MARTA GONZÁLEZ-HONTORIA Castilla-La Mancha
PHOTOGRAPHS: SERGIO GONZÁLEZ VALERO
Castilla la Mancha
Updated Saturday, March 23, 2024-00:39
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The Dream of Toledo returned to light up the night yesterday in Puy du Fou, the successful historical park one hour from Madrid. It was the premiere of another season of the formidable show, the first of some 150 evenings that this year, from Wednesday to Sunday, will recount 1,500 years of Spanish history in 70 minutes to 7,000 spectators.
It is more than ambitious. It is a colossal show with nearly 200 actors and riders playing 2,000 characters and a technical display that includes
videomapping
and a whole collection of state-of-the-art devices. He has won all the awards. And this year it was released with
15 structural changes
to the script and some extra scenes that cost close to two million euros. "And all this for a change that will be appreciated in just 30 seconds, but we never sacrifice spectacularity to budgetary realism," says Erwan de la Villéon, CEO of Puy du Fou and scriptwriter of all of his shows. We believe him completely after seeing the five hectares that the stage of El Sueño de Toledo occupies.
There is no curtain in the world that hides a set where the city of Toledo is recreated, from the Puerta Bisagra to the walls of the city of the three cultures. There are scenes where 150 actors come together (talents, in the parlance of the park), and in every corner of the stage the level of detail is enormous. So much so that it is not difficult to imagine that behind the immense set there is also a huge amount of work in which more than
80 different jobs
participate : from the technicians who create and synchronize the fleet of drones to the pyrotechnics specialists, from the costume designers to animal keepers, carpenters and painters.
Essay brandishing the sword. SERGIO GONZÁLEZ VALERO
1,700 period costumes
What happens every night behind the scenes is equally electrifying. Going backstage hours before the dress rehearsal is to experience a fantastic maelstrom between galloping horses and crazy costumes with
1,700 period costumes
, sword training, nerves that try to keep themselves at bay and the enthusiasm and energy of the almost 900 people who work on the stage. park. Furthermore, since its premiere in 2019, El Sueño
has only grown
. They started with 4,000 seats and this year they add 3,000 more. "We were short on space," explains José Ramón Molinero, deputy general director of the company, who tells us that on a strong day they can have 12,500 spectators. This year, the goal is to reach 1,300,000 visitors. The park has opened with 500,000 tickets sold and 50 full dates.
Possibilities to grow, they have. Puy du Fou sits on a 70-hectare estate just a few minutes from the capital of Toledo, of which it currently occupies about 25. In addition to expanding the stands of El Sueño, it has incorporated a new restaurant in the Andalusian Askar area and a new performance, Desmayarse, which is the prequel to A Pluma y Espada, the
show
that, like El Sueño de Toledo in the past, has won this year the award for the best show in the world, according to the IAAPA, the
industry's
Oscars
. But the Dream remains the jewel in the crown, the spectacle with which the park was born in Spain.
The riders prepared to enter the scene. SERGIO GONZÁLEZ VALERO
acrobats and fencing experts
Ángela Gregorio (23 years old), in the role of Zaida, among others, and Eduardo Cebrián (28 years old), in the role of Lope de Vega, are part of the cast. She studied Spanish dance, he dramatic art. "We are
actors, acrobats, dancers, people who come from the world of fencing
," says Cebrián. "Here you do things that you never imagined you would do, like dancing in the water," adds Gregorio. Like the rest of the talents, the two will change outfits many times during the show. "Each one has about seven roles," confirms Antonio José Grande, who started out as an actor and today is the artistic director. The performance does not begin until the sun falls and the sky is filled with stars, so these days the appointment is around 8:00 p.m. This means that starting at six in the afternoon the entire talent machinery starts up.
Actors with their costumes and headdresses in tow. SERGIO GONZÁLEZ VALERO
The routine begins with a warm-up and workshops in which each scene is refreshed. The actors, the cavalry, the technicians rehearse, each one on their own. We see Zaida stretching into impossible positions, pairs of boys brandishing swords, oxen being carried from one place to another, geese heading towards the wings, and changing rooms reminiscent of the Marx Brothers' cabin. There he collects each actor the
seven costumes
that he will wear that night. Then he will have to place them in strategic corners behind the scenes to change fleetingly between scenes. And who says costume, says beards, headdresses, fruit baskets, tools, spears and shields that make El Sueño, the great
show
in Toledo.
-Are there nerves?
-It is a stand for 7,000 people. It imposes, of course. It's very exciting.
Preparing the costumes before the show. SERGIO GONZÁLEZ VALERO
It wouldn't be faithful to the period to wear makeup, but when we talk about costumes, Puy du Fou goes all out. Mar Alonso, a specialist in period costumes who came to the park from the world of film and television, is responsible for the costumes. "Today we have 15 people sewing. Our work is continuous. We are in constant R&D," she says. All of the park's changing rooms are designed by Frenchman Olivier Bériot. He then sends a figurine to Toledo and Alonso and her team begin to look for the fabrics, take out the patterns and look for the finishes. "We buy fabrics in
airplane model stores and even fishing stores
. The costumes at El Sueño are nocturnal and contain a lot of water. The materials have to last." And the laundry? "We have special machines that caressingly wash the 1,000 kilos of clothes every night." clothes that are used every day.
A scene from the show.
A script to move
The costumes leave the viewer speechless, but Erwan de la Villéon maintains that The Dream also moves because it tells us about the
characters of our History
. "It makes the visitor dream, but not with rootless things like Pokemon or Batman, but with his heritage. My job as a scriptwriter is to move. It's not about giving a lesson, but about reaching the heart."
The Frenchman fell in love with Toledo when he was looking for a new location for the French park on the outskirts of Nantes. To write the show he studied the History of Spain and surrounded himself with great experts, but he also soaked up the "idiosyncrasy of his characters, their way of laughing and speaking." The task of spinning 1,500 years in 70 minutes lasted two years, although he "could have worked
ten more years
, without a doubt."
For De la Villéon, El Sueño is not only the jewel of the park, but “a living being.” Without giving
spoilers
, this year the 1920s have been incorporated into the script, a time in which brilliant events occurred, such as the first time a Spanish seaplane managed to cross the Atlantic and the first cycling tour in Spain. "Every year we have to change and not so that people return, but to
maintain the demand
and introduce new technological effects. Toledo and Spain deserve the best show in the world."
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