The play Altsasu premieres this Thursday in Madrid with tickets sold out for all its sessions and an unsuccessful call, by Vox, to boycott it. This production, based on the Alsasua case, and a finalist in the Max Awards, arrives this afternoon at the Teatro La Abadía, after more than 70 performances, with the uniqueness that in front of the theater entrance there will be a rally in defense of “ the dignity of the Civil Guard” and “against the laundering of terrorism.”
The key to the controversy lies more than in the montage itself, which it is not clear that the organizers of the rally have seen, in the topic it addresses in a fictional way. The work, not in vain, is inspired by the Alsasua case, which ended with sentences of between 9 and 13 years in prison, later reduced to a maximum of 9 and a half years, against a group of seven young people - an eighth person was sentenced. to two years - that, in October 2016, they had a brawl in a bar in this Navarrese town with two civil guards and their partners. The Prosecutor's Office even asked that the young people be convicted of terrorism, although the National Court ended up rejecting it.
Those events served to inspire director María Goiricelaya when creating Altsasu, with the help of the company La Dramática Errante. The work is also part of the Cicatrizar project, which through the creation of ten young authors (five from Colombia and five from Spain), seeks to promote a reflection “around the necessary reconciliation that the recent and remote civil conflicts of both countries should face – and are doing so – to imagine and undertake a future without irrepressible resentments.”
Altsasu is performed by Egoitz Sánchez, Aitor Borobia, Nagore González and Ane Pikaza, and was premiered in 2021 at the Arriaga theater in Bilbao. Over the last two and a half years it has been released, in addition to Euskadi and Navarra, in locations throughout Spain, in Colombia and in Uruguay.
The theme it deals with has meant that from the first moment there has been pressure for it not to be released. In fact, already in November 2021, the PP of Vitoria-Gasteiz asked that its premiere at the town's Teatro Principal be canceled, since it "questions Justice" and "conducts on stage a parallel trial of some events that They are sentenced by the courts."
In the case of the premiere in Madrid, Vox has taken center stage in these cancellation requests. Santiago Abascal's party requested the Government of the Community of Madrid to withdraw this work, considering that it "justifies" the aggression, as expressed in a control session to the Government in the regional Assembly last November by the Vox Ana deputy. Maria Velasco,
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Community of Madrid, Mariano de Paco, defended the "freedom", both of theater artists when it comes to showing works like 'Altsasu', and of citizens to "demonstrate" against it. , after Vox has called a rally at the doors of the La Abadía Theater coinciding with its premiere.
Following this statement, VOX spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly, Rocío Monasterio, accused the Community of Madrid of defending the "whitewashing of ETA's terrorism."
The last to speak out regarding this controversy was the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who censored the “mobilizations” of the “extreme right” against the work. “This ministry is going to guarantee freedom of expression, the freedom to carry out works. The artists of this country have the support of this ministry to make the works they consider appropriate,” he noted.
The Union of Actors and Actresses has been "perplexed" at the rally called by Vox in front of the Teatro de La Abadía, a measure that it understands as "signaling and attempted censorship." The Teatro de La Abadía has scheduled a total of 10 sessions of the work, from this Thursday until next Sunday, the 28th, with Monday as the only day of rest. In any case, tickets are sold out for all sessions.
