Global Courant
The Pompapetriyasos celebrate their 20th anniversary with What the plague left us and announce Remnants of a Wait for August. Cardboard stories, so that the party (and the complaint) can continue.
The true story of survival during an epidemic and its devastating consequences, but fictionalized, becomes a unique theatrical experience in What the Plague Left Us: with a live band, dance, humor and more than 30 artists on stage, it manages to highlight resilience human in the face of adversity. The work has a pleasant and interesting approach that makes it suitable for all ages, the public as heterogeneous as it is familiar expresses its enjoyment between laughter and laughter. An entire acting phenomenon made up of the “Grupo de Teatro Comunitario Los Pompapetriyasos” from Parque Patricios –this year they celebrate their twentieth anniversary–, in its 11th edition it already has more than 100,000 spectators as well as presentations in various places and spaces, during that trajectory.
The Pompapetriyasos celebrate their 20th birthday. Photo: PEPE MATEOS
While this group of clowns plans to make a film about that event, they advance from their story that takes place in an environment where the viewer is transported to Buenos Aires in 1871 with a traveling scenery through characters that appear executed with grace and virtuosity. : from a majestic dragon to the vile mosquitoes, the cause of yellow fever and its ravages. There, issues related to the dramas of human misery, death, discrimination, pain and a ghost that perhaps represents the fear that survives to the present, in the midst of the present post-pandemic, are explored. Its cast of all ages generates a special connection with the public: they interact without a fourth wall and integrate it through repeated winks, a complicity that amuses them.
It is directed by Agustina Ruiz Barrea, who underlines the complexity of the staging and how it impacts the public: “Every time we re-release it, it continues to reveal things to us and we discover things from the present time, that is very strong. The material is always the same but the mythological corpus is mutating, we believe that it is alive and continues to breathe… that speaks volumes about what we are as a territory, neighborhood and community. It is difficult to replace, there are many artists: its protagonist is the character-chorus, that collective body of neighbors actors that during the pandemic – which was tremendous for us – could not exist as such ”.
What the plague left us, a play directed by Agustina Ruiz Barrera. PHOTO: PEPE MATEOS
“This is how we created another show that we will replace in August, Remnants of a Wait. Historias de Cartón: a series that we worked on the broken choir, we generated this whole project ”, he announces in dialogue with Ñ.
The show takes place within the Los Pompas cultural space. A relaxed environment where sorrows and ironies come together, resulting in a surprising tragicomic mix. The musical scenes stand out when they remake “Mi Buenos Aires querido”, sing “La cumbia de la soledad” and interpret another song that simultaneously rises to a ranch. It is that as a result of that epidemic, the characters narrate “the city was divided: the north shone and the south paled”, since this last area was where the sick were relegated and garbage was burned.
In August, the theater group will put on the play Retazos de una espera. Cardboard Stories. PHOTOS: PEPE MATEOS
It is a proposal whose originality sets it apart: it entertains but it also shows that people can overcome crises, at a time when this type of project is scarce and many times it is believed that they have lost a certain sense of wonder. What the plague… breaks with this perception and shows that the opposite is possible.
This ancestral discipline of fine arts has the ability to transport us to other worlds and allows us to observe different perspectives, expanding our own and even in this case, invites us to reflect on our own humanity. When the curtain is lowered, it is possible that the spectator does not leave indifferent, but rather transformed by this living art and its bewitching theatrical epic, they allow us to glimpse what it is like to look in the mirror to recognize if we have transmuted as that ghost who (they point out) has inhabited since then the streets of the southern port.
The function takes place within the Los Pompas cultural space, in Parque Patricios. PHOTO: PEPE MATEOS
At the end of the performance, they harangued the public: “In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, we invite you to participate and build a collective intelligence; that they be part of this cooperative, community, self-financed space from where we seek to generate dreams and integrate projects together”, highlights Agustina Ruiz Barrea. In addition, from the cast they also point out “the importance of these initiatives: they managed to transform the community”.
This realization produces a group synergy between the actors and the public, the playwright herself explains that “before and after each performance, magical moments of encounter and reflection are created.” Although it exhibits arduous themes, it also conveys a certain joy that is experienced towards the end of the work. By sharing this encounter, the audience and the cast come together in a theatrical ceremony that allows exorcising fears and putting fantasies into play. “The objective of this project is to restore the collective strength and power of the meeting, to dream and take care of ourselves together”, concludes her director.
What the plague left us, by the group Los Pompapetriyasos can be seen until July 22, then it returns in September. PHOTO: PEPE MATEOS
From its plot, perhaps it poses a kind of ode to survival and a mockery of the grim reaper. Muiño already said it, that “That’s life.”
What the plague left us
Location: Brazil 2640 (CABA). Los Pompas, a community cultural space in Parque Patricios.
Hours: Saturday at 9 pm, until July 22. In September, new functions.
Admission: $2,000
