La Fura dels Baus present “Temptacions” in the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya
The play, which explores success and failure via Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale”, can be seen for the first time in Barcelona on Friday the 21st of March
Temptacions (Temptations) is the latest theatrical offering by La Fura dels Baus and has already been performed in a number of theatres in Catalonia. On Friday the 21st of March the piece can be seen for the first time in Barcelona in the Biblioteca de Catalunya, inaugurating the 10th BBVA Festival de Música Religiosa de Vic.
La Fura have taken A Soldier’s Tale, a Faust-inspired piece which Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and Swiss author Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz first staged in 1918, and transformed it into a modern Faustian allegory. In the piece, a soldier, played by Vanessa Papa, sells her soul in exchange for success in the social networks, but comes to the realisation that the pact does not fulfil her or make her happy and she plunges into the depths of misery.
Directed by Miki Espuma and starring one sole protagonist, Temptacions consists of seven scenes depicting the various states of mind of the soldier. The music is a digital version of the Stravinsky composition in which the violin takes precedence and which includes striking dissonances and sharp counterpoints as well as elements of tango and ragtime.
The mise-en-scène includes two 5m by 4m screens which depict a triangle on the stage floor. The intimate theatrical staging features quadrophonic sound and the projection of a series of geometrical figures (pyramids, spheres, cubes...) which create telling metaphors relating to success and failure.