• Interview. Natalia Menéndez: "The magic of theater is in resistance"

No public tender, but with a consensus name within the sector. Natalia Menéndez (Madrid, 1967) will be the new artistic director of the Spanish Theater and the Ships of Matadero Madrid , as announced this morning by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida . Menéndez will replace Carmen Portaceli and Mateo Feijóo , elected by public tender during the stage of Manuela Carmena, who separated both scenarios and converted, not without controversy, the Slaughterhouse in the Center of Living Arts, dedicated to the most avant-garde and experimental theater.

The delegate of Culture, Andrea Levy , already made clear her intention to merge both spaces at the end of August to recover the spirit of Mario Gas, who directed them from 2004 to 2012. With the doubt planning if she would repeat the formula of the public contest, which has been used for the recent appointments of Lluís Homar and Alfredo Sanzol in the National Classical Theater Company and the National Dramatic Center , respectively, under the INAEM, the PP Government has opted for direct designation.

The playwright and director directed the International Classical Theater Festival of Almagro for seven years and eight editions. Menéndez took office in 2010 with the festival dragging a debt of 1.5 million euros, which he left clean when he left in 2017, and increasing the number of spectators by 7% per year.

His appointment is a solvent and experienced profile in public management and recognized and respected within the theatrical world. Great connoisseur of the classics and the profession (in addition to a degree in Interpretation and Stage Direction by the RESAD, she has been an actress and adapter), in recent years she has focused on the direction of works such as Tebas Land, of the Uruguayan Sergio Blanco ; Three top hats, by Miguel Mihura , which could be seen in the National Dramatic Center last season; o My girl, my girl , a text by Amaranta Osorio and Itziar Pascual that premiered in March precisely in Spanish.

In fact, in the theater that he is going to direct now he did in 2008 Las cuñadas , by Michel Tremblay . This month, he has just taken the little pony , by Paco Bezerra (who directed Luis Luque in Spain), to Uruguay and is planning to premiere at El embarraso in the palace , by Tirso de Molina , at the Comedy Theater in May 2020. last May he said in this newspaper that the address was what was now on his radar. "When I left Almagro I said that I wanted to lead and it's true. I am at a time when I don't want anyone to depend on me. Management, if you go deep, wears a lot."

Despite this, his name rang among the candidates to lead the CDN and the CNTC. However, Menéndez said in an interview in the Cadena Ser that he would never be presented to a public contest . "I do not believe in them, I do not agree as they are raised, so I will not present myself. I have no interest in presenting myself to a public contest so that then everything comes to light, especially dirty rags. people are very naked, "he said.

The new director of the Spanish and the Ships of Matadero will direct from October 15 the five spaces that add both theaters (four rooms plus the Matadero bar, to which the City Council wants to take more scenic part) and will have to assume the programming of this season closed by Portaceli and Feijóo , whose contracts expire on September 30.

With the return to public administration of Menéndez, there is also a return to the works of repertoire in Spanish, the oldest stage in Madrid with 400 years of history , and the text theater to Matadero Madrid, but without renouncing contemporary theater and avant-garde, as they have assured sources of Culture in recent days. In this way, the City Council intends to settle the controversy that has surrounded its most emblematic theaters since the departure of Juan Carlos Pérez de la Fuente in 2016, with contesting the competitions, hard crossings of accusations and final agreement before reaching trial, He continued with the separation of the addresses of both spaces and exploded after the massive and controversial presentation of the Feijóo Living Arts Center.

Up to 700 cultural professionals, including names such as Blanca Portillo , Sergio Peris-Mencheta , Concha Bustos , Núria Espert , Lluís Pasqual or José Sacristán , signed a manifesto against. There was also another in favor in which more than 250 professionals from the world of culture, such as Rodrigo García , Israel Galván or companies like La Tristura, denounced a campaign of "harassment and demolition" against the Feijóo project.

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