Subversive drag artist La Gitana shares her passion for Spanish Copla and reveals shared secrets of cultural and sexual identity, being and belonging, and building bridges for survival. Through live music and audience participation, La Gitana summons the longing, memories, and sighs of all those who left their homelands and now live in-between.
The project has recently been presented in London and the Basque country in Spain. In each place, Copla acquires a different new significance based on the previous knowledge of its historical influence or lack thereof. The show explores cultural and generational clashes around gender identification, and challenges the reproduction of a status quo that has been imposed since Francoist Spain.
No new Copla has been written since the mid 20th century or performed outside Spain; however, these songs are appropriated by LGTB collectives and transformed into subversive political tools that cross cultural borders and linguistic barriers to be shared with an international community. As a hybrid experiment crossing cultures, it aims to make Copla accessible to audiences that identify with queer nostalgia and subversion of traditional cultural backgrounds.
Team:
Performer – Alejandro Postigo;
Director, Technician – Andrea Jiménez
Team HisPanic Breakdown (United Kingdom)
14 06 2019 20:30—21:30
Where DISK Theatre