Titzina Teatro are back in the Pine Islands to present their latest production: La Zanja. Fruit of the research and anthropological journalism of the troupe’s two members, playwrights/directors/actors Pako Merino and Diego Lorca, the production finds the pair taking a tragicomic look at the clash of European and American civilisations and the two continents’ shared history. Crowds can catch the 8.30pm show on 22 October at the Eivissa Palau de Congressos (Santa Eulària) and two days later, Saturday 24 October, at Formentera’s Sala de Cultura (Cinema).
La Zanja tells the story of Miguel, an employee of a multinational mining firm, as he arrives on assignment in South America. Awaiting the “discoverer” are the mayor and community in the town where the mine is located. What follows Miguel’s arrival is a meeting of two worlds and of two world visions. The ambitions, opportunities and consequences of the newly launched mine will mark the future of the town and relations between neighbours.
Diego Lorca and Pako Merino’s fifth creation is the product of an unhurried and deliberate process. As with the pair’s other projects, La Zanja springs from sweeping research in anthropological journalism, as well as interviews and time spent living with the story’s protagonists. The appeal of Titzina Teatro’s tragicomic and minimalist productions is universal: Sueños de psiquiátrico dealt with insanity; Entrañas wrestled with war; and Exitus came to terms with death.
For Merino and Lorca, making La Zanja meant moving to Peru to research a community polarised by the extractive economy and picking apart the entangled stories of Francisco Pizarro and Atahualpa in 1532. The work led to the trailhead of the relationship between two worlds hitherto unknown to one another: Europe and America.
La Zanja is part of PLATEA, a programme for the dissemination of the performing arts organised by the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s Insitute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM).
Tickets for the 22 October show at the Palau de Congressos can be purchased for €15 (plus handling costs) at www.santaeulariadesriu.com and www.festivalbarruguet.com, or €20 at the box office an hour before showtime. Tickets for the 24 October show at Formentera’s Sala de Cultura (Cinema) are €7 for viewers over 25, €5 for youth and free for the unemployed or self-employed individuals currently out of work. Space is limited and reservations must be made before 10.00am on Friday 23 October by emailing reserves@conselldeformentera.cat.
The troupe
Diego Lorca and Pako Merino met at Paris’s Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in 1999. After studying and working in a multitude of global troupes, Lorca and Merino launched Titzina in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona).
Over the years, Titzina have cemented their status as a creative troupe with a style all their own (some refer to the “Titzina Quality Seal”). Anthropological journalism, as Titzina refer to their stock in trade, entails interviews and cohabitation with subjects. The research finds Lorca and Merino exploring the lives of others and often unknown realities in a bid to present humans’ most remarkable aspects, from a place of humour, a place of irony, and at the same time, a place of tragedy.
Titzina’s productions strive to get viewers to ask questions and reflect on the most common —and at the same time, the most profound— issues that we as humans face. By essentialising aspects of play, and with razor-sharp attention to detail, they create a final product that is flawless.
14 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera
The Formentera Department of Environment reports that as part of the observance of International Day of Rural Women on Thursday 15 October, the island will play host to a display entitled Homenatge a la dona de Formentera en el món rural (Tribute to Formentera’s rural woman). Photography fans in Sant Francesc can see the exhibit between 9.00am and 2.00pm, Monday to Saturday, 15–31 October in the inner courtyard of Centre Antoni Tur “Gabrielet”.
Saturday 17 October Formentera’s Sala de Cultura (Cinema) will play host to La Tal theatre troupe’s family-friendly Italino Grand Hotel. The self-proclaimed “company of clowns” cut their teeth with the classics before gravitating in recent years a varying array of characters: notably, a clown with a well-defined personality, a clown whose years hold wisdom, a clown for today’s audiences.
The Consell de Formentera announced details today about the BTT Volta Cicloturista Formentera, a non-competitive mountain-biking ride organised by the Formentera Department of Sport in association with Unisport Consulting and GE Espalmador that will see participants touring the island in three stages on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of October.
After drawings in July, August and September, the Formentera Department of Commerce announces the momentary end of Compra a Casa a l’estiu (“Shop locally in summer”), a joint effort which saw the Consell de Formentera and the island’s small- and medium-sized business group, Pimef, teaming up to reward islanders for supporting local small business amidst the pandemic.