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Worldwide Premier of a Hispanic-Argentinian-Mexican coproduction at Topic

 ‘Pepo, ¿adónde vas?’ (Where are you going, Pepo?) is a play sponsored by Iberescena in collaboration with the Centre in Tolosa

The Tolosa International Puppet Centre, Topic, presents the worldwide premier of the play “Pepo. ¿adónde vas?”, a coproduction sponsored by Iberescena, the Ibero-American Performing Arts Support Fund, in collaboration with the Centre in Tolosa. The first show will be on Friday and it will be offered exclusively to the kids taking part in the Topic School Program. The show for the general public will be on Saturday. Another eight shows will be offered as part of the Titirijai program in towns such as Tolosa, Sestao, Irún, Donostia and Pasaia.
The companies involved in the project: Buenos Aires Teatro (Argentina), La Canela (Spain) and Seña y Verbo (Mexico), have created a show that combines puppetry and performance and is especially recommended for kids between six and ten. The script is by Silvina Reinaudi, and Alberto Lomnitz is in charge of the direction. Sandra Antman and Analía Sisamón are responsible for the performance and puppet manipulation.

Analía Sisamón explains why they have chosen Tolosa for the worldwide premier of the show: “the managers of Topic know the careers of the members of the three companies involved in this project really well. They trusted us when we were commissioned to do the project. We were very lucky and we feel very proud.”

The three companies worked on the internet, for a whole year, sharing opinions and view about the job they were about to undertake. After that preliminary year they all moved to Argentina, where the main producer is based. They spent three months working on preproduction there and by last September they had already started rehearsing eight hours a day. Now, in Spain, they have done rehearsal shows in Alcalá La Real and Fuenlabrada to warm up, so that they can go to the worldwide premier in Tolosa well prepared and on good form.

Diversity with a touch of humour

´´ ‘Pepo, ¿adónde vas?’ is not a heavy play” Analia explains. ´´Although there is some ideological and intellectual weight to it, it is treated with a touch of humor in puppet language”. This is something the puppeteer-producer wants to underline because “puppets have a license to do anything; much more so than actors”. A puppet show is based on “very funny, almost ridiculous, language. It’s not about whether the two characters come from this or that country; they are two women, one stripy and the other spotted. It is a bit abstract, but visually very identifiable for kids. It is a trip that we have spliced with humor using the absurd answers puppets can give, and with the hope of bringing up subjects like the unacceptability of discrimination, and the beauty of ´difference´, when this is accepted.”

The two characters meet each other at a crossroads. “Each one walks in her own direction, they can’t tolerate each other because they come from places with different customs and they don’t give way to each other”. But then Pepo, “who doesn’t care at all about stripes or spots”, turns up. Through Pepo we will see how it is much more important to build bridges than to mark out borders”.

There are a few marionette and glove puppet scenes, with the participation of two puppeteers, in this 55 minute play. “Everything is treated from a puppet and clown´s point of view” says Analia Sansimon, who knows both Titirijai and Topic very well. “I came here for the Education and University Seminar with some other shows of mine last July. Topic is a beautiful space and a quality centre for professionals; it is set up with very good criteria. I was very happily surprised by the museum collection, it´s incredible, and something that can only be achieved after many years of work, like Miguel Arreche and Idoya Otegui are doing, primarily as heads of the Puppet Festival, and afterwards with Topic”.