Manchas de sangre

A farce by Areta Bolado and Ailén Kendelman, formerly of A Panadaría, that traces the history of menstruation and the prejudices, silences and taboos surrounding the female body and its fluids.

This show is the first production from the new company Torta Torta, created by Areta Bolado and Ailén Kendelman after their time with A Panadaría. The piece addresses menstruation through religion and science, fields that for centuries have observed, regulated and built discourses about bleeding, and it seeks to combine rigour with humour.

On stage, the production mixes very different resources: the exaggerated violence of action cinema, the provocative music of cabaret, an advertising aesthetic and time travel. It draws on personal experiences and on an archive of stories gathered among friends, family members and acquaintances, with anecdotes about the first period, hormonal changes or the symptoms of menopause.

One of its lines of reading sets the discreet gesture of hiding a sanitary towel under the table against the images of bloodied bodies seen on screens in the depiction of war. With irony, the performance asks which spills are concealed and which are shown or celebrated.