VACA

A multi-faceted satire on the media and society by Chile’s leading theatremaker Guillermo Calderón

In ‘VACA’ – in English simply ‘COW’ – three worlds meet: a dysfunctional theatre stage, a small, poorly-equipped TV studio and the world of bicycle and motorcycle couriers in precarious working conditions on the streets of Santiago de Chile or elsewhere. The plot of ‘VACA’ can be read consistently on all three levels. It is about a marginalised, now socially ineffective theatre, cheap television that has been reduced to dull talkshow formats and people with a minimal existence struggling to survive.

At the centre of Calderón’s parable is a cow, which a young woman is given as a present. However, the cow is ill and produces too much milk. What is to be done? The decision about the cow’s fate turns into an exercise in justifying cruelty. The play is a sequence of monologues that describe the tragic and comical life of the cow. This drama of absurd ideas slowly and increasingly resembles a degenerated political discussion on TV. ‘VACA’ is a satire of media and society that has long since become reality in many countries. The underlying idea of the project is to show “how people turn into fascists without noticing,” says Guillermo Calderón, Chile’s most prominent dramatist, director and screenwriter. His work is directly linked to the activities of the foundation ‘Teatro a Mil’ initiat- ed by Carmen Romero Quero, which produces Calderón’s projects and is organising one of the most important international theatre festivals. Carmen Romero Quero is one of the three of this year’s winners of the Goethe Medal, which is awarded each year parallel to Kunstfest Weimar by the Goethe-Institut.

German and English surtitle.

Following the performance on 26.8., Thomas Oberender, chair of the jury that awards the Goethe-Medal, talks to Guillermo Calderón and Carmen Romero Quero (Talk in English).