What’s it like to return home after being in prison? How have your neighbourhood, your family and your own body changed? Los días afuera [The Days Away] is the second part of a project that began with the film Reas (see the video), which premièred at the Berlinale in February 2024. The film reconstructs the experience of time spent in prison. And the play shows the same characters re-enacting scenes from their life in freedom.
The real life of these people becomes a fiction in which they themselves act, sing and dance. Their biographies since their release are interwoven in the musical: Nacho became a taxi driver, Paula started working in an underground textile workshop, Noelia returned to being a sex worker and an activist for trans women’s rights... The characters themselves reconstruct the challenges of life after prison and share their innermost desires to the beat of cumbia and pop music.
Lola Arias is a theatre and film director and writer who has worked with different groups (from ex-combatants to young refugees), crossing the boundaries between reality and fiction. At the 2019 Grec Festival de Barcelona, she presented Campo minado [Minefield], a story about the Falklands War featuring former soldiers who also appeared in a film directed by Arias: Teatro de guerra [Theatre of War]. This film will be screened at the Filmoteca de Catalunya on 9 July (6 pm) and 14 July (5 pm), along with a colloquium with the director.
A production by Lola Arias Company / Associated producer: Gema Films
Co-produced by Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires, Festival d'Avignon (France), Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre de la Ville Paris (France), Comédie de Genève (Switzerland), Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles (Belgium), Festival Tangente St Pölten, Festival für Gegenwartskultur (Austria), Theaterfestival Basel, Kaserne Basel (Switzerland), Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin (Germany), Nationaltheatret Oslo (Norway), Scène nationale du Sud-Aquitain (Bayonne, France), Le Parvis Scène nationale Tarbes-Pyrénées (France), La Rose des vents Scène nationale Lille Métropole Villeneuve-d'Ascq (France), NEXT Festival (France), Théâtre National de Strasbourg (France), International Sommerfestival Kampnagel (Germany), Théâtre national de Bordeaux en Aquitaine (France), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland), Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm (Germany), The Brighton Festival (England), CDN Orléans / Centre-Val de Loire (France), Fonds TransFabrik – deutsch-französischer Fonds für darstellende Künste.
Set built by the construction workshops of the Théâtre National Wallonie Bruxelles.
Premiere 16 May to 15 June 2024
in Teatro Presidente Alvear at Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires
Text and direction: Lola Arias Starring: Yoseli Marlene Arias, Ignacio Amador, Rodriguez, Estefania del Lujan Hardcastle, Noelia Luciana Perez, Paulita Veronica Asturayme, Carla Romina Canteros Dramaturgy: Bibiana Mendes Set design: Mariana Tirantte Costumes: Andy Piffer Video: Martin Borini Technical direction and light design: David Seldes Musical composition: Ulises Conti, Inés Copertino Musician on stage: Inés Copertino Sound design: Ernesto Fara Choreography: Andrea Servera Director assistant: Pablo Arias Garcia Production and tour management: Emmanuelle Ossena & Lison Bellanger EPOC productions Production, administration Lola Arias Company: Mara Martínez Tour management Lola Arias Company: Lucila Piffer Production, administration Argentina: Luz Algranti & Sofia Medici Technical production: Ezequiel Paredes Production assistant: Juan Manuel Zuluaga Bolivar Set assistant: Lara Stilstein Technical direction assistant: Facundo David Casting: Talata Rodriguez (GEMA Films) Juridic advise:Felix Helou Social work: Soledad Ballesteros & Matias Cori
