There are only fifty performances scheduled for *El corazón de Ester*, because the performer, Alberto Cortés, loses a part of himself during each performance, until there is nothing left. At the Italian premiere, the show was staged on 5 and 6 September during the Short Theatre Festival presented by Teatro Vittoria. The performance is enchanting and raises questions about love, sex, the body and the role of contemporary theatre.
Theatre/Love
In the performance, Cortés tells the story of a 19th-century woman, Ester, who wrote poems about love and about how she surrenders herself to her lovers until she disappears. To embody her, Cortés dresses as a 19th-century woman at the start. In the dramaturgy, the relationship between Ester/Cortés, theatre/love and the audience/lovers is deliberately ambiguous. Just as in a carnal relationship between the artist and the audience – whom he addresses throughout the performance as „Milord“ – the protagonist Cortés/Ester wishes to love and be loved. She (Cortés/Ester) wants to be desired and adored, just as every lover and every performer does. For this reason, he tells the audience that „seeing is the same as eating“, whilst sacrificing himself in a masochistic ritual.
Whilst Cortés is ‘possessed’ by Ester at the start of the performance, as the show progresses he gradually sheds the character of Ester to become himself again, whilst observing his own performance and his relationship with the theatre and the audience. This process of Cortés reclaiming his own self is clearly evident in the play, both through his clothing and through his remarks to the audience: he asks whether the audience is enjoying the performance, and whether anyone has a gun to shoot him with. He then lists the performances; those in Rome were numbers 8 and 9 out of 50. The number 50 refers to the numbering of the artworks, but also ties in with Ester’s story, as she slowly fades away every time she surrenders herself to someone. The same will happen to the character of Cortés and to the performance; both are destined to be used up within 50 repetitions.
The entire performance seems to be both a critique of and a love letter to the theatre. It’s something I’ve noticed in almost every performance I’ve seen this year, as if the artists are asking themselves and the audience: what is the purpose of theatre? Who are we performing for? What is the role of the audience?
The question is never left implicit; it is posed explicitly to the audience, which creates a sense of unease. For this reason, the set design is bare, without any context or reference to Esther’s era. Instead, the audience can clearly see the theatre with its back curtain, electric winches and so on. There is no longer any magic or trickery, no suspension of disbelief. Everything takes place in a theatre, and for that reason the theatre must be held to account. The theatre therefore does not seem to be a place to soothe our minds, but rather a space where creators reflect on this and invite the audience to engage in a confrontation.
Short Theatre Festival
Short Theatre is a multidisciplinary festival that has been held in Rome since 2006 and is dedicated to international theatre, installations, workshops, concerts, performances and DJ sets. This year, the 21st edition will take place from 3 to 12 September, featuring more than 65 events and around 40 companies and artistic projects, with artists from Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Hungary, Algeria, Libya, Eritrea, Cameroon, Rwanda, Mexico and China. The festival takes place across the city, at both large and small venues, and offers both established and emerging artists the opportunity to present their work.
Since its foundation, Short Theatre has created a distinctive space for research, exchange and interaction, which reflects the changing complexity of the performing arts landscape. The aim is to turn the festival into a platform that showcases the latest European trends, bringing Italian and international artists into dialogue with one another.
That ambition is significant in a city where the contemporary theatre scene is often described as marginal: critics have noted that Rome pays relatively little attention to contemporary and experimental productions, meaning that festivals such as Short Theatre and Romaeuropa offer rare opportunities to see work that circulates more readily in other parts of the country and abroad.
Nederlands 
English (UK) 
Français 