El Gato Manchado
El Gato Manchado, Jorge Amado’s fable about the power of love to transform was the source of two of the festival’s most engaging performances. It tells of the impossible love affair between a disreputable cat and a sweet-natured swallow and how their friendship allows the cat’s admirable qualities to emerge. This simple tale inspired completely different approaches with different endings. Both the Spanish companies succeeded in creating a world where true love does not have a chance against prejudice and hypocrisy. In the joint tabletop staging by Maria Parrato and El Retablo, the approach was more sentimental. They portrayed the cat as a misunderstood loner who ends his own life when, instead of accepting his offer, the swallow chooses to marry the more socially acceptable mockingbird. This version began with what at first appeared to be a discarded stuffed toy being vibrantly brought to life by the puppeteers, who, in addition to animating the rest of the menagerie, delightfully injected life into a glove for the swallow. This heartbreaking telling of the story ended with the cat’s pleading with the puppeteer to release him from her grasp and thereby return him to a lifeless state as an inanimate object.
