“The voice of the actor Will Keen resounds within the listener while the verses written by García Lorca and inspired by a city that changed his perception of art, are projected on two screens”.

Flor Gragera de León, El País

On 25 June 1929, Federico García Lorca arrived in New York, fleeing his demons. He was in a deep personal crisis and no doubt, a change of air would do him good. At first, the frenetic pace of the city seemed stimulating to him, but he would soon be horrified by a world that placed man and his ambitions firmly and exclusively in the centre, denying all else. A world that could not be more aesthetically and spiritually distanced from his beloved Andalusia.

From this profound learning experience was born what he called "his lyrical reaction", a collection of fiery verses that he named Poet in New York. Disquieting, raving, nostalgic verses, by turns desperate, mystical, severe, euphoric, illuminated, prophetic... This is the intense narrative of the poet's vulnerable soul, which struggles to decipher the icy fury of the urban, industrial machine. They are a passionate advocate for the link between human beings and nature, and for the responsibility of man towards this link, claiming, from the innermost sentiment, that a life without spirit is no life at all.

Lorca didn't think however, that the world was ready to assimilate in all its crudity what he had written. After his stay in the United States, he wrote a speech whose goal was to provide context to the poems and explain their genesis. The speech combines this intense poetry with a more calm prose that although marked by his fertile imagination, offers a realistic framework. The resulting creation is a sort of dialogue between poetry and prose, between mind and spirit, between locus and numen. Lorca did not impart his speech in the United States, but he did so in Spain and Mexico. And he would never see his masterpiece published. In the summer of 1936, he was assassinated in Granada.

Seventy seven years later, in June 2013, the actor Will Keen and the director, actress and playwright María Fernández Ache presented this piece for the first time at the New York Public Library, produced by the Fundación García Lorca and ACE, as part of a great exhibition honouring the poet. Produced by Bella Batalla and on the occasion of the 37th Autumn Festival, this beautiful and wise lyrical reflection arrives in November, so visionary and necessary for the dark times we live in.

"I am a poet who comes to this hall and wishes to pretend that he is in his room and that you, all of you, are my friends". Will Keen (Oxford, 1970) gives voice to Federico García Lorca, and form to his words. Keen is a renowned actor who has worked in the most acclaimed British theatres (National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Royal Shakespeare Co, Royal Court, Donmart, Almeida, West End, etc.). He has collaborated with the most respected directors and playwrights of Great Britain, such as Richard Eyre, Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Tom Stoppard and Declan Donnellan, among many others. In recent years he has participated in series such as His Dark Materials, The Crown, Wolf Hall and The Refugees.

María Fernández Ache, who is responsible for directing and staging the piece, has also directed and adapted Hamlet (Naves del Matadero, 2012, co-directed by W.Keen); Betrayal, by Harold Pinter (Teatro Español, 2011); and Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor, (La Espada de Madera, 2010). She has also staged Cocina (CDN, Teatro María Guerrero, 2016); As You Like It (CDN, Teatro Valle-Inclán, 2015); Romeo and Juliet (Teatro Principal de Alicante, 2009); and Platform, by Michel Houellebecq (London Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2000), etc. For the last twenty years, Fernández Ache has also worked as an actress and acting coach for several prestigious UK and US series.

Practical information

• Teatros del Canal, Sala Roja
• 16 November, 20.30 and 22.30

Video