Ariadna Gil embodies Maria Magdalena
The National Theater of Catalonia premiere in the Great Hall Mary Magdalenea stage proposal directed by Carme Portaceli which calls into question one of the most deeply rooted accounts of the Judeo-Christian tradition: the identification of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute. The assembly, with text from Michael De Cock and dramaturgy of Portaceli herself and Inés Bozacan be seen until February 22 and stars Ariadne Gil.
“What we have come down to from Mary Magdalene is that she was a prostitute, a repentant sinner. A kind of Pretty Woman of the first century. But in none of the canonical gospels does it say that she was a prostitute”, said Portaceli in the presentation of the montage. From this premise, the show proposes to “deconstruct a hoax of more than two thousand years ago” and analyze how this manipulation of the story has conditioned the view of women throughout history.
An initiatory journey between academic research and personal identity
On stage, Ariadna Gil plays Míriam, a teacher who travels from Brussels to Barcelona to give a conference on Mary Magdalene. What begins as an academic assignment transforms into a personal journey that puts his own identity in crisis, in a vital moment marked by a divorce process and by the constant questions of his daughter. “There is an important rational part, which explains how the story of Mary Magdalene has been constructed, and another of spiritual transformation that goes along another plane”, the actress points out.
The protagonist’s journey confronts her with several characters—mostly female—and with a Portuguese taxi driver called Jesus, played by Romeo Runawhich acts as an unexpected guide. The assembly avoids any dogmatic reading: “We are not here to say what Mary Magdalene was or was not, but to ask ourselves why someone so important ended up becoming a prostitute in the collective imagination”, points out Gil.
Far from wanting to replace one myth with another, the show proposes to open up questions. As Portaceli summarizes, “it’s about recovering a story that has been systematically denied to women” and inviting the viewer to build their own perspective on a key figure in Western culture.
An unconventional proposal
Mary Magdalene it is presented as an unconventional piece, with a staging that combines text, live music, choreography, painting and audiovisual projections. The music, performed live by Laia Vallès with a manipulated piano, coexists with the soprano’s voice Anna Naqewho is also part of the cast. The choreographies of Ferran Carvajal and the live paintings ofAlessandro Arcangeli they contribute to creating a dreamlike and symbolic atmosphere.
“It’s not a conventional show: the visuals, the music and the staging are fundamental to explain what happens to the characters”, underlines Ariadna Gil. In the same vein, De Cock defines the proposal as “a contemporary work, with humor and a point of Flemish-Catalan surrealism” that connects the manipulation of an old story with the current era of fake news.
The assembly is a co-production of the TNC and the KVS of Brusselswhich consolidates the collaboration between Portaceli and De Cock after Mrs. Dalloway i Bovary. After his stay in Barcelona, Mary Magdalene will travel to Brussels and start an international tour.
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