THE CENTERS HAVE SEALED AN AGREEMENT WITH THE PRODUCTION COMPANY DD&COMPANY

Jameos del Agua will host the theatrical premiere of Saramago's play The Double

The Centers have sealed an agreement with DD&Company, which produces the play and intends to take it to "national and international stages." The goal is to premiere it in the upcoming winter season...

August 18 2016 (16:57 WEST)
Jameos del Agua will host the theatrical premiere of Saramago's play The Duplicated Man
Jameos del Agua will host the theatrical premiere of Saramago's play The Duplicated Man

The Auditorium of Jameos del Agua will host the premiere of the theatrical adaptation of 'The Double,' a work by the Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago. "What happens when Tertuliano Máximo Afonso discovers, at the age of 38, that there is an individual living in his city who is his exact copy and with whom he has no blood ties?" This is the question from which Saramago posed and developed this story. How do we know who we are? What defines us as individual and unique people? Could we exchange ourselves with our double without our loved ones noticing? These are some of the questions that arise throughout the reading of the work by the Portuguese writer, published in 2002.

The Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the production company DD & Company have joined forces to bring this theatrical adaptation of 'The Double' to the stage, starting next winter season. The Centers point out that this is an initiative associated with the "promotion and dissemination of culture." Thus, the "world premiere" of the play will take place in Lanzarote, specifically in the Auditorium of Jameos del Agua, on a date yet to be determined.

These and other details were announced this Wednesday by the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, in the informative conference that served as the presentation of the agreement reached by the CACT and DD & Company, which "will take The Double to national and international theatrical stages," they explained from the Centers. San Ginés was accompanied by the Minister of Tourism of the First Island Institution, Echedey Eugenio; the Minister of Culture, Óscar Pérez; the president of the Saramago Foundation and widow of the Portuguese Nobel laureate, Pilar del Río; the head of DD & Company, Dania Dévora; the adapters of the text, Félix Ortiz and Salvador Toscano, and the theatrical director, José Martret.

 

A "magnificent opportunity to publicize the island"


The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, welcomed the initiative of the CACT, which "have dedicated themselves to safeguarding our culture and, now, are taking a further step by co-producing the theatrical representation of a work by Saramago," and pointed out that "this extraordinary project is a magnificent opportunity to publicize the island through the production of culture by the hand of a man who fell in love with Lanzarote and with whom we will always have a debt of gratitude." San Ginés thanked "the contagious interest and enthusiasm of Dania Dévora and the effort of all those who have intervened to make this initiative real today," and wished success to a "work that will start in one of the most spectacular scenarios on the planet."

Next, the Minister of Tourism, Echedey Eugenio, for his part, indicated that "we wanted to take this leap to produce culture and art assuming our social responsibility in payment of the debt that the CACT have with the population of Lanzarote." "We come from a time when it was necessary to focus efforts on reorganizing the company to generate profits. Now it is time for those profits to revert to society, in this case, in the form of cultural production. We wanted this first step to be with top-level professionals, and with someone as linked to the island as José Saramago," he stressed. The Minister also pointed out that the CACT "assume the project with great enthusiasm." "We want to contribute to filling the cultural void that we have in the Canary Islands, also hindered by our insular geographical reality," and expressed his desire that "it be the first, but not the last."

 

An "exciting challenge"


José Saramago is one of the most prominent authors of the contemporary literary scene. His work has been acclaimed worldwide both by the public, in which he unleashed authentic literary passion, and by critics, who consider it one of the most important of our time. Therefore, DD & Company assumed "with enthusiasm and responsibility in equal parts the complex but exciting challenge" of bringing The Double in a theatrical version and in Spanish to the millions of followers of the Portuguese writer, explained its representative during the press conference. The Centers have indicated that this production company, "hand in hand with the CACT" and with the "fundamental support" of the Saramago Foundation, will take the play to tour national and international stages from Lanzarote, the land of adoption of the Portuguese Nobel laureate.

The president of the Saramago Foundation and widow of the Portuguese writer, Pilar del Río, present at the informative conference, showed her support and "full confidence" in the people who are leading the project. "I trust Félix and Salvador, whom we met many years ago, in the director, José Martret, and in a woman, Dania Dévora, who has an amazing production behind her, a person who contributes to making this country bigger. We will only have to sit in the front row, admire ourselves, and applaud." Del Río hopes that the representation of 'The Double', coinciding with the events planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CACT, "will feed back into both events."

Dania Dévora, head of DD & Company, acknowledged the "complexity" of a project for which they will have "a technical and artistic team made up of prominent Canarian professionals from the theatrical field, who will contribute their talent and point of view on the author and his work." Dévora revealed that "we are in the middle of the casting process for the selection of the actors who will give life to the characters in Saramago's play" and revealed that they are considering "names of indisputable professionalism and talent, recognizable, in addition, by the general public, but also emerging artists."

Dévora, who explained the origin of the initiative, thanked "the interest of the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, as well as the Ministers of Tourism and Culture, and the CEO of the Centers, because without them we would not be here today," and announced that "we are going to put a very important focus for the performing arts of this country on the island since 'The Double' premieres in this space of Jameos del Agua." Finally, she thanked the role that the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of the Cabildo of Lanzarote have played in the entire project and in the choice of the Auditorium of Jameos del Agua as the space for the world premiere of the play. "Lanzarote is the island where many of the pages of Saramago's work were written. Therefore, it seemed ideal to present 'The Double' in Jameos del Agua." About the director, José Martret, Dévora explained that "he is the right person."

 

The "spirits" of Saramago and Manrique, united on stage


José Martret, co-founder of the theatrical space La Casa de la Portera and director, among others, of the short film ¡¡¡¡Todas!!!¡, for which he has received 14 awards at different festivals, acknowledged accepting "with great enthusiasm the challenge and the honor of directing a work by an artist as immeasurable as Saramago," of whose work he confessed to feeling "in love." Martret considered that reading the Portuguese Nobel laureate "is a full and different experience." "My challenge," he confessed, "is to get the public to live a unique theatrical experience different from any other theatrical representation." About the stage of the Auditorium of Jameos chosen for the premiere, Martret pointed out that "uniting the spirits of Manrique and Saramago in Jameos is something exceptional."

For their part, Félix Ortiz and Salvador Toscano, adapters of the original text and "guilty of all this," explained that the idea of bringing Saramago's work to the stage arose in an "absolutely casual" way. In addition, they revealed that they "enjoyed very much for two years preparing a work that they hope will be liked, that will not disappoint Saramago's readers," and for which they have rescued literal phrases that the Portuguese writer used.

 

About DD&Company


Dedicated since 1990 to the creation, production, management and organization of cultural events of all kinds, from concerts to festivals, through theater, dance, record production and communication, DD&Company Producciones has been very linked to the cultural life of the Canary Islands, developing projects such as the WOMAD festival, the Arrecife de las Músicas Festival, Don Juan Tenorio in Vegueta or Fuertemúsica among many others.

His work has crossed the borders of the islands with national and international projects and tours, such as Voces de Ellas, WOMAD in Cáceres and Madrid, the co-production of the play "A Pornographic Relationship", in Argentina, or the production of the three editions of the Velada Iberoamericana in New York, among other projects.

In 2003, Dania Dévora, director of DD&Company Producciones, was awarded the Grammy Award for Music for Best Classical Album Production, and in 2004 DD&Company Producciones received a Latin Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Tropical Album category for the album "Las Hermanas Márquez".

"Almost 25 years after its founding, DD&Company Producciones continues to develop exciting projects in the Canary Islands, throughout the Spanish territory and internationally", add the CACT.

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