If you saw the future would you try to change it?

Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s 17th century play Life is a dream is about a King who tries to alter fate by locking his son away. This harrowing, thought provoking tale about the conflict between free will and fate and a father and son will be performed by a group puppeteers at the Théâtre des Marionnettes de Genève in Geneva. Performances run from 5 April to 24 April 2016, three with English subtitles. The dates of the English subtitled shows are shown below. It is recommended for those 10 or older.

Life Is a Dream (La vida es sueño), published around 1635, is a philosophical allegory about the mystery of life. The play has been described as a supreme example of Spanish Golden Age drama.

Segismundo, a Polish prince, is imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a dire prophecy that the prince will bring disaster to Spain and death to his father. When the King briefly frees Segismundo, he goes on a rampage and the King locks him up again, persuading him that it was all a dream.

The play, one of Calderón de la Barca’s best-known and most studied works, evokes the uncertainty felt by some Spanish at a time when their grip on Europe was under attack and they began to sense their almighty empire might be slipping into decline.

Following their successful adaptation and performance of Antigone (an ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles), Isabelle Matter and Domenico Carli have created a show which expresses certain political, psychological and metaphysical issues raised by Calderón de la Barca’s work.

Address:
Théâtre des Marionnettes de Genève | Rue Rodo 3 • CP 217 • 1211 Genève 4
Réservation : 022 807 31 07 • fax. 022 807 31 01 • Administration : 022 807 31 00

Suitable for ages 10 and up

60 minutes

CHF 20 for adults and CHF 14 for children and students

Performances subtitled in English:
Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 19h
Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 17h
Tuesday, 19 April 2016 at 19h

Online reservations can be made here. Be sure to select the right dates if you’d like to see a performance with English subtitles.

More on this:
Performance webpage (in French)

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