Two years before Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were born, the city of Madrid spawned Lope de Vega, one of the most prolific dramatists in theater history. Vega is credited with having penned 1,800 plays and 3,000 sonnets in his spare time, just to keep busy. Sure, they werent all gems, but 100 of his plays are considered dramatic masterpieces. This Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., Vegas Gatomaquia comes to life at the Adrienne Arsht Centers Carnival Studio Theater as part of the International Hispanic Theatre Festival.
Performed by La Cuarta, a Uruguayan artists collective, Gatomaquia is a tale about cats engaged in an epic battle of love and war. Yes, cats. Before you start thinking you might have seen this before, keep in mind that Vegas cats are thought to have been the inspiration for T. S. Eliots poetry collection Old Possums Book of Practical Cats, which in turn inspired Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical Cats. Vegas work preceded the latter by a mere four centuries.
Wed., July 21, 8:30 p.m., 2010