After two years of lethargy due to the scourge of the coronavirus and having endured "very hard months", the sixteenth edition of the Olmedo Clásico theater festival arrives with signs of normality, which will take place between July 22 and 31 in Olmedo itself and It will have 14 "very varied" shows with special emphasis on the figures of the playwright Molière and Santa Teresa -for the fourth centenary of the birth of the first and the canonization of the second-, as announced on Monday by the co-director of the event, Germán Vega.
"We are fragile, we thought we were something else before 2020, but the pandemic has left the cultural system of festivals and companies touched," Vega observed to highlight the importance of theater in the most difficult moments of recent times.
“There is a great strength in culture, the classics made us strong. They did not invent medicine, but we are sure that they have helped humanity", he developed before presenting the conference on the theater of the Golden Age which, complementing the shows, will be held from Monday 25 to Wednesday 27 July under the motto 'The health of the classics'. Its twelve sessions will include presentations, recitals and live dialogues by different representatives of the performing arts industry, including the playwright Juan Mayorga, winner of the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award.
Thus, among the theatrical programming itself, highlights include shows by companies such as Ur Teatro, Noviembre Teatro, Nao d'Amores-CNTC or Atalaya Teatro, among others, which will parade on the stage of the Corrala del Palacio del Caballero and the Centro de Artes Escénicas San Pedro with montages based on texts by Lope, Rojas Zorrilla, Shakespeare, Cervantes or Calderón. The assemblies will cost a single price of 18 euros and the subscription for the complete festival will cost a total of 80 euros.
The contest, which in Vega's opinion has a budget "somewhat less than events of the same relevance", has a budget of 270,000 euros, in addition to the support of the Diputación de Valladolid and de la Uva.
For his part, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Gonzalo Santonja, highlighted the role of the event as a driving force for the promotion of the Spanish language. "It is the most valuable of our heritage, with whose defense and promotion we are radically committed," he assured to stress that the Ministry "works to support the performing arts in its different aspects."
