‘Bonobos’, the comedy that breaks taboos
This season theEixample Theater retrieve to billboard bonobosthe celebrated comedy of Laurent BaffieFrench playwright who already succeeded with Tap Tap and that here he offers a shameless, messy and surprisingly tender portrait of love and disability. A comedy with airs of crazy vaudeville adapted by Julian Quintanilla and address of Borja Rabanal i Monica Macpher.
The story follows three lifelong friends – a blind man, a deaf man and a mute man – who, fed up with accumulating romantic misunderstandings, decide that the time has come to tie the knot. The strategy, as reckless as it is endearing, consists of seducing three neighbors without them discovering what disability each one has. To achieve this, they deploy all kinds of homemade widgets and improvised strategies. The theory seems simple; practice, not so much. On each date, the two who are not involved try to hide the reality with impossible maneuvers that trigger a rosary of absurd scenes, confusions and perfectly choreographed chaos.
Beyond humor, bonobos raises a question that remains current: what place do people with disabilities occupy in the affective and social dynamics? The text plays with this tension from a lucid perspective, without prejudices or moralisms, but with an awareness of the cultural weight that taboos still have. The comedy reveals the vulnerability of its protagonists, but also their determination and the right of all three to live out their desire with freedom and humor. The title, far from being anecdotal, refers to Bonobos, primates known for having created non-violent societies where communication and contact are tools for coexistence. The author uses this reference to point towards a world where tenderness, sex and empathy do not generate discomfort, but bridges of understanding.
Ariana Bruguera, Marta Figuls, Gemma Iglesias, Mireia Orrit, Jaume Casals, Carlos Pulido i Benjamin Conesa star in this crazy comedy but with a social background. A proposal that makes vaudeville a delicious excuse to remember that love—with or without disabilities—rarely follows a script.
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