Maña
Cia. Manolo Alcántara
Giant arches mightn’t be your thing, but you’ll still get a kick out of everything fitting together.
/ Artisanship / Transmission / Ephemeral architecture / Ingenuity / Process /
Manolo Alcántara learned to build arches thanks to his father. In Maña, he shows us how he would teach his own son. An exercise in the transmission of knowledge. Maña demonstrates the process of building a giant arch out of very heavy boxes based on the premise of economy of effort and movement. The structure is built using age-old technology that is still in use today, featuring levers, pulleys, wheels… It is a matter of dispensing with smart materials and tools so as not to conceal the artisan’s skills. Craftsmanship plays an essential role and becomes the leading character. The act of choreographing an everyday action such as the assembly of a stage ends up becoming the show itself.
Manolo Alcántara is self-taught. He considers himself more of an artisan than an artist. He creates his shows out of intuition and curiosity, accepting the risks of the circus and changing it into something to be shared with the public. He understands, lives and creates the circus through its evolution. Throughout his career as an artist, he has maintained some constants that endure show after show: patient and unhurried creation, the commitment to suggestion rather than to explanation, attention to visual appearance and the use of innovative structures. He is the winner of the 2021 National Circus Award. Maña earned him the prize for the most innovative show at the TAC Valladolid Street Theatre Festival and the Susana Herreras Prize for Best Show at the ARCA Street Artists’ Festival, both in 2022.
Idea, creation and direction: Manolo Alcántara / Performers: Manolo Alcántara and Joan Trilla / Set design: Manolo Alcántara / Stage construction: Joan Trilla and Manolo Alcántara / Costume design and creation: Rosa Solé / Musical arrangements: Joan Trilla / Sound design: Oriol Planas / Management and production: Clàudia Saez / Production: Cia. Manolo Alcántara / Production support: La Destil·leria / National distribution: Portal71 / Distribution in Catalonia and overseas: AlaPista
Thanks to the Casal de Sant Roc for allowing us to use their facilities.
Supported by: ICEC Generalitat de Catalunya, IRL, INAEM / In collaboration with: Kaldearete, La Colònia Vidal, Can Bach
