49th BADAJOZ INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

Forty-nine editions on, the Badajoz International Theatre and Dance Festival continues to be a meeting place. A space where stories come to life, bodies speak, ideas are shared and the stage becomes a territory without borders.

This latest edition once again champions high-quality theatre and dance, a diverse range of productions and new forms of theatrical expression. A programme open to all audiences, bringing together large-scale productions alongside more intimate creations by national and international companies that invite us both to enjoy ourselves and to reflect on and view the world from new perspectives.

Portugal and Extremadura come together once more through the performing arts, strengthening cultural ties that form part of our very identity. This year, moreover, Uruguay joins this dialogue in a special way, building a bridge from Latin America to Europe through visual and object theatre.

The Festival also looks to its own region: to the actors and actresses from Extremadura and to the dance professionals who form part of our cultural fabric. And it looks, in particular, to the future, with the participation of the Extremadura Higher School of Dramatic Art and the talent of those who are currently training to become the creators and performers of tomorrow.

Children and families will also take centre stage. Bringing the performing arts to the youngest members of the audience sows the seeds of curiosity, imagination and emotion, but it also helps to shape the audiences of the future.

Alongside the performances, the Festival will open up to the city with parallel activities that will broaden the experience and create new spaces for meeting, conversation and participation centred on theatre and dance.

But no festival would make sense without its very reason for being the audience.

Every performance begins long before the curtain rises and is only complete when someone takes their seat, watches, listens, is moved, laughs, reflects and shares that unique moment with those around them. The audience member is not an outsider to the stage: they are an essential part of it.

Without performers, there is no show. But without the audience, theatre loses its meaning. This Festival is dedicated to all of them – to those who join us year after year and to those coming for the first time. Because for a few days, Badajoz once again becomes a stage and a meeting place.

Because theatre and dance allow us to cross borders without leaving our seats.

And because as long as there is someone willing to tell a story and someone willing to listen to it, the Festival will continue to have meaning.

Welcome to the 49th edition of the Badajoz International Theatre and Dance Festival.

Hashtag#Free

OCTOBER 10, SATURDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 55 minutes. Suitable for ages 6 and over

Artistic direction and choreography: Daniel Cardoso
Dancers: Beatriz Graterol, Fernando Queiroz, Inês Godinho, Margarida Carvalho, Margarida Santos, Pedro Alves and Upock Qaucavan
Music: Hania Rani, The Cure, Agnes Obel, Ólafur Arnalds, Radiohead, Dead or Alive, RY X and Dead or Alive
Company: Quorum Dance Company (Portugal)

The Portuguese Quorum Dance Company opens the festival with a contemporary dance piece that places creative freedom at the centre of the stage. Directed and choreographed by Daniel Cardoso, Hashtag#Free eschews any stylistic labels to construct an open choreographic language, where movement arises from listening, intuition and the constant interplay between the performers. The stage thus becomes a space for exploration where every gesture finds its meaning in the very moment it occurs.

The piece invites the audience to discover a living dance, in constant transformation, in which body, space and emotion interact naturally. Without compromising on technical rigour, the choreography embraces spontaneity and the capacity of movement to generate new forms of communication. The result is a visually powerful performance that celebrates the present, champions creativity as a realm of freedom and offers a theatrical experience open to multiple interpretations.

Chaos

OCTOBER 11, SUNDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 55 minutes. Audience: young people and adults

Original concept: Juli Disla. Choreography: Cristina Fernández. Direction: José Puchades
Performers: Ramón Ródenas, Lucía Aibar and Victoria Mínguez
Company: Teatre de L'Abast

The laws of the universe serve as a starting point for exploring friendship, love and the decisions that shape a life. Through concepts such as chaos, relativity and entropy, Chaos follows the stories of Viki, Ramón and Lucía, three friends who face the passage of time from very different perspectives. Whilst Viki seeks to share her life with the person she loves, Ramón remains trapped in indecision and Lucía tries to keep a world that continually eludes any certainty under control.

With humour, sensitivity and a perspective steeped in nostalgia, the play reflects on the desires, fears and opportunities that shape our path. Physical theatre, dance and a carefully crafted visual aesthetic come together in a production that transforms the body and movement into tools for exploring the uncertainties of existence and questioning to what extent we are masters of our own destiny.

Mostra d'Alcoi Award 2025
Jury Prize at FUNDAO 2026 (Iberian Theatre Fair)

Manual

OCTOBER 12, MONDAY – 9.00 pm
Duration: 55 minutes. Audience: young people and adults

Playwriting and performance: Cecilia Bruzzone, Maru Fernández and Gerardo Martínez
Directed by: Maru Fernández and Gerardo Martínez
Company: Coriolis (Uruguay)

Manual is a visual theatre performance that dispenses with words, placing hands, the body and everyday objects at the heart of the narrative. Each scene emerges from gesture, movement and actions linked to different trades, transforming the everyday into a theatrical language brimming with imagination, humour and symbolism. The Uruguayan company Coriolis thus creates an expressive universe in which each story finds its own identity, rhythm and form without the need for dialogue.

Through a succession of visually striking images, the production tackles universal themes such as work, power, fear, loneliness and violence from a perspective that combines humour, poetry and a subtle touch of the absurd. Body language, precise gestures and the manipulation of objects take the place of words to construct scenes that invite the audience to interpret and discover new forms of communication.

Far from a linear narrative, Manual offers a journey through a series of short, independent stories that find their greatest expressive power in the simplicity of their staging. The creativity and physical skill of the performers, combined with the evocative power of the imagery, make this production a thought-provoking visual experience, demonstrating how a simple movement can convey emotions, conflicts and profound human reflections.

Out in the Open

OCTOBER 13, TUESDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 50 minutes. Suitable for all audiences

Original concept: Anna Confetti. Directed by: Pep Vila
Cast: Anna Confetti, Meritxell Santamaria and Laia Pineda // Rosita Calvi, Thangi Rey or Susana Fernández, Anna Confetti
Company: Anna Confetti

Three characters and a giant chair are all it takes to rekindle memories of a tradition that forms part of the collective imagination: stepping out into the cool evening air as dusk falls and turning everyday conversation into a moment of connection. With very few words and carefully crafted gestures, the Anna Confetti theatre company creates a series of scenes brimming with humour, tenderness and camaraderie that resonate with audiences of all ages.

Inspired by those neighbourhood gatherings that, for generations, brought life to squares and streets on summer evenings, A la fresca revives the value of spending time with others and of finding great stories in small gestures. The show combines physical theatre, visual humour and a delicate interaction with the audience to celebrate togetherness, listening and the pleasure of gathering around the everyday.

I'm Not Facing You

OCTOBER 14, WEDNESDAY – 9.00 pm
Duration: 60 minutes. Suitable for ages 13 and over

Original concept: María Paz Sayago and Chiqui Carabante
Direction: Chiqui Carabante and Paco León
Performer: María Paz Sayago
Company: María Paz Sayago

Following surgery, a woman wakes up in hospital and discovers that premature menopause has completely altered the course of her life. From that moment on, she embarks on an intimate journey in which the insecurities, fears and questions that accompany the passage of time come to the surface, whilst she tries to understand who she is now and how to face a new phase marked by change.

With humour that is as sharp as it is relatable, María Paz Sayago crafts a monologue that blends emotion, irony and reflection to tackle issues such as illness, maturity, family relationships and female identity. Through memories, confessions and the legacy of the women who came before her, the protagonist pieces her story back together and transforms her personal experience into a narrative that is deeply relatable to the audience.

She combines humour and emotion to explore a stage of life that rarely takes centre stage: female maturity and everything that comes with redefining oneself.

How to Make a Bomb in Your Mum's Kitchen

OCTOBER 15, THURSDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 90 minutes. Suitable for ages 16 and over

Director and playwright: Ruth Rubio
Performer: Teresa Garzón
Sound effects and live music: Ruth Rubio
Company: Las Ignífugas

How to Make a Bomb in Your Mum's Kitchen is a hybrid theatrical production that combines contemporary drama, performance, live sound design and a powerful visual dimension to take us into the most fragile and darkest recesses of the human mind. From a futuristic kitchen in ruins, transformed into a refuge, a laboratory and an emotional battlefield, the protagonist pieces together the fragments of a shattered reality whilst engaging in dialogue with her memories, her wounds and her rage.

Through a poetic, incisive language laced with black humour, the play explores themes such as structural violence, emotional inheritance, the feeling of powerlessness in the face of a world in crisis, and the need to imagine new forms of resistance. The soundscape, generated live during the performance, acts as an extension of the protagonist's consciousness, creating an immersive atmosphere that envelops the audience and makes them witnesses to a constantly shifting mental landscape.

Far from a conventional narrative, it offers an intense, sensory theatrical experience that engages the audience through emotion and reflection. A piece that confronts us with our own vulnerability and invites us to ask ourselves what happens when anger, fear and the desire for change find a platform from which to make themselves heard.

Winner of the 3rd Orlando Hernández Martín International Theatre Script Competition 2025

The Funeral

OCTOBER 16, FRIDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 105 minutes. Suitable for all audiences

Writer and director: Joaquín Murillo. Musical direction: Teresa Polyvka
Performers: Teresa Polyvka (violin), Kike Lera (guitars), Sergio Domínguez (drums) and Joaquín Murillo (saxophone)
Company: Teatro de las Esquinas / Teatro y Moche

A funeral is much more than a farewell. It is a celebration of life, an invitation to reflect on what really matters, to accept setbacks without giving up, to connect on a deeper level beyond words, and to discover that there is always a reason to come together and share.

A group of gypsy musicians invites the audience to bid farewell to Grandfather Dimitri at a very special funeral. What begins as a simple ceremony turns into a veritable whirlwind of unexpected situations, humour, music and emotion.

With characters brimming with energy, extraordinary musical virtuosity and constant interaction with the audience, this funeral turns into a collective celebration where laughter and surprise take centre stage.

An original show that blends theatre and music to offer a unique experience, full of rhythm, imagination and moments that are hard to forget.

The company was awarded the Max Prize for Best Breakthrough Show for Metropolis.

The King Is Dying

OCTOBER 17, SATURDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 95 minutes. Adults and young people aged 16 and over

By Eugène Ionesco. Adapted by Ricardo Iniesta
Directed by: Ricardo Iniesta and Sario Téllez
Cast: Carmen Gallardo, Marga Reyes, Silvia Garzón, Aurora Bas, Jerónimo Arenal and Manuel Asensio
Company: Atalaya

The King Is Dying introduces Bérenger I, an authoritarian and self-centred monarch who continues to issue orders whilst his world crumbles around him. No one obeys him any more: neither people nor things. When he is told that he will die at the end of the performance, he has just an hour and a half to face a fate he cannot control.

Bérenger thus becomes a reflection of humanity in the face of its fragility and limitations. The play offers a profound reflection on power, the resistance to accepting death, and humanity's inability to heed the signs of a world in decline.

Regarded as one of theatre's great meditations on the human condition, The King Is Dying transforms the foretold death of a king into a universal experience: a journey fraught with anguish, defiance, helplessness and acceptance.

A brilliant metaphor for existence and the fragility of power, imbued with the biting humour, absurdity and poetic intensity that characterise Eugène Ionesco.

Camuñas

OCTOBER 18, SUNDAY – 6.00 pm
Duration: 60 minutes. Recommended for children aged 4 and over. Puppet theatre

Directed and adapted by: David Galeano
Original music: Chloé Bird
Actors and puppeteers: Pilar Borrego, Víctor Cerezo and Alfonso Peña
Company: Katua & Galea Teatro

Camuñas is a ragged, scruffy and solitary monster who lives in an old hovel deep in the forest. He has long nails, brews potions and casts spells, and claims to hate little girls and boys. One full moon night, he leaves his hideaway and makes his way to the home of Blanca, a little girl who isn't afraid of monsters and who decides to stand up to him with wit, courage and plenty of humour. A story about courage and the importance of overcoming fears, in which puppets, music and endearing characters take the audience on a journey full of mystery, excitement and laughter.

Based on the story Camuñas by Margarita del Mazo, published by OQO, the play revives characters from oral tradition—such as the bogeyman, the bogey and Uncle Camuñas—to transform them into a contemporary, visual stage production that resonates with young audiences.

Katua & Galea Teatro has created a show that moves, entertains and reminds the little ones that true strength comes from courage. The company previously appeared at the Festival in 2024 with La bruja rechinadientes.

Rhinoceros

OCTOBER 20, TUESDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 90 minutes. Adults and teenagers aged 16 and over

By Eugène Ionesco
Directed and adapted by: Carmen M. Galarza
Cast: César Márquez, Iván Barra, Alberto Madruga, Felipe Barrás, Ricardo Hurtado, Lola Barce, Alba Guerra, Myriam Luna, Julia Cárdenas, Alba Blanco, Noelia Molero, Vera Reina, Selena Portillo and Irene Rosado
Company: ESAD. Extremadura Higher School of Dramatic Art. Final-Year Workshop, Acting Course, Academic Year 2025–2026

Rhinoceros is a dramatic fable about the fragility of individual thought in the face of mass pressure. Through a society that witnesses, almost without realising it, a collective transformation, Eugène Ionesco constructs a powerful reflection on conformism, the loss of identity and the difficulty of maintaining a personal voice in the face of the rise of intolerance.

The play, one of the great landmarks of 20th-century Theatre of the Absurd, raises questions that are deeply relevant today: What happens when we stop questioning reality? How far are we willing to go to defend our own humanity?

This production forms part of the Final-Year Workshop for the Acting Course at the ESAD in Extremadura. The stage production is conceived as a creative laboratory in which the students put into practice the tools acquired during their training, exploring new forms of expression and developing a critical, artistic and human perspective.

An exploration of an essential text that invites the audience to reflect on identity, freedom and the mechanisms that can lead a society to accept the unacceptable.

Dysphoria

OCTOBER 21, WEDNESDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 75 minutes. Audience: adults and young people aged 16 and over

Playwright and director: María Goiricelaya
Performer: Gema Matarranz
Company: Histrión Teatro

Dysphoria (a state of mind opposite to euphoria) is a fictional documentary monologue that takes recent cases of gender fraud as its starting point to reflect on the social response, the legal loopholes and the suffering these situations cause for those involved.

The play begins with a mother in a state of shock: her fifteen-year-old daughter confesses that she is not a girl, but a boy, and that her name is Alex. The difficulty of accepting this new reality is compounded when the police arrive at the family home accusing Alex of sexual abuse. From that moment on, a desperate quest begins to understand, protect and support her son in the face of a situation that puts his identity and rights at stake.

With a sensitive and deeply human perspective, Dysphoria explores gender identity and the impact of transition processes on the family environment, inviting us to reflect on empathy, respect and every person's right to be who they are.

Lorca Award for Best Theatre Production
Lorca Award for Best Female Performer (Gema Matarranz, 2026)
Audience Award at the 2025 Castile and León Theatre Festival

Halley

OCTOBER 22, THURSDAY – 9.00 pm
Running time: 60 minutes. Suitable for all audiences. Contemporary dance

Concept and direction: Jon López & Martxel Rodríguez
Performers: Katalin Arana, Lucía Burguete, Marina Fullana, Laura Lliteras, Marcos Martínez, Edoardo Ramírez and Diego Pazó
Company: Led Silhouette

The piece takes Halley's Comet as its point of reference to reflect on the cycles of history and the great questions of humanity. It features a group of characters attempting to organise themselves and find meaning in their existence before it all begins again. It combines intense physicality and visual impact with a poetic reflection on identity, time and hope.

Led Silhouette is a contemporary dance company founded in 2016 and based in Lesaka (Navarre). Its stage language combines contemporary dance, physical theatre, visual arts and cinematic references, whilst constantly exploring new forms of movement and creating highly visually striking productions.

RNE's 2025 Ojo Crítico de Danza Award

Colour

OCTOBER 23, FRIDAY – 9.00 pm
Duration: 55 minutes. Suitable for all audiences

Script and dramaturgy: Paco Pascual
Artistic direction: Animasur
Performers: Inma Juárez, José Pascual, Ángela Amaya, Maciej Krolikouski, Ángela Cácres and Paco Pascual
Company: Animasur

Animasur's new production reflects on the power relations and mechanisms of domination that permeate contemporary society. From the outset, the production places the audience at the centre of the action to question the role each person plays within structures where the privileges of a few are often sustained by the effort and invisibility of the majority.

Inspired by the dialectic between master and servant, the play poses a question that runs through the entire performance: who really holds the power? Building on this question, the characters create an intense theatrical interplay that invites reflection on obedience, freedom and individual responsibility.

The set design and costumes transform colour into a symbolic element that contrasts privilege and exclusion, whilst challenging accepted concepts such as the so-called 'flesh colour'.

True to the socially engaged theatre that characterises Animasur, Color brings the festival to a close with a visual and critical piece that challenges the audience and invites them to re-examine their own stance on the inequalities of the present.

PARALLEL EVENTS

OCTOBER 10, SATURDAY

Presentation of APEDEX in Badajoz
(Association of Dance Professionals of Extremadura)

Speakers include the president, Cristina Khai, representatives from APEDEX and Daniel Cardoso, director of Quorum Dance Company (Portugal) which opens this year's edition of the Badajoz International Theatre Festival.

APEDEX stands for the Association of Dance Professionals of Extremadura. It was established with the aim of strengthening the professional dance community in Extremadura, defending the sector's interests and promoting the creation of collaborative networks that generate opportunities and spaces for professional and artistic development.

Venue: Café at the López de Ayala Theatre · Time: 11.00 am · Free admission subject to availability of seats

OCTOBER 11, SUNDAY

Repertoire workshop – HASHTAG#FREE
Led by Daniel Cardoso, director of Quorum Dance Company

A workshop to learn the choreography for the piece HASHTAG#FREE, by Daniel Cardoso, in collaboration with the dancer Inês Godinho. An opportunity to learn and practise the repertoire of a professional dance company, whilst delving deeper into contemporary dance technique.

Through this process, participants will be able to explore new forms of movement, stimulate their creativity and develop greater awareness and quality of movement. Target audience: intermediate and advanced trainee dancers, as well as professionals in the sector seeking to enrich their body language and artistic expression.

The Extremadura Centre for Dance and Movement Arts (CEDAM) is directed by María Lama. Daniel Cardoso, founder and artistic director of the internationally renowned Quorum Dance Company, trained at elite institutions such as the Martha Graham School in New York and was formerly a principal dancer with companies including the Peter Schaufuss Ballet.

Venue: CEDAM. Calle Manuel Saldaña 17 · Time: 11.00 am to 2.00 pm
Registration: from 1 to 8 October at 1.00 pm at festivalteatro@teatrolopezdeayala.es · Limited places

OCTOBER 17, SATURDAY

Katua and Galea Children's Shadow Theatre Workshop

Shadow theatre involves creating certain optical effects by shining light onto a light-coloured surface and using marionettes or puppets. These are placed in front of a lamp or light source so that the shadows are projected onto a wall or screen.

In this workshop, participants will learn what shadow theatre is and how to put together a shadow theatre scene. To do this, they will choose different characters from a selection proposed by the illustrator Tomás Hijo. They will create one or more stories depending on the number of participants. It will be a theatrical game in which they will decide on protagonists, antagonists and supporting characters, and will create and write the introduction, the climax and the conclusion of their story.

The company will select the narrators for the different scenes, and the workshop will conclude with a final performance in the small theatre they will set up at Fundación CB, where families can watch the stories they have created.

Venue: Fundación CB (C/ Montesinos) · Time: 11.30 am to 1.30 pm
Maximum places: 20 children · Age: 6 to 12 years
Advance registration from 9 to 16 October at 1.00 pm at festivalteatro@teatrolopezdeayala.es

OCTOBER 18, SUNDAY

3rd UAPEX Discussion Forum: Employment opportunities for actors and actresses within Extremadura's cultural landscape

The aim is to shed light on how the specific characteristics of Extremadura's cultural landscape directly influence the employment opportunities for actors and actresses in the region.

The performing arts sector faces varying degrees of precariousness across different areas. In this regard, the session will analyse whether the existing structure of cultural production in Extremadura – both theatrical and audiovisual – has a favourable or unfavourable impact on these circumstances. It will also aim to provide an overview of how employment opportunities are generated within the autonomous community and the mechanisms through which they develop.

DRAMATISED READING. Presentation and dramatised reading of an extract from the winning play of the third edition of the UAPEX playwriting competition, El viento que nunca cesa (The Wind That Never Ceases), by Luis Prieto.

Organised by: Union of Professional Actors and Actresses of Extremadura (UAPEX) · Venue: Theatre Café · Time: 10.00 am to 2.00 pm · Free admission subject to availability

AUDIENCE AWARD – BADAJOZ INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

The Badajoz International Theatre Festival once again invites season ticket holders to take part in the voting for the Audience Award at the 49th Badajoz International Theatre Festival, which recognises the production most highly rated by the audience.

All scheduled performances will be eligible for this award, which aims to strengthen the bond between the public and the festival, encouraging participation and cultural dialogue around the performing arts.

The production that receives the highest number of votes during this process will be awarded the Audience Award at the 49th Badajoz International Theatre Festival.

Subscribers who wish to do so may cast their vote on the final day of the Festival. A prize draw will be held amongst all participants, with the winner receiving a pass for two people to the next edition of the Festival.