Memories of the Rose and the Lion

“We want the audience to think about the world that surrounds them, make them question themselves and to question their day to day.”

The Theatre Club is currently working on an innovative project: a dedicated group of 10 IE students have written their own play, an entertaining satire portraying their aversion to certain aspects of life, certainly a reflection worth seeing. They have finished the script, finalized the cast and they are busy rehearsing now. We will be able to enjoy the spectacle by the end of the academic year.

Today, I had the opportunity to meet Timo, the Theater Club Leader, to provide us with some insight and details on the project.

Q: What drove you to create the theatre club?

A: Last year, at the beginning of the second semester, I was bored and wanted to do something challenging: I registered to the Theater Club when I arrived to IE. But later on, I learnt that it was not functioning because no one was running it, therefore I told myself "Let’s make the club alive again!"

Q: Why theatre?

A: It’s the field I have the most experience with. Furthermore, I knew that Salva, a third year, would be willing to help us with everything. Therefore, it would make the whole process a lot easier to manage.

Q: How is the club organised?

A: Salvador Braedt is the Play director and the writer’s team assistant.

I am the assistant director, production manager and I have been in charge of the writer’s team.

Remy Choury is the Production assistant.

Gabrielle Isa is the Music Director.

Myriam Barba Martinez-Laya coordinates the arts team.

Njoud Mashuka leads our team of stylists.

Anurag Phalke is the sound director.

Juanjo Manjarín, the Statistics and Maths teacher is our executive producer, and helps Salva and me to figure everything out.

Since this was a collaborative project, we have a lot of writers –Adam Wilson-Barnes, Alejandra Gimeno Guillermo, Amanda Matesanz Díez, Ghali Laraqui Houssaini, Giorgio Rodrigano, Irene Alvarez Garcia, Sabina Jimeno Guillermo, Salvador Braedt and myself.

The rest of the people are actors, part of one of the teams, or both, as everyone does a little bit of everything.

Q: You decided to write a play? How did it go?

A: When we created the club we wanted to have a long term project that would keep the people motivated to come. Thus, we decided that it was a very interesting experience to write our own play and then produce it. It has been a very interesting experience to coordinate the writing, way more complicated than I expected. Especially because you feel like a teacher when you have to tell people that what they wrote is not what you expect from them.

Q: How did it work to write a Play with 10 writers?

A: Salva and I gave them the framework we conceived, assigned scenes to the people and in the end I made sure that everything was coherent. Juanjo gave his suggestions, I modified according to the suggestions and Salva did the final editing.

Q: What is it about?

A: Well, at the beginning we had two goals: to entertain the people -obviously- but we also wanted the audience to think about themselves and the world that surrounds them. We’re not revealing everything now, you’ll have to stay tuned for more.

Q: Do you have any anecdotes?

A: Yes, this year I was expecting to have Alberto as my statistics professor because I already knew him, as he is Valencian like me. I was very excited to be in his class! The first day I entered the class, I realised that my Statistics teacher was not Alberto but another professor named Juanjo. You know those moments where you question the existence of destiny? Well funny enough, on campus online, on the site of the class, Juanjo had put a small image of a theatre mask. After the second session, I went to ask him about this mysterious mask, and if he was interested in theatre. Once he confirmed, I straight away invited him to the theatre club, after explaining to him the idea of the club and its project. Et voila! He agreed to help us with everything, whether it would be the script, props, lighting, costumes etc…

Undoubtedly, the play does seem an alluring venture! It is a fresh new claim on humanity, a thoughtful insight of our own reality by students for students. The expression of the IE community in its freest way, driven by the passion and hard-work of determined students. We as The Stork, are impatient to see how the project develops and to judge with our own eyes the hard work of all members of the club.

The Title of the play is “Memories of the Rose and the Lion”.

The expected premiere date is the 11th of April.

Stay tuned for further details as the play comes to life!

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