The Spanish theatrical show “The Garden of the Hesperides” competes for the official competition awards at the 33rd session of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater, through a contemporary treatment of the myth of the nymphs who tended the garden of golden apple trees, those fruits that were linked in Greek mythology to the idea of immortality. The show offers an experience that combines dance, theatre, text, music, lighting, image, clothing and decoration. In an attempt to re-present the ancient myth through a multi-element theatrical language.
Spanish director Alicia Soto presents a feminist reading of the legend. She does not treat the “Garden of the Hesperides” as a mythical place only, but rather turns it into a metaphor for a woman’s inner world, and the private space to which she withdraws, away from the pressures of the outside world, to dream, rest, breathe, and regain her energy. From this perspective, “golden apples” become a symbol of what a woman searches for within her intimate world in terms of strength and the ability to continue, and sometimes to survive.
The show brings together artists from Spain and Morocco, in an attempt to create a dialogue between two cultures that intersect in many human details. The performance team includes Lorenza de Calogero, Paloma Calderon, Sanaa Asif, Esther Lozano and Alethea Soto, while Soto took over the direction, with artistic participation from Abdullah Al-Shukiri, and original music by Abdullah M. Your senses.
Alethea Soto told Asharq Al-Awsat that the idea of “The Garden of the Hesperides” began during her stay in Morocco, where she lived for five years. She explained that she was initially thinking of presenting a work that talked about Moroccan women, but as the creative process developed, she discovered that she was talking about “global women,” and that the topic had become bigger than a specific culture or country.
Soto added that what I wanted from the beginning was to introduce imagination, photography, and cultural identity into the work, along with the colors and scents associated with Morocco, noting that the process of producing her works is usually long and takes about a year, starting with dramaturgy, research, and collecting materials, then moving to the stage of creating the work on stage.
Soto explained that combining Moroccan and Spanish cultures was not difficult for her; Because she lived in Morocco for five years and got to know its culture and personality in a deep way, pointing out that she wanted to build a common theme between the two cultures. This made the process of cooperation between artists easier.
As for choosing the participants in the show, for Soto it was not a traditional search for actresses or dancers as much as it was a search for women capable of entering the inner world of work, noting that she invited a number of female artists with whom she had previously worked, especially since the project was linked to the twenty-fifth anniversary of her company, and she wanted to include in the experience women who knew her artistic language and understood the way in which she worked.
Soto explained that she approached the selection of the Moroccan performer in a different way; She did not conduct a traditional performance test, but rather organized a three-day workshop with a group of women in Morocco, stressing that the workshop was not just a means of selecting a performer, but rather was part of the process of discovering the character and the work itself.
Through interaction with the participants, I found a woman capable of transferring this experience to the stage.
She pointed out that working with women was not based on performance alone; From the beginning, the team sought to listen to their experiences and what concerns their daily lives, pointing out that in Morocco they spoke with women about the home, the relationship with men, dreams, and work. These are topics that seem simple on the surface, but they reveal many details related to women’s position within their lives and society.
Soto believes that the arrival of “The Garden of the Hesperides” to the Arab public is of special importance. Because the work does not stop at talking about women in isolation from their surroundings, but rather places them facing the man and at the heart of the relationship that brings them together, and this dimension prompted her, two years ago, to think about presenting the show in a number of Arab countries, after she felt that the questions raised by the work were able to cross from her Spanish and Moroccan context to other societies.
Soto added that the difference in place does not necessarily mean a difference in the human experience that the show addresses, explaining that she does not reshape the work every time according to the nature or culture of the audience; Because her main goal is to reach him as he is, and leave space for him to find his own relationship with what he sees on stage. The show was presented in Spain, Iraq, Tunisia, Morocco, and Turkey, and in every experience she saw women finding something of themselves within the work.
Soto said that this repeated interaction confirms to her that “The Garden of the Hesperides” does not belong to a local issue or a specific women’s experience, but rather stems from feelings and attitudes that women can recognize wherever they are, noting that the work also speaks about men and human relationships. Because what he puts before the audience is not just a story about women, but rather an attempt to understand the way in which relationships are formed within societies governed, to varying degrees, by entrenched patriarchal structures.
Regarding the presence of the show in the official competition of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater, Soto confirmed that she does not view the work from the perspective of competition; Because thinking about awards can distance the artist from the essence of the creative process, but what concerns her is to present the best presentation she can, whether it is inside or outside of a competition. Because for her, work should not be made in order to win over other works, but rather in order to reach the audience.
Soto added that the award that she actually means is not given by a jury, but is created by the audience at the moment they feel that the show has reached them, stressing that the viewer’s understanding of what is behind the movement, the image and the music, and that he finds himself or something of his experience inside what he sees, represents for her the most important reward, as the audience’s love for the work and its interaction with it remains more valuable than any award the show can obtain.
