EL OTRO DEL 27_ Rafael de León

Pedro Casablanc plays the Seville-born poet Rafael de León in a show that traces the career of an author who is both widely known and little studied within twentieth-century Spanish culture.

Pedro Casablanc plays Rafael de León in this stage production, which seeks to recover the biography of the man who was behind some of the great names of copla. The show also raises a debate about the place of this genre within Spanish culture, questioning the traditional boundary between high culture and popular culture, and defends the literary and emotional value of a music that reached millions of people.

Music is central. Juan Valderrama sings the songs and also plays Federico García Lorca, in a dialogue between two figures united by poetry, Andalusia and a shared generation. Carlos de Austria plays Manuel Quiroga, and Roko brings to life Imperio Argentina and Margarita Xirgu. Guillem Calafí is also part of the cast. The production features the musicians Rubén Levaniegos, Dany Noel and Lieta Molinet.

The production is directed by Santiago Sánchez and Víctor Lucas. On stage, characters, songs and poems combine to reconstruct an era and vindicate the figure of an author who, according to the production, did not occupy the place that corresponded to him in the official history of literature. The show is staged in the Sala Roja Concha Velasco of the Teatros del Canal, a space that mainly programmes theatre and also hosts concerts.