Are you afraid of clowns or horror stories in which they are protagonists? maybe the play cotton candy, written and directed by Gabriela Ochoa, can help you ward off this phobia in a dreamlike theatrical adventure in which childhood memories are combined with a dose of humor, surrealism, and a hint of nightmare.
cotton candy, in charge of the company Guinea pigs, will be released on 23 of March in it Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Forum Located in the University Cultural Center and will conclude the season on May 14.
The piece deals with how adults relate to or dialogue with our childhood and how it determines the way we face life.
This is narrated from the adventure of a man lost in the middle of a storm, in which he meets three strange clowns who cajole him into entering an abandoned fair. There, in that oneiric, disrupted and delirious scenario, after making a pact with them, he will begin to relive, in each of the attractions, episodes of his childhood.
For Gabriela Ochoa, author and director of the piece, it’s all about a journey that leads the protagonist to unlock forgotten memories. And, at the same time, facing those memories will be the escape key.
The work begins with a funny tone, the protagonist recovering his game spirit, while challenging authority, “until his actions have unexpected consequences and the trip becomes a nightmareOchoa explains.
“It is a dreamlike universe that borders on the macabre, the clowns he meets are not happy clowns, but they generate complicity with the public and make us enter the story through humor. The clowns create a world tailored to the protagonist, recreating his childhood home and posing as characters from his past, such as his mother or father. All of this happens in public view; only the protagonist lives it as if it were true”, details the director.
Gabriela Ochoa, who is a Member of the National System of Art Creators of the SACPC 2021-2024, shares that this black humor work It arose because I wanted to talk about childhood without idealizing it and about all the things that this stage encompasses. It’s a look from adulthood: how an adult relates to his childhood and how everything that happened in that stage can profoundly affect his life.
The staging cotton candy, recommended for an adult audience, combines resources such as oneirism, the absurd, farce, the use of symbolic elements and mask theater. Made from a very cinematographic text, as the author confesses, the work takes us between very rapid changes of place where each actor plays several characters.
In the midst of all these spaces, the storm, the fair, the childhood memories of the character and the personal search for the protagonist intersect. “This exploration was a very enriching process for the whole team. We found an essentially theatrical language to resolve these rapid changes of scenes and characters”, concludes the author.
The cast is made up of Alejandro Morales, Romina Coccio, Carolina Garibay, Miguel Romero and Francisco Mena; in addition to the actor and musician on stage Paco Castañeda. The set design is by Félix Arroyo, the lighting design by Ángel Ancona, the video design by Azael Sáenz, the set design by Genaro Ochoa, the wardrobe design by Giselle Sandiel, the mask design by Felipe Lara, the make-up design by Maricela Estrada and the graphic image of Paco Argumosa; The choreographic advice is from Iván Ontiveros, the direction assistance from Adriana Hohman and production coordination from Raúl Morquecho.
cotton candy” opens on March 23 at the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Forum located in the University Cultural Center (Insurgentes Sur 3000) and will conclude the season on May 14 (it suspends performances from April 6 to 9 and from April 27 to 30, and the May 5. Special function Wednesday April 19). The hours are Thursday and Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 6:00 p.m.; Tickets cost $150, with a 50% discount for students, teachers, alumni of UNAM and INAPAM. On Puma Thursdays the price is $30 pesos.
For more information consult www.teatrounam.com.mx.
