ALBERTO CORTÉS. “ANALPHABET”
PERFORMANCE
, THEATER
DATE // TIME
June 12th, Thursday, 2025 // 7:00pm
DURATION // AGE
65' // +13
LANGUAGE
Spanish
SPACE
Auditorium
TICKET
€14 / €9,80 with AZ Card (Tickets purchased before May 12th will receive a 50% discount)
REDUCED RATES
Ticket sales only in person at AZ Info: €10,50 for professionals in the sector, persons over 65*, under 30* or with a disability over 33%* (show ID card or proof of disability when buying a ticket) / €10,50 Groups of 8 or more/ €7 person in a wheelchair and companion. All tickets purchased before May 12th will receive a 50% discount.
"Analphabet", the latest stage creation of the performer and playwright Alberto Cortés, is the invention of a queer legend or myth, i.e. a romantic spirit manifesting itself to couples in natural environments while living trapped in the wound of the flesh.
This work, which premiered at the TNT 2024 Festival, exudes German romanticism and Andalusian idiosyncrasy whilst tackling the subject of abuse both received and inflicted within a couple as a construct of love.
According to the author, “It’s the story about what poetry can do for the wounds of abuse.” The spirit of “Analphabet” occurred to Alberto Cortés “by necessity, or rather by desire, to imagine a phantom that comes to bring order or heal those bodies mistreated by the ‘couple of lovers’.”
“Analphabet” is a story “affected by intragender violence. Two men bearing a cross of patriarchal inheritance that, in many instances, neither queer or effeminacy can erase.
The “Analphabet” text and a work diary that includes the creation process of the piece are published in the book Siempre vengo de noche (Continta me tienes, 2024)
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“At sundown, after a couple has quarrelled on the Gulpiyuri beach, a romantic phantom called Analphabet appears above the sea to tell its story and sing songs for the couple.”
Analphabet is the invention of a myth, i.e. a romantic spirit, trapped in wounded flesh, which appears to couples in natural settings. Its appearance evidences the cliff edge we call a “couple of lovers”, along with the abuse we subject ourselves to within this structure of love. Its personal story opens the chest of intragender violence and evidences the need to also intensify care in queer relationships affected by patriarchal inheritance. As a tormented spirit, it draws from the poetry of German romanticism and its landscapes (Goethe, Hölderlin and Novalis have accompanied this writing). But it also draws on Andalusian idiosyncrasy and the mortal wound of love in the Basque Country. Even though Analphabet arrives wounded on a horse as his life ebbs away, it brings a glimmer of hope: what poetry can do for the wounded.
ARTISTIC INFORMATION
Concept, staging, texts, direction & performance: Alberto Cortés
Violin & conversations: Luz Prado
Lighting Design: Benito Jiménez
Lighting Technicians: Benito Jiménez / Cristina Bolívar
Sound: Oscar Villegas / Pablo Contreras
Technical Co-ordination: Cristina Bolívar
Piano recordings: César Barco
Stage space: Víctor Colmenero
Wardrobe: Gloria Trenado
Outsider’s perspective: Mónica Valenciano
Photography: Clementina Gades & Johann Pérez Viera
Video: Johann Pérez Viera
Production: El Mandaíto Producciones SL
Produced in conjunction with: TNT Terrasa Noves Tendències, Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Condeduque, FITEI-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Expressáo Ibérica, Centre de les Arts Lliures de la Fundació Joan Brossa and Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Cádiz.
Sponsored by: Azala, Graner, Goethe-Institut Madrid, Escena Patrimonio, Autumn Festival, Artistic Residency Programme of the Agencia Andaluza de Instituciones Culturales and La Rinconada Town Council.
Alberto Cortés (Málaga) es performer, director de escena y dramaturgo. Vive en Sevilla y trabaja en diferentes lugares. Formado también en Historia del Arte, es uno de los creadores más sorprendentes de las nuevas generaciones de artistas escénicos españoles. Con un lenguaje y una investigación muy propios, su trabajo, en el que involucra texto y movimiento, destaca por una gran libertad creativa, con una cuidada carga teórica y poética.
