Al margen

An adaptation by Beatriz Jaén of a play by Victorina Durán about Elena, a woman trying to rebuild her life after a separation and claim a place of her own in the face of others' judgement.

Beatriz Jaén writes and directs this adaptation of a play by Victorina Durán, an author associated with the Generation of '27. The piece follows Elena, a woman trying to rebuild her life after a separation while living up to the expectations of her son, her circle and the people who cross her path. From there, the show explores female desire, social pressure and how difficult it is to decide freely when everything is judged from the outside.

The text was written during Durán's Argentine exile and is considered the first work in Spanish theatre to deal with love between women. Elena falls in love with Marcela, who is younger than she is, and must weigh the strength of that feeling against the conventions of her time. The production raises the defence of identities and sexualities outside the norm, a subject Durán addressed in her memoirs. For Jaén, passion is the core of the proposal.

Durán was also a painter, set designer and costume designer. She is linked to the Spanish artistic avant-garde, was involved with the Lyceum Club Femenino and worked alongside Margarita Xirgu and Rivas Cherif before going into exile after the Civil War. Her definitive return to the capital came in the 1980s. The production is staged at the Teatro Español.