Premiere in the Teatro Español of ‘Furiosa Escandinavia’ by Antonio Rojano, winner of the Lope de Vega Prize

‘Furiosa Escandinavia’ is a drama inspired by a reinterpretation of ‘Swann’s Way,’ the first part of Marcel Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time.’ ‘One of the reasons I chose this work was because in 2014, when I was awarded the BBVA Foundation assistance, it was the 101st anniversary of the publication of the first volume, and I wanted to pay homage to Proust. Apart from this, in my opinion we are living in historic times that appear to want a change, and this is the same situation that Proust marked with his novel, which reflects a change in society prior to the 20th century and World War I,’ explains the playwright.

Antonio Rojano, who won the Lope de Vega prize in 2016 with the play, has noted that ‘Furiosa Escandinavia’ represents a personal project with which he has achieved a significant level of maturity that he previously lacked. ‘The BBVA Foundation’s support has allowed me to achieve this. It’s a trip that has become reality, and it has happened as I planned it. It’s a project that has had a lot of luck in the way it has subsequently developed,’ he admits.

The playwright has highlighted the creativity and professionalism of the director, Víctor Velasco, with whom he has worked before. “He’s a very intelligent and brave director. He can find new interpretations of what I’ve written, and in many cases they are more interesting that what you might think. He’s a director you talk to a lot, and that gives very good results because he thinks of the author as part of the production,’ says Rojano.

Antonio Rojano notes that on March 18 ‘Furiosa Escandinavia’ will be performed with surtitles for the hard of hearing and also surtitles in English, to bring the theater within reach of other groups. ‘It was an idea of the director of the Teatro Español, Carme Portaceli, to reach a larger public. Doing it in English as well is a matter of opening up the theater to increase the potential public, so that the culture in Spain also reaches the tourists,’ he explains.

Antonio Rojano intends for ‘Furiosa Escandinavia’ to reach more locations in Spain and to go on a national tour, but he is cautious in this respect. ‘It depends how it does in Madrid.’

Author

Antonio Rojano was born in Cordoba in 1982. In 2005 he won the National Calderón de la Barca Theater Prize, granted by the Ministry of Culture, for his work ‘Sueños de Arena.’

He is author of a dozen plays, among them. ‘La decadencia en Varsovia,’ winner of the Miguel Romero Esteo y Marqués de Bradomín Prize in 2006;  ‘El cementerio de neón,’ winner of the Caja España Theater Prize in 2009; also, ‘Fair Play,’ ‘Ascensión y Caída de Mónica Seles,’ and ‘DioS K,’ a play based on the novel ‘Karnaval’ by Juan Francisco Ferré, directed by Víctor Velasco and premiered by the Teatro Español in the Naves del Español del Matadero space (Madrid, 2016), ‘La ciudad oscura’ and ‘Nací en el Norte para morir en el Sur.’ Currently, he is working on a play thanks to the 1st El Pavón Teatro Kamikaze Grant.

He has also been a scriptwriter for the videogame ‘Deadlight,’ for which he was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 2013 Awards (Best Game Debut).