One of the already traditional activities included in the Christmas program of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Festivals is the Children’s Theater Christmas Festival. On this occasion, the curtain was raised yesterday, and it will last until Friday with four performances at the Teatro Principal at 7:00 p.m.
The cycle was opened by the Palencian company Pez Luna Teatro, which staged Inventar, inventariar, inventurear with Gianni Rodari, which premiered in August 2021 at the Castilla y León Theater Fair and was recommended in the same year by the State Theater Network , Publicly owned Auditoriums and Festivals, for its intelligent relationship with childhood, its originality and the fidelity of the project to the Italian author.
The work was born as a celebration of the centenary of the birth of the Italian writer, educator and journalist Gianni Rodari (1921-1980). In the show, Professor Gramaticus addresses the need to learn to invent stories from the Curiosa student, answering his questions with invention dynamics drawn from Rodari’s legacy.
The piece is characterized by a markedly motivating character towards childhood’s relationship with books, reading and writing, an objective sought by the company in previous projects. The performers of the piece are the actress, director and playwright Mercedes Herrero, awarded the best actress in Castilla y León by the Union of Actors in 2017, and the plastic creator Patxi Vallés, accompanied by the technique by the creator Miguel Mota. The work team is made up of other creators from Palencia, including Carlos Herrero in the musical composition, a regular collaborator of the company, and the actress Paula Saladin as an expert adviser in the manipulation of objects.
The company defines the show as a “proximity stage toy”, both for its necessary proximity contact for the visibility of small objects and for the intimate relationship that develops in joint creation and the practice of teaching.
Today, the scheduled show is called Cocorico by Katua? & Galea Teatro, which is full of endearing characters. The puppets, the lighting and the soundtrack make this story an essential success for family audiences, a show full of small details with hints of humor and clear references to children’s animated films.
Tomorrow Spasmo Teatro will stage La mejor obra de la historia -a visual and futuristic show for the little ones due to its digital format that is reminiscent of mobile applications and in which performing and plastic arts are combined with a great didactic component-. Finally, the Children’s Theater Christmas Festival will end on Friday with The Wonderful Lamp. A story that deals with a girl named Nur and about her will to fulfill her only wish: that her mother be cured of the disease she suffers from. A wish that cannot be fulfilled, as the genie can only grant wishes for the person who finds the lamp.
Another of the classics of the municipal Christmas programming also began yesterday, the Voices for Christmas cycle, whose stage is the church of San Miguel, with performances at 8:30 p.m. The Camerata Vocal Bella Desconocida was in charge of opening this program by vocal groups from Palencia, in what was their first Christmas concert, presented by journalist Inmaculada Mansilla Sánchez. Today it will be the turn of the Regina Angelorum Choir, tomorrow of the Coral Blanca de Castilla and the Coral Vaccea will close on Friday.