The international multidisciplinary company 7BURBUJAS premiered its new stage challenge EOLO, our mill, at the Casa de la Cultura in Cabañas de la Sagra on August 28.
The show was born from the idea that came to the director of the company, Israel Muñoz, when he witnessed for the first time the start-up of a flour mill. From then on, he studied its noise, the phenomenon and characteristics of the wind, the history of the mills, the different trades that gathered around the mill and its inhabitants. He then managed to create an artistic residency for the development and production of the multidisciplinary staging, with the support of Cabañas de la Sagra and its neighbors and especially the enthusiastic mayor Tomás Díaz Yuste, capable of conveying milk from a jug to that one. There is no shortage of cultural activities in your city.
EOLO, our mill, can be defined as an “ethnographic theater”, composed of an eminently narrative and educational monologue, in which the details of the construction and operation of a windmill are narrated, one of those that can still be seen in La Mancha: Campo de Criptana, Consuegra, Alcázar de San Juan or Mota del Cuervo. Those who are curious about windmills and like heritage and not so old ways of life can come to this production of 7BURBUJAS and they will surely be delighted.
This production begins with a wonderful entrance on stage made with a tulle fabric moved by the air of some fans, which reaches an incredible brilliance and subtlety, where the wind becomes image and sound. The wind will be the true protagonist of the work, without which the mill would have no life and could not fulfill its function of grinding the flour with which the bread that feeds people must be made.
The ethnographic part is born from the experience of people who are still alive, to arrive step by step at the theoretical reconstruction of a windmill and its resolution in a model, which will be assembled before the surprised eyes of the spectators, while they are described. . its different elements, its mechanics, its operation and its coordination with the different winds.
The work is based on the interpretation of a central character, essentially a narrator, played by the actor Franz Gómez who carries all the weight of the show. Two collaborators without text assist him at all times, so that the dramaturgical development, both in the construction of the mill and in its symbolic representations, is fluid; They also intervene in the motivation and participation of the public; by turning on the cameras that project live images on a screen, a necessary complement to what is represented on stage.
EOLO, our mill seeks on the one hand to enlighten the public about the values and roots of La Mancha and to describe a world that has now disappeared and at the same time to value and honor people like Lola Madrid, a former miller and currently president of the Friends of the Mills association, and Juan Bautista, today the only teacher who knows how to build a mill entirely from scratch. On the other hand, the non-narrative or descriptive text delves into the feelings and emotions of a community that knows how to share a model of solidarity life. From both points of view, this dramaturgy aims to ensure that this ancestral world of our agrarian and rural culture is not lost in the sea of oblivion.
In the dramatic structure, we find many nuances that range from circus to contemporary dance, through comedy with touches of eccentric clown, a certain tragic tone, the coordination of visual and sound with the projection of live recordings on stage, the lighting well included, the correctly chosen musical selection, a whole that offers magical and unique moments.
Franz Gómez’s performance is remarkable, as he gains strength and goes from less to more with precise changes of register until reaching the very good emotional scenes at the end. Likewise, everything related to modern dance from the beginning to the end with the air that moves the tulle and the presence of the dancer on stage is to be commended. And well-deserved applause for Eva Medina, musical director, and Renato di Princio for their compositions.
In short, this commitment by Israel Muñoz is a very meritorious theatrical work, although it would be appropriate to adjust the duration of the work and also some momentary ups and downs that lead to a decrease in the attention and interest of the public.
People, including many children and young people, thanked the good work with warm applause.
Qualification: EOLO, our mill. Dramaturgy and staging: Israel Muñoz. Performers: Franz Gomez, Esther Muñoz (comics and objects), and Olga Martinez (actor and dancer). Scenography: Jose Luis Martin And Israel Muñoz. Lightning: Sergio Rus. Musical direction: Eva Medina. Musical composition: Renato di Princio. Sound space: David Moreno. Digital creation and 3D video animation: Cristian Tomá. Production: 7BUBBLES. Landscape: House of Culture of Cabañas de la Sagra.
