The Copla Cabaret
Friday 6th October
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Time: 8:00 pm. PLAY: The Copla Cabaret
Author: Alejandro Postigo
Director: Sergio Maggiolo
Cast: Alejandro Postigo, Violinist Violeta García, Pianist Jack Elsdon
Producer: Hispanic Breakdown
Suitable for 15+
Running Time: 60 min, (followed by a Q&A) (In English with some verses in Spanish)
No interval.
Venue: Riverside Studios, River Room, 101 Queen Caroline St, W6 9BN, London
Synopsis:
A provocative show exploring the passion and subversion of Spanish Copla in English.
Copla songs channel the queer, migrant experience, and this show is the identity quest of a migrant gay actor as he progressively transforms into his subversive drag persona, who reinterprets Copla songs in English.
No new Copla has been written since the late 20th century or performed outside Spain. However, in this show Copla songs rejuvenate into an inclusive, comprehensive and accessible version for audiences of all backgrounds that are presented with snippets of Spanish history in the lingua franca of musical theatre and cultural exchange.
Biographies:
Author and performer Alejandro Postigo has a PhD in ‘Intercultural adaptation of Copla’ from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. In London, Alejandro is Senior Lecturer at the London College of Music, and he has worked as an actor in West End productions such as ‘In the Heights’ (Kings Cross Theatre), ‘Flahooley’ (Sadler’s Wells), ‘The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake’ (Royal Opera House) and TV sitcom ‘Episodes’ (BBC), among others. He has assisted in West End projects ‘Strictly Ballroom’ (Picadilly Theatre), choreographed musical ‘Nutcracker’ (Pleasance Theatre) and opera ‘The Merry Widow’ (Wilton’s Music Hall), and regularly collaborates with the Royal Ballet since 2012.
Director Sergio Maggiolo is a Peruvian theatre maker with credits in Europe, the US and Latin America. Sergio trained in NYU’s Atlantic Acting School in New York and moved to London in 2014. He defines himself as a chaotic and empathic migrant queer artist, addicted to telling stories and making subversive theatre that explores themes of queerness and colonization. His theatre company Degenerate Fox, is the UK branch of the Neo Futurists, focused on creating non illusory theatre, and he’s recently opened the first Latin American branch of non-illusory theatre in Lima under the name ‘Un Intento Valiente’.
HisPanic Breakdown is a theatre collective that creates original collaborations between English and Spanish artists. Our projects explore themes of identity from cultural perspectives with aims to reduce linguistic barriers and bring these cultures closer. The company is led by Alejandro Postigo, PhD specialist in the international revitalization of Copla. The company’s main project to date, The Copla Musical, has been developed into a musical, a solo drama and this cabaret, and has been widely presented in Europe and America: www.thecoplamusical.com