A Homage to Katharine of Aragon from Spain

About

Los Músicos de Urueña

Deeply rooted in medieval, renaissance and traditional music, Los Músicos de Urueña - Luis Delgado and César Carazo - take their name from the walled town in Valladolid. It is the home of the Museum of Music where Luis Delgado’s displays over 1200 musical instruments from his collection. Their performance sets the scene for the play that follows.

Maria, Sangra

This play by the Spanish Canarian author, Neftalí Díaz, won the 2019 Katherine of Aragon prize for Spanish dramatists. This is its world premiere, having been translated into English by The Open University. The play tells the story of the relationship between Mary I  (Katharine of Aragon’s daughter) and her husband, King Philip II of Spain. Mary prays to have a son and heir to the throne. Yet as she bleeds due to miscarriages and phantom pregnancies, so the streets of England are stained with blood from persecuted Protestants as she brutally attempts to restore Roman Catholicism.

First half duration, approximately 85 minutes.

Interval

The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca

The evening ends in dance, with a piece adapted by Mayte Ballesteros Dance Company. It is a spectacle which narrates, through the medium of stylised flamenco, the cultural oppression and the search for liberty of five sisters in a small town of Granada in the south of Spain, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Second half duration, approximately 50 minutes