Friday, February 7, 2025, a few minutes before 7:30 p.m. We had just enjoyed a major performance at the Teatro Real in La Laguna and had to leave quickly, trying not to stumble over the audience that filled the hall, because the curtain would rise again very soon.
Before, the stage had to be restored, after the "damage" done to furniture and props, which helped human beings to build a work of art.
It was essential that at 8:00 p.m. it would return to its initial position, that of the premiere, to conclude in this way the two presentations of the show "The Metamorphosis" by the company Abubukaka.
I comment on what we have just experienced with the friend who invited me, highlighting the benefits of an intelligent text and the impeccable performance of four amazing artists.
Although I am aware that we are partly obstructing people's exit, I look for and find a person in charge of the house.
I need a favor, the young woman told me that it would be difficult to obtain it, however, I handed her a piece of paper and a pen, so that one of the artists who had participated could write down a name and a telephone number, I wanted to contact them. No further explanations were needed, a couple of minutes later, smiling, the usher returned with the same paper, this time with a number.
While I was waiting for her, I told my friend that I would surely write something in the diary, and, just in case, if I needed any information... I justified the action arguing that it was a luxury to have a place to expose benefits, recognitions and then disseminate them.
In the case at hand, it had been she, my friend, who was responsible for us being there, after reading that the Abubukaka company would offer an adaptation, free, today I could certify, very free, of Franz Kafka's famous work "The Metamorphosis".
The venue welcomed us with deafening music and sitting in the first seats we both agreed that, for our tastes, it exceeded in some decibels. We were not quite comfortable, much less when the curtain rose, revealing what it concealed. I looked at my friend and asked her, ignorant and prejudiced, where she had taken me. I had no idea what I was about to see.
So great was the satisfaction, so much what we enjoyed, that at the end I wanted to talk to someone related to the production of the play; sorry, I think I already said that.
Repeating the name like a mantra so as not to forget it, Abubukaka, Abubukaka, I arrived home and started to investigate. I was able to read what appears on a portal of the Government of the Canary Islands, also comments, repercussions of performances in different press notes, the name of its members, since, when, where and how they were formed.
The necessary documentation, indispensable to avoid ensuring nonsense or repeating inaccuracies, sometimes, in my case, is counterproductive, because I realize -it happens to me frequently- that I intend to say novel things that others have already said to exhaustion.
I verified, with pain and joy, that I could not add much about Abubukaka, pain because it complicated my work as an improvised writer, joy for them, whom I perceived as enormously passionate about what they do, for their creations in which they sing, dance, recite, cry or laugh, while the public does the same, with great complicity.
I found out that they were formed in 2006, that in addition to being actors, they run a company where they develop workshops and produce articles related to the theater. I also stumbled upon a kind of critique, published in a digital media of Fuerteventura, in which, perhaps, to assure it is very daring, the group participated in its writing.
“In this version, Abubukaka completely reinvents itself, becoming what will be known as Abubukafka. The new proposal will explore the repugnant of our existence, the disturbing of our decisions, the monstrous of our omissions and the viscous of our complicities. In this vision, all the characters of “The Metamorphosis” are transformed into insects, from the protagonist to his relatives. Gregorio Samsa will experience a gradual transformation, charged with contempt, loneliness and a deep inner exile, in a reinterpretation that challenges and expands Kafka's original.”
I believe, humbly, that what has been stated does not faithfully translate to what happened on stage, it is possible that the monstrosities, the contempt, the inner anxieties, even death, are true, but treated with a superlative talent, which makes it possible to reach the outcome between laughter and doubts, while the public expands and participates in what happens beyond their seats.
Above, on the proscenium, unfolds a human being, sick, vulnerable, member of a heterogeneous family of moth, beetle and butterfly, in a habitat that suddenly is a totipotential house, which can be transformed into a dump, vacation home, or room decorated with Swedish furniture.
Interesting transformation of what at the beginning seems decadent, improvised, but that is transformed into a scenic machinery that turns, emits sounds or lights up, like the bodies of the beetles, which interweave antennas, wings and balls with digital technology.
I conclude, that it is time, with something that is not mine, but Carlos', member of Abubukaka, the one who left me the phone, I think I said it before.
I asked him about the only thing I needed to put the final point to this chronicle: “Is it understood, I know it is justified, but is there any explanation why so many efforts end after only two performances?”
The answer, so that those responsible for our culture can also read it: “Unfortunately in the theater in the Canary Islands there is no other possibility. You raise a show that costs a lot of rehearsal, money and time and you can barely do it all over the Canary Islands about 20 / 25 times with a lot of luck. Really doing theater here is for “passionate”, “crazy”, “freaks” or whatever we want to call it, because it is a very big effort. Only the passion for the craft can turn it into something logical. Look if we like it that we are able to suffer it to then be an hour and a quarter on the boards in order to make people enjoy it and, therefore, us.”