The Family Theater Festival of Es Mercadal and El Petit of Sant Llorenç
Last November, we coordinated two children’s theater festivals in the Balearic Islands, one in Menorca and one in Mallorca. We dedicated the first week of the month to the first Family Theater Festival of Es Mercadal. The initiative, which was promoted by the local council, aimed to include the production of Sa Xerxa de Teatre. Two weeks later, we changed islands and moved to Sant Llorenç des Cardassar to celebrate the second edition of the Festival internacional d’arts per a la primera infància El Petit. Like last year, it was promoted by the Town Hall, managed by Sa Xerxa, and located at Espai 36.
To begin with, the Family Theater Festival of Es Mercadal was a great success, despite being a first edition. The performances took place from November 6 to 10 and alternated between morning school shows and afternoon shows. On Wednesday the 6th, the first school day was scheduled in the classrooms of P3, P4, and P5 at CEIP Fornells and CEIP Mare de Déu del Toro with Cotó by the Txo Titelles company. The following day, it was the turn of the primary school students from the same centers, who were able to enjoy Cabaret Armando Rissotto, also by Txo Titelles. On the Friday of the festival, the performance was directed at the children’s school Arc de Sant Martí with Eriçó, from the same theater company.
After these three school days, open and free performances were held for everyone. On Friday, the 8th at 6 PM, Kuntur was scheduled, presented by the Centre de Titelles de Lleida, at the Sala Multifunctional in plaça Pare Camps. An hour later, in the same venue, Suspensión by Nueveuno took place. The next day, the Centre de Titelles returned with Kujira, a traveling show that departed at 11:30 AM from plaça de la Constitució to arrive at plaça Pare Camps. There, Sinergia by Nueveuno was performed consecutively. The afternoon show –at 5:30 PM– was Una niña by La Rous, at the Sala Multifunctional of Es Mercadal. The last day of the festival was November 10, when Kuntur was repeated at 11:30 AM, and an hour later, the audience enjoyed L’odissea del riure perdut by the Teatre Mòbil de Catalunya, at the Sala Multifunctional.
On the other hand, from November 21 to 24, we celebrated El Petit at Espai 36 in Sant Llorenç with three children’s theater plays. On Thursday, the 21st at 4 PM, El plaer de jugar by Ultramarinos de Lucas took place, a lively and natural experience that invites children to play on stage as actors and actresses. A mi lado, from the same theater company, was scheduled on Thursday the 21st at 11:30 AM and on Friday the 22nd at 9:30 AM and 11 AM as school performances, and also on the same Friday at 5:30 PM. The piece tells the adventure of a woman and a man who inhabit a small white world and travel through play, driven by curiosity, to find each other. Finally, Little night was the play scheduled for Saturday at 4, 5, and 6 PM and Sunday at the same times. Imaginart‘s proposal plays with the night, fantastic characters, the absurd, surrealism… It consists of suggestive images to stimulate the senses of the little ones.
At Sa Xerxa, we highly value the two theatrical productions that we have had the fortune to prepare this November. Promoting the performing arts among the little ones brings us as much joy as it did on the first day. On one hand, we love seeing them laugh and enjoy the school performances, such as those organized at the educational centers in Es Mercadal during their first Family Theatre Festival. Similarly, it fills us with tenderness to see how children get emotional and experience the plays so intensely alongside their families, as was evident in the afternoon performances of the Es Mercadal Festival and at El Petit. All children have the right to experience these moments, and for this reason, decentralizing children’s theatre, as in the two proposals this November, will continue to be one of the strongest ideological foundations of our non-profit association, Sa Xerxa de Teatre.
