Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The wave of cancellations began last Wednesday in municipalities where Vox holds cultural influence and the PP controls local administrations. A scheduled 1928 staging of Virginia Woolf’s classic Orland o, part of the Madrid Ensemble’s seven villas festival, was canceled in Valdemorillo, a town where the Ministry of Culture is steered by Vox and the town hall is led by the People’s Party. The production was meant to anchor the festival next November.
The canonical work by Woolf, originally titled Orlando, follows a young aristocrat who traverses centuries, undergoing a gender transformation while retaining the same core identity. Woolf, famed for feminist perspectives, used this device to illuminate the long-standing challenges faced by women. In this context, the cancellation is interpreted as a political signal about cultural priorities and historical memory.
A monologue about bulimia was canceled
In Palma de Mallorca, where the PP governs, three performances were called off. Nua, a script by Ann Perelló examining eating disorders, was dropped from the new government’s programming and the reasons given remain unclear. The piece, which had its premiere at the Sala Flyhard in Barcelona, explores mental health and bulimia through intimate experience and discourse on society’s attitudes. Perelló has earned recognition from regional arts organizations for her work, including a Best Actress award from the Balearic Islands Public Theaters and Auditors Association ATAPIB.
Buzz Lightyear’s stance on local politics
Santa Cruz de Bezama, a Cantabrian town, drew attention this week when the town council, under the PP and Vox framework, removed the Pixar film Lightyear from a summer outdoor program previously run by a socialist administration. The film, a prequel to the Toy Story saga, centers on Buzz Lightyear and a relationship between two women, including a kiss. The controversy echoed last year’s global debates around the same scene and reflected ongoing tensions over media content in different jurisdictions. In several Middle Eastern and Asian countries, variations of censorship have affected similar releases.
The story of the murdered Catalan teacher Benaiges
Most recently, Briviesca, a town of around 6,000 in Burgos province, saw a cancellation in which PP, with Vox and Ciudadanos backing, halted a July 15 performance of Deniz: the dream of children who have never seen it. The work was written and directed by Xavier Bobés and Alberto Conejero, a 2019 National Award for Dramatic Literature finalist that had toured major venues including the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in the previous season.
The piece recounts the life of Antoni Benaiges, a rural Catalan teacher appointed in the 1930s to teach in Bañuelos de Bureba, near Briviesca. There he acquired a printing press and a gramophone, capturing and broadcasting the emotions and dreams of schoolchildren, promising them a sea voyage that never materialized after Benaiges was executed at the outset of the Civil War in 1936 for his republican commitments.
“Suspension of demonstrations is unacceptable”
Luis Homer, an actor and theater director who leads the National Classical Theater Company, weighed in on the broader pattern of cancellations. He directs Life is a Dream at the Grec Festival and urged that political changes not erode cultural life. Homer argued that culture is a fundamental need comparable to health and education, and called for clear agreements to protect it. He asserted that freedom of expression must remain absolute and that suspensions of performances are unacceptable. He expressed hope that a broad coalition of cultural workers would unite to defend the arts and ensure necessary actions are taken.