9/12/2008

There are days when I look out the window in Madrid and all I can think about is building an ark. Or maybe a teletransporting machine. No, an ark, a huge wooden arc that I would steer down the Castellana as if I were floating through the Seine, parking into each landmark roundabout to pick up friends. First stop Cibeles, wooden doors open for anyone looking to travel from the Casa de América to the Museo del Prado without getting soaked in the rain. Next stop Neptuno, where only one new passenger would be allowed, my dear friend Karina, one of the secret talents of the Palace Hotel bar, a queen at preparing cocktails. I mean, someone has to be making the Pisco Sour's passed around to keep people warm in the ark. And then off to Atocha... So my fantasy continues, and I begin to think about everyone I know in Madrid, and who I would like to RSVP to my own little ark party. Like Noah, I would probably have a preference for couples. I don't know, I'm just a romantic like that. One couple, whose generosity of spirit, enthusiastic creativity, and bubbling sense of humour, grace, and style, would be an obligatory presence in my ark are Alexandra Fierro and Nacho Campillo. Warm, beautiful, intelligent, courageous, hard working... I can't think the vacuum Madrid would feel without them. Nacho, probably the more well known of the two, has been the front man of Spanish pop band Tam Tam Go for more than two decades. Alexandra, a method actress and focused producer of Pasion Arte, is always blessing the city with compact socially conscious, and controversial, international contemporary theatre productions. Currently, Alexandra is on stage performing in Palacio del Fin (Palace of the End), Judith Thompson's thought provoking play constructed in three monologues of real characters imprisoned by the travesties associated with the war in Iraq. I was very moved by the piece; astonishing well known theatre actors Helio Pedregal and Yolanda Ulloa join Alexandra in the cast, and the perfectly executed translation of the play was done by Esmadrid TV's own Gonzalo de Santiago. So there are only reasons to see it. But you might have to step back into my ark after the show, and guzzle down some Palace Hotel Bar cocktails, just to shake off that feeling truth in art leaves lingering in the tear filled air. Thank God for the power of protective arks, where one can hide, in fantasy, because even the sunniest of skies sooner or later, has to cry.


Palacio del Fin
Centro de Nuevos Creadores
Calle Doctor Fourquet, 31
Metro Lavapiés:
Running:27 of Nov-21 de Dec
Author: Judith Thompson
Director: Marco Cartini
Cast: Helio Pedregal, Yolanda Ulloa y Alexandra Fierro
Género: Drama
Time: Th, Friday and Saturday at 20 h. Sunday at 19 h.
Price: 15 euros.
Tickets: 91 539 57 67 www.atrapalo.com

For more Nacho Campillo check out Tam Tam Go's live album, out in February.