A company from Girona that will be made in Mexico thanks to the Mayan sacred book

2024-07-26 16:51:42

“At first, everything was dark and silent.” This is how the first lines are sacred Mayan book that explains the nature of men and animals This is also like the game with which the company from Girona started Hall of the Invisibles it is scheduled at eleven International Festival of Independent Theater Other Latitude of Chiapas, Mexico.

That will be in October, but in time, the Maria de Prada in a David Rovirola, who runs the company from a workshop in the southern Eixample of Girona, the days are already here. Their project started in 2018, despite already having many roots, they say that being able to do it in Mexico “the best thing that happened to us” to the point that, Rovirola joked, “I could die in peace!”. For a small establishment like theirs, this represents a major milestone, and it culminates a year of work that has prepared them. Popol Vuh.

This article takes its title from the Mayan scriptures. In fact, adapted the story of the brothers Hunaphú and Ixbalanqué to children, which awakens the lords of Xibalba, the underworld inhabited by terrible gods. There, with the help of the Xan mosquitoes, they did many tests until they climbed the sky and become the sun and the moon.

One of the final sketches for “Popol Vuh”. / Aniol Resclosa

Neither Prada nor Rovirola, however, went on stage to represent it. It is more at the cost of direction and on of the scenes of the game that is one theater shadow. dancer Deku Rojas he dances behind a canvas with the drawings of Rovirola, who is a painter, giving his work great visual impact. Musically it accompanies the electric violin of the artist Neus Soler, who also acts as the narrator. The musical production is throughArnau MontserratWe regularly have the services of El saló de los Invisibles based in Berlin.

Boxes for Mexico

And it won’t be the first time they do it, because Rovirola and de Prada were there a while ago. There they were curious about new style: “I want to understand everything I see in the pyramids, and when I ask, everyone tells me that I have to read the book. Popol Vuh», explained de Prada, who did so.

He always smiles when he remembers how they traveled every day through the forest, they came across a pyramid where he knew where Hunaphú and Ixbalanqué were swimming. The idea of ​​doing things for children is already in their heads, but then it becomes clear to them. Need simplify the storywhich is extensive and complicated, and brings out many macabre details – “they cut off too many heads!”-.

The Salón de los Invisibles is inspired by books and magazines for the “Popol Vuh” drawings. / Aniol Resclosa

“Reconstructing the Mayan imagination” is not an easy task and fills many notebooks with images of Stop Motion animations. Rovirola is supported by The Jungle Bookancient newspapers and Mayan masks.

Man came from corn

According to the Popol Vuh, life, like man, is created and destroyed many times. The last one first became mud, but fell apart, then wood, but fled to the forests became the ancestor of spider monkeys, and finally corn (yes, La Trinca is wrong). “It’s the main ingredient, the basic food of their diet,” Rovirola said. He was also impressed by a local culture in Mexico and Guatemala “it’s like Greek mythology” and, as de Prada points out, “we don’t know completely”. They want to explain it here, and now they will be able to do it in Mexico.

“At a time when there is a lot of talk about the renewal of museums, this is a very damaging fact. for himself“, they agree. They have achieved this experience “pull calls” and they did not expect to be called. Now they are eager to think about the people they will meet and the jobs they will find. Above all, they are still “excited” to see how they get theirs there Popol Vuh. «We use electronic music and they use traditional musicwith drums and flutes, and it may seem foreign to them… I imagine that they find it interesting to see how people from other continents adapt to it,” said Rovirola.

Little would they have said, when they met in 2009 in Berlinor when in 2018 they started with the work El Salón de los Invisibles, which will be held in Chiapas in 2024. Further, at least, they have the group Rococo d‘All in vain made a program at Anti Teatre in Barcelona Next February, they plan to do it two new pieces. “In time, we have aesthetics”, and this is how they started. Before going into the plot, they create a visual and musical world. The way they have the most clarity is thatOtakuinspired by the Manga and by school bullying, but also Juanitaa a mixture of Joan of Arc and Greta Thunberg in pink medieval armor that is associated with the environment and femininity.