Not even the hackneyed expression ‘the curtain opens’ has a place in this experience. Spectators enter the theater seats Quique San Franciscoin the Madrid neighborhood of Chamberiand there is the living room of Jaime’s house. At the moment he doesn’t know all that, but something is sensed. A sofa, a lamp, two doors on both sides… The light is lowered and a screen informs that we are in winter. Very sheltered, two boys enter, among jokes, the house that we have already discovered as soon as we stepped into the theater.
Jaimethe host, is a listener. Luisguest, is deaf. And here the game begins. With the idea of ​​not falling into condescension, the listening spectators, like Jaime himself, have to try to understand Luis, who communicates with sign language and everyday gestures to make yourself understood.
A situation that could cause panic between the stalls, where the spectator, who has paid religiously his entrance, you are not understanding the half. But that’s the idea, it’s a very premeditated creative decision. So a voice-over announces it at the beginning of the play, so that no one runs away. The plot continues. Once the characters are introduced, A screen above the stage will subtitle the remainder of the play for the remaining 85 minutes. After passing through the National Dramatic Center, Edgar Corcoles puts this project by Roberto Pérez Toledo back on stage.
The work
Basic sign language manual to break heartswritten by Roberto Pérez Toledo, is presented as an innovative space in which disability and the accessibility They are not only included, but are the driving force of the narrative. Conceived in sign language and starring deaf and hearing interpreters, this production manages to make communication and its emotional barriers a universal topic.
The story follows the life of a young deaf man in your search for love and self-acceptancewho uses, because it is his reality, the sign language to express emotions that transcend words. Beyond the obstacles and limitations, The work shows how the deaf community lives love and relationshipsexploring identity through a series of fresh and humorous scenes.
The presence of hearing interpreters who are learning the sign language throughout the performance allows the listener-spectator to live an immersive experience that challenges your notions about communication. Accessibility is the protagonist: the work has been designed to be understood without barriers, allowing deaf and hearing people share the same emotional experience. In every gesture and in every silence, Basic sign language manual to break hearts celebrate diversityleading the public to a deep reflection on love, communication and the understanding of what is different.
The work stands out as a example of inclusion in theater and opens doors to new ways of understanding disability, with an audience that, through theater, learn that barriers exist only if you do not seek to overcome them.
Roberto Perez Toledo
Roberto Pérez Toledo, author of the work, he was its director until his death. Now, a group of friends, “after a 14-hour vermouth”, decided rescue the script to take it back to the stage. This is how Roberto spoke about the work before he died:
“As part of that diversity that is life itself, I put the focus back on disabilities or different abilities (a responsibility that I also feel intrinsically, as wheelchair author which I am), united on this occasion with sexual diversity.
The result is Basic sign language manual to break hearts. One step forward, now exploring the possibilities of the theatrical space, in which I meet two characters againLucho and Jaime from my short film yes to everythingto continue telling its story after its idyllic beginning.
A story in which, formally, sign language gains essential strength to talk about identities that they embrace in their twenties, about visible and invisible barriers and disabilities, and about love that faces the challenge of surviving unconscious crushes.
