Tala

The passage of time has not diminished one iota the validity of Thomas Bernhard's devastating work, Tala. In fact, its reflection on failure, self-criticism and the human race's inability to solve its own problems is today, more than ever, absolutely necessary.

- MARTA PALLARÈS, DIARI DE GIRONA (19/10/2011)

Juan Navarro is, without doubt, one of the most interesting figures of Spanish contemporary theatre. For the last 10 years a regular collaborator with Rodrigo García and his La Carnicería Teatro company, the actor, musician and director has now embarked on a bold but faithful adaption of Tala, one of the best-known novels of Thomas Bernhard, in the personal and performative language which has characterised his work to date and which, at all times, seeks to connect with the cathartic power of making theatre. Working with him is actor and artist, Gonzalo Cunill, who puts his maximum effort and know-how into the interpretation of a monologue which is absolutely faithful to the author's original.

"You meet the past after twenty years,
and the past turns into a present nightmare,
a deadly trap
where artifice, lies, death, friendship
become costumes of high culture.
Five hours of funeral feast.
In the tomb of art and life,
Bernhard casts shovelfuls of earth until he buries himself more than anyone else
The words save him,
always they have saved him.
And although sometimes he gives the impression of hearing
that no-one saves the human race,
in the acceptance of the inevitable,
Bernhard invites us to glimpse a possible redemption.
Perhaps for not having been born in Styria,
where they are especially fond of suicide."

JUAN NAVARRO

www.juan-navarro.es