Venetian merchant, a landmark work by William Shakespeare, opens the Alcudia-UA Classical Theater Festival’s professional cycle in its tenth edition. On Tuesday, July 19, at 22:00, at the Elche archaeological site, the Dau Al Set Company presents the piece in Valencian.
This production, following the student theater programming week, delves into the intricate relationships shaped by the rapid expansion of economic power and its effects on human interactions. Usury, wealth, mutual distrust, and the clash of cultures illuminate the rise of modern capitalism and banking. The play explores how law can be exploited and how foreigners can be vulnerable within a system in flux.
Shakespeare moves deftly from comedy to tragedy, using irony to illuminate the fragility of social norms. With The Merchant of Venice, the bard foresees a society increasingly driven by individual gain. The Dau Al Set Company’s interpretation follows a premiere that occurred on February 27, 2019, at Sala Versus Glorias in Barcelona.
Verb Productions will bring another show to the festival lineup on Wednesday, Entre bobos y juegos, produced in collaboration with the Cáceres Classical Theater Festival. This frenetic comedy injects a playful tone while championing women’s freedom and the right to choose their own paths. The plot centers on Don Lucas, a wealthy magnate who agrees to a marriage alliance between Don Antonio and his daughter, Doña Isabel. She resists arranged marriage, despite the heavy expectations of her era.
Isabel is secretly in love with Don Pedro, and a cascade of misunderstandings, jealousy, deception, and truth will drive the lovers toward a comically chaotic conclusion. The piece runs for about 90 minutes.
Excavations at La Alcudia reveal the site’s earliest Iberian houses
On Thursday the 21st, Alcudia hosts a co-produced stage event by Maribel Mesón-La Dragonfly Theater and the Mérida International Classical Theater Festival. The production, which premiered at the 67th festival on August 18, 2021, blends business concerns with a poignant encounter between generations of battered women, in a story that resonates with contemporary struggles for rights and dignity. It portrays women fighting for dignity, while the social and political tensions of the time intersect with personal history.
Young people from the East seek political asylum as Europe confronts forced marriages and humanitarian crises. The narrative follows the ripple effects of war and displacement, with Western mothers either welcoming refugees or bearing the burden of loss. The tragedy is told through a feminine plural lens, highlighting how women lead the charge for rights such as asylum, bodily autonomy, and the reclamation of lost loved ones. The text remains relevant today as it calls for ongoing advocacy and action.
At Alcudia Classical Theater Festival, Eros returns in a new production by Coribante Productions on Friday, July 22. The mythic god of love and passion is imagined through five souls who, reincarnated after life, explore every possible expression of love. What defines love? Is it the romantic ideal, jealousy, or fierce devotion? The show invites comparisons to Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Don Quixote, Medea, Santa Teresa de Jesús, and the famous dynamic between Don Juan and Doña Inés.
Through dance-theatre, music, comedy, and tragedy, the production traverses flamenco, contemporary forms, and classical theater. It blends Spanish Golden Age influences, Shakespearean drama, ancient Greece, and modern romance to challenge conventional ideas about love. The creative direction comes from Antonio Rincon-Cano and Jose Maria del Castillo, with original music by Alejandro Cruz Benavides and choreography by Benjamín Leiva.
The UA rector, Amparo Navarro, will preside over the closing ceremony scheduled for Friday at 21:30, followed by a performance. Tickets are priced at 12 euros, and all performances are open to the public.