, manipulated by two consummate actor-puppeteers. It was very fast, very rude and extremely funny. The audience was entranced and gave it an ovation. Funny how the simplest means coupled with a brilliant idea can usually result in triumph”. - Penny Francis – Animations Online