Playing with Rossini’s tetris

The intrigue, imbroglio, schemes and delightful confusion of The Barber of Seville which Gioachino Rossini put to music and voice, based on a text by the genius Beaumarchais, continues to display its powerful potential by taking the passion of opera deep into the hearts of young audiences. Everyone can understand and enter the dynamic and mad world of The Barber of Seville whether it be with a general and one-dimensional reading; or by studying the many innuendos and metaphors that hide beneath the surface of its very humorous story.

And surely this is how it really happens, because the existing tensions between two opposing generations in The Barber of Seville, with their different desires, ambitions and ways of looking at the world are analysed by Rossini with an ironic filter that uncovers their tender and vulnerable feelings.

The Real Teatro de Retiro of Madrid, in a co production with the Teatro de la Maestranza, musical direction of Belén Castillo Mena, and staging and dramaturgy by Rita Cosentino, returns once more with its appeal of humour and comedy to narrate a new Barber, the sort of operatic character who travels through the ages with an extraordinary capacity to modernize and adapt to changing historical and social circumstances.

With the participation of young singers from the programme CRESCENDO of the Friends of the Teatro Real Foundation (“Fundación Amigos del Teatro Real”) and in a show designed for audiences as of age 8, the Maestranza invites us to enjoy, much in the same way as children, this tetris puzzle of endless edges and possibilities called The Barber of Seville.