Although Carlus Padrissa, director of La Fura del Baus, has been travelling the world with his company for many years, he does not always have the opportunity to work on a beach with 3,000 years of history like La Caleta. “It’s wonderful to be here, to see the sun set and the light change,” he sighs. But the calm of the evening is only a harbinger of a great show designed especially for Cádiz, which will take place this Saturday as the culmination of a programme of activities that, throughout the week, have recalled the city’s founding past.
Proud of our History is the title of the annual initiative that aims to revisit the main episodes of the history of Cádiz and which, in its first edition, focused on the Phoenician world. As announced by the City Council, the next editions will commemorate Roman Cádiz (2025), Cádiz of the Emporio del Orbe (2026) and Cádiz of the Constitution of 1812 (2027). But now it is time to celebrate this Mediterranean dimension through a hundred activities including conferences, parades, guided tours, Phoenician markets and the installation in different places of figures representative of the myths of the time, which will culminate this Saturday at 10:30 p.m. with a ceremony to celebrate the show of La Fura on the aforementioned beach.
Gadir, the resurgence of the Phoenicians ” is the title of this production commissioned by the Municipality of Cadiz to the group led by Padrissa, and which will include more than 200 people, including staff and volunteers. “We have prepared a big mess, it’s going to be a very big chicken,” smiles the director. “We come with our flying gadgets, we will make human networks, a torch ritual… For once, 2 plus 2 will not make 4, they will make 22, and there is a lot of desire to prove it.”
diverted attention
In recent days, rehearsals have been held in two simultaneous spaces of the Ecco cultural center. Among the local collaborations, the music composed by the carnival authors José Manuel Pedrosa, Miguel Ángel García Argüez and Juan Antonio Verdía stands out, with the music producer Calde Ramírez, as well as the flamenco dancer Eduardo Guerrero, “the great Cadiz who has Mágico González,” Padrissa emphasizes with good humor. “We saw him work a long time ago and we were impressed, we were clear that he had to be with us.”
The arrival of La Fura dels Baus in Cádiz has not been without controversy, however. The fact of proposing a selection of many volunteers has provoked some protests, such as those of a group of professional actors from the city who launched the campaign “An actor from Cádiz is looking for a director from La Fura as a volunteer to direct my show” on social networks. The director defended his position before elDiario.es Andalucía, assuring that “it is the people here who make the show, the strength comes from the fact that we all coordinate, and that allows the show to be unique. Our secret is knowing how to do it, knowing how to organize. We have been doing this for 45 years, we learned a lot with the Olympic Games from people like those from the Super Bowl in the United States, who came to teach us, and now we can teach ourselves. But we are learning many other things. “I am still assimilating everything that is created.”
Other incidents, such as the failure of a parade held a few days ago and spoiled by the force of the east wind, or the breakage of a piece of railing following a maneuver by the La Fura truck, quickly repaired, have diverted attention and doubts arise. To the point that the local newspaper Diario de Cádiz stated in one of its articles that the City Council is “taking a gamble” with La Fura’s proposal. No one forgets that in the southern city, technical or logistical errors are not only the subject of criticism, but also of jokes that can go viral, as was the case with the famous “wounded bear” of the Three Wise Men parade. of 2022.
Back to the South
The cost of some of the initiatives in this first edition of Proud of our Historylike the 88,000 euros cost by the imposing sculptural works of the Valencian artist Alejandro Santaeulalia, or the 170,000 euros budgeted for La Fura dels Baus.
However, all the controversy will probably dissipate in the air when the magic of the show is unleashed this Saturday by a company that has not been too lavish in recent years in western Andalusia, with the exception of the visit to the Muelle de la Sal in Seville, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 5th Centenary, as well as to Cadiz in 2006, to participate in the parallel activities of an architects’ congress.
“Our relationship with this land is very good,” concludes Carlus Padrissa. “Catalonia was created with the Andalusians. I remember that my parents were from a village and we went to a town of 3,000 inhabitants where there were many emigrants from El Rubio, Torredonjimeno… I had only spoken Catalan until I was six years old, I didn’t understand those children, but they wanted to play. I learned more from them than from the Catalan children. And I also have a broken tooth from a blow I received in those games!
