Xavier Bobés | Spain
A notebook from 1942 found at a jumble sale serves Xavier Bobés as the starting point for a journey through Spanish history during the Franco years. He invites no more than five audience members at a time to accompany him, to glide back into memories and the olden days, to stand up against denial and most importantly not to forget. Like a magician, he makes things appear; like a medium at a séance, he summons up the spirits of history; like a croupier, he dishes out cards and events. Small bearers of memories illustrate daily life in Spain at that time: a key fob from the Olympic Games, a magazine with the newly crowned King on the front. Bobés allows his audience to step back in time through the memories of others while at the same time creating new ones; he manipulates both past and future, and he explores things that are easily forgotten, both then and today.
«But we forget easily too – and our everyday lives can lose sight of history. In taking back to a time when Spain was gripped by fascism, when Franco forged an alliance with Hitler, Bobés coaxes us into asking what people forgot in 1942. More pressingly – and this is the brilliance of the piece – he persuades us to ask the same question of our own time. With extremism swirling about Europe, ‹Things Easily Forgotten› serves a reminder from history – lest we forget.»
Matt Trueman, whatsonstage.com, 22. Januar 2016
Von und mit Xavier Bobés | Kostüm Antonio Rodríguez
Koproduktion: Festival TNT-Terrassa und Xavier Bobés | In Zusammenarbeit mit: L’Animal a l’Esquena