7 - Theory and Practice

Summary

This chapter expands on the rehearsal process laid out in the preceding description of the rehearsals for El burlador de Sevilla. I also refer to witnessed rehearsals of Corneille's La ilusión under Carlos Aladro's direction, because this allows for a more rounded account of the Abadía process as a consistent entity even when rehearsals are led by different directors and with different actors.

Practice at the Abadía is solidly based on theories that originate from José Luis Gómez's own experience as founding member and creative motor. Gómez spent a significant formative period of his career abroad, generating a particular view of the state of Spanish theatre:

A lo largo de los años de ‘formación y peregrinaje’ que me tocó experimentar durante toda una década fuera de España, tuve el privilegio de entrar en contacto con algunas tradiciones escénicas europeas, vivas gracias a la transmisión tácita de artistas de referencia para las nuevas generaciones y a la acción amorosa de maestros y estudiosos. Nada similar encontré en mi país al regresar, o, al menos, no en la misma medida. Las circunstancias históricas mantuvieron al teatro en España alejado de la evolución que se había experimentado en el resto de Europa. (quoted in Brouwer, 2005: 11)

Gómez explains here that not only had no artist in Spain developed a significant theory or approach to theatre, but there was no culture of a practice-based theory being handed down. Like Els Joglars and Boadella, who had also noted the lack of theoreticians in Spain, Gómez had to turn to Europe for inspiration and training, bringing foreign models back to his home country: ‘Desde este espíritu se han configurado un elenco y un equipo habituados a un trabajo en sinergia, en la tradición de los teatros de arte europeos’ (Teatro de la Abadía, 2008).