Siete historias crueles (Seven Cruel Stories)

On Monday 16 November, at 7:00 pm, the Teatro Felipe VI hosts «Siete historias crueles» («Siedem historii okrutnych», Seven Cruel Stories), by the Warsaw company TEATR21, made up mainly of actors with Down syndrome and autism. It is directed by Justyna Wielgus with dramaturgy by Justyna Lipko-Konieczna. It is performed in Polish with Spanish surtitles, and tickets are on sale from €16.50.

Seven stories question the borders between human and animal, freedom and domination. Medieval morality plays meet the Polish cinema of moral anxiety. Francisco de Goya meets Pigcasso and looks again at his own paintings of animals. Saint Guinefort, the dog venerated since the 13th century near Villars-les-Dombes, argues with George Bernard Shaw, author of «Pygmalion», about his eugenic ideas. And some cows dare to cross borders. All the stories meet in Brigitte Bardot, film star and animal rights campaigner.

The piece draws on Sunaura Taylor's book «Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation» and takes the debate on disability, autonomy and exclusion to the hierarchies between living beings, with humour and no moral lessons. Recommended for ages 16 and over; it runs 180 minutes with electronic surtitles.

The day before, on Sunday 15 November at 12:00 noon, Justyna Wielgus and the TEATR21 cast lead a free workshop on performing arts and inclusion at Casa de las Tejerinas, about fairer participation of people with disabilities in the performing arts. It is in Polish, with an interpreter.

It is co-funded by Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and was created within the international project «Show the Language», funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants. It has the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute in Madrid.