ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ARE INCLUDED IN THE CONFERENCE FEE

1 SUNSET WALKING TOUR OF CÁDIZ’S HISTORIC DISTRICT (Tuesday, May 26, 8pm).

You will feel that time has gone backwards and you are in the 18th century throughout this walking tour of a unique historic district in all Europe, boasting an architecture you will find nowhere else. An expert in the history of the city will duly enlighten us to the wonders of these cosy streets and popular neighbourhoods. The tour will have its climax in the contemplation, across the sea, of one of the most breathtaking sunsets you will be able to enjoy ever.

2 READING OF THE VERGE, BY SUSAN GLASPELL (Wednesday, May 27, 6:30pm).

In 1921, playwright Susan Glaspell "left the conventions of the stage behind" in creating "a woman instead of a man to incarnate the restless audacious, creative spirit that goes beyond the verge of human experience and social conventions." The play was The Verge, and the woman in question was protagonist Claire Archer, metaphorically engaged in creating a new plant species, but actually seeking a radically different way to be human, especially, woman. The play inspired heated debate over its experimental aesthetics, "half-mad" feminist themes, and "frightening" female protagonist. In an era noted for female characterizations that challenged sexual stereotypes, Glaspell's daughter-disdaining, lover-strangling "female Faust" annihilated them. And in creating her, Glaspell violated that crucially important identity the critics had created for her - that sensitive woman with "fine feminine perceptions" to balance so nicely O'Neill's rugged masculinity. Perhaps ahead of its time, The Verge's linguistic innovations, stylistic diversity, and radical perspectives continue to fascinate 21st century readers and audiences.

The reading is directed by Prof. Cheryl Black and the readers are members of the American Theatre and Drama Society and the Susan Glaspell Society.

3 OFFICIAL RECEPTION AT THE CITY’S TOWN HALL (Thursday, May 28, 1pm).

The mayor of Cádiz will welcome the participants to a city which, during the conference, will be again, as it has so often been throughout its history, a crucible of cultures and people of different geographical origins. The reception will include a taste of delicious sherry, that wine which has made the province of Cádiz famous the world over.

4 VISIT TO LA TÍA NORICA PUPPET CENTER AND SHOW (Thursday, May 28, 8pm).

La Tía Norica from Cádiz is more than a puppetry company. It is a vintage and mocking spirit which represents the idiosyncrasy of a town whose strings are made from the same material as those of the Parcae. “As soon as we opened our eyes to the world” –said an anonymous critic in the magazine Álbum de Cádiz (1851)— “we were taken to that quasi-theatre to laugh with our heart, to clap with our soul”. For generations, gaditanos –inhabitants of Cádiz— of all ages and ways of life —among them, famous local creators like Manuel de Falla, José Mª Pemán or Fernando Quiñones— have shared the same show, complying with an initiation rite into the mysteries of Talía. But also, its fame had quietly spread beyond the boundaries of its home city. Children in Seville in 1870 sang the following verses in the streets, according to Otero’s Tratado de bailes [Treatise on dances]: “A la Tía Norica le ha cogido el toro/ le ha metido el cuerno por el escritorio… [La Tía Norica has been caught by a bull, it has stuck his horn into her `desk´…]. Later, Fedrico García Lorca would immortalise her in 1931 when he wrote the genealogy of one of the most famous characters in the world of puppetry, described in his play El retablillo de don Cristobal [Don Cristóbal is a Spanish version of Punch]: “(…) Here in our company “La Tarumba”, let’s greet today to don Cristóbal, the Andalusian one, Galician Bululú’s cousin, and brother-in-law to La Tía Norica from Cádiz (…)”

The origins of Tía Norica are settled around the mid-C18th, a time in which the love for theatre and the development of carpentry art in Cádiz encouraged the development of puppet shows. In 1815, the artist and carpenter Pedro Montenegro (1770-1857) opened a theatre in Compañía street for his Nativity scenes performed by motion figures similar to others shows in his town. The special feature of Montenegro’s one was to end with a sainete —popular Spanish interlude— performed by puppets that reflected popular characters and famous types in the town. Thus, La Tía Norica is trampled by a bull because of her naughty grandson Batillo; her injuries are so serious that the Doctor comes to visit her and then, the Lawyer’s clerk, to whom she dictates an absurd and nonsense last will.

This figure, La Tía Norica, became so famous that her name would be used for calling the show and the theatre whose official title was dedicated to the Spanish queen Isabel II. After 1868 —when a revolution beginning in Cadiz made her lost the throne— this playhouse was named Teatro Libertad [Freedom Theatre]. When the building was demolished in 1870, the show became a touring one all over the city.

In 1902, Luis E. Chaves (1847-1919) took over the management of the company, introducing the use of electric light. He also built a detachable booth for 200 spectators and an acting area named retablo in it. It consisted of a reproduction of an Italian stage adapted for puppets, which became from then onward the usual place for the shows. In 1920, he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Manuel M. Couto (Seville, 1880- Cádiz, 1947) who established a definite way for the handling techniques of these puppets: first, string puppets, activated form the theatre bridge, held by a vertical “T” or shaped cross-bar, whose centre held the strings for the head and arms, while the legs have a different handle; besides, rod puppets were handled by a manipulator sat on the retablo cellar. Couto also toured several cities and introduced new themes and pieces to the traditional repertoire.

After the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Joaquín Rivas (1919-1993) continued with the shows until 1959, only to reappear in a special perform in the summer of 1974. Two years later the book La Tía Norica de Cádiz by Carlos Aladro was published, in order to preserve the testimony of the last puppeteers. In 1978, the Ministry of Culture acquired the legacy of puppets, sceneries and manuscript pieces, which were kept in Cádiz Museum, giving rise to the present–day ethnographic section. Once restored, the puppets took part in an exhibition in the II International Puppet Festival in Seville (1982); the gaditan puppeteers there, organized an improvised performance. It was so successful, that it was repeated three times and, for this reason, the Cadiz Town Hall decided to bring back the company in 1984 with replicas of the original puppets.

Pepe Bablé started to direct the company in 1985 and, since then, it has continued to combine tradition and modernity, as it always did, with the revival of its repertoire. It has participated in several famous festivals, such as the International one in Madrid (1991) or the ITI Nation Festival in Chile (1993). The Company has been distinguished by various institutions and even awarded with the Gold Medal for Merits in Fine Arts 2002 from the Ministry of Culture. Today, La Tía Norica occupies a provisional hall at the Baluarte of Candelaria until its own theatre is being built on the very site of the former Cádiz Comedy Playhouse.

For the conference audience, La Tía Norica Company will perform the oldest and most classical piece in its repertoire that is "Autos de Navidad". An auto in Spanish theatre corresponds approximately to the English Mystery Plays or Morality Plays/ones. In fact, these Autos by La Tía Norica could be regarded as a mystery play in the same style of those medieval pieces like the ones in Toweneley cycle —Prima Pastorum and Secunda Pastorum— performed in Wakefield (Great Britain) in XV century. In both cases, the audience will find a delicious and popular mixture between sacred and profane, local and universal. The show is divided into several scenes: The Hell; At Herodes’ Palace; Asking for Housing; Announcement to the Shepherds; The Three Wise Men Following the Star; and, finally, At The Sacred Crib. All of them are played in the special style of La Tía Norica’s puppeteers in which improvisation creates a different show every time they are performed.

Note: Original text in Spanish written by Désirée Ortega Cerpa, La Tía Norica Company researcher. Translated into English by Net Translations and published in Ventana al títere ibérico, Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior de España (SEACEX): 2007 (ISBN: 978-84-96933-06-4). [Catalogue of the International Touring Puppet Exhibition organized by SEACEX, Centro de Inicativas de Tolosa and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.]

Text in English revisited and extended for this web by Désirée Ortega Cerpa.

5 VISIT TO CÁDIZ’S ROMAN THEATRE (Friday, May 29, 12:30pm).

After a bus tour of Cádiz’s seaboard and its bulwarks and fortresses, which once protected the city from the violence of pirates and other unwelcome visitors (common among Americans is the remark that they look very much like those of San Agustín, Florida, the oldest town in North America), we will tour the oldest Roman theatre in the Iberian peninsula and will bathe in the aromas of antiquity.

In 1980, in the El Pópulo district of Cádiz, there was a fire in some old warehouses belonging to a company called Vigorito, SA, causing catastrophic damage. In the aftermath of the fire, an exciting discovery was made: the remains of an ancient Roman theatre. The fire had destroyed the warehouses revealing a layer of construction that was judged to be the foundations of some medieval buildings; the foundations of these buildings had been built, in turn, upon much more ancient stones, hand-hewn limestone of a Roman character. Systematic excavations, which still continue, have revealed a largely intact Roman theatre.

The theatre, constructed by order of Lucius Cornelius “The Younger” during the first century BC, is the second largest Roman theatre in the world, surpassed only by the theater of Pompeii, south of Rome. Cicero, in "Epistulæ ad Familiares" (Letters to his friends), wrote of its use by Balbo for personal propaganda.

According to archaeologists, this discovery confirms the greatness of the Roman city of Gades. The ancient city had a population even greater than the 80,000 people who lived in Cádiz during the sixteenth and seventeenth century, when the city dominated trans-Atlantic commerce, and it was one of the most prosperous cities of the Roman empire.

6 CLOSING DINNER (Friday, May 29, 9pm).

We will discuss our impressions of the conference at the closing dinner, to be held at the Parador de Turismo, just across the street from the conference venue. Friendships and professional associations forged during the conference will have here a chance to strengthen. Cádiz offers plenty of opportunities for a late drink, provided you are not tired and want your night to last for a little longer.

SHORTLY TO BE ANNOUNCED ARE PRE-CONFERENCE AND POST-CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES
(not included in the conference fee and to be directly arranged with Viajes Barceló).