The Auditorio de Tenerife has scheduled a performance of La Celestina. Tragicomedia de Lita (La Celestina. The Tragicomedy of Lita), a recreation of Fernando de Rojas’s literary classic play. The show will take place in the auditorium’s La Salita hall under the direction of David Piccotto and starring the actress and clown Julieta Daga. On Friday 21st there will be a colloquium at the end of the show, which will be moderated by the actress and teacher of the Theatre Schools Sigrid Ojel.

The voices of Rojas’ classic are expressed by Lita, who faces an ever-present risk of death and must endure the weight of the scenery that has fallen upon her. Although everything is hanging by a thread and she is exhausted, she laughs, cries, and has a good time right through to the end. La Celestina. The Tragicomedy of Lita is a piece of onstage research into the world of clowning through the lens of the Spanish literary classic.

In this version of La Celestina, the spectator plays an indispensable role in the telling of the story. The texts of Pleberio’s lament in Rojas’s classic are the starting point of this idea. His words permeate the scene, and a dying Lita says:

"Oh, world, world! You seem to me a labyrinth of errors, a fearful wilderness, a land of wild beasts; a provocateur’s game; a fen full of mire and dirt; a country full of thorns; a steep and craggy mountain; a field full of stones; a meadow full of serpents; a lovely but barren garden; a fountain of troubles, a river of tears, a sea of miseries; toil without gain; a sweet poison, a vain hope, a false joy and a true sorrow”.

Lita lies on the stage, tangled in the scenery that has fallen upon her. The actress cries for help, and spectators are subtly invited to take to the stage and perform alongside her. What seems at first to be a one-person show becomes a work of four characters. The actress-clown’s subtle control of the scene gives rise to new forms of acting; the non-acting and the ephemeral nature of the performance provided by those who take to the stage create an element of ceaseless tension and risk.

An astonishing part of the staging of the work appears in the form of a huge spiral that takes on the shapes of surprising figures when it is lying flat and when it is raised. The spiral is modified through the use of ropes that ensnare the body of the actress and are later used by the spectators to generate new images. With the lighting complementing the atmosphere of tragicomedy and the music composed by an expert in Spanish guitar, we are drawn into this dizzying universe that combines the playwright’s texts and the world of clowning.