A fun, interactive performance unleashing the inner diva in all of us.
From queer migrant performer, Alejandro Postigo, we are taken on a cultural and political journey through the years: how Copla was born, whatits definition is, the importance of it in the Spanish culture and how it adapted under Franco’s dictatorship.
This is the first English translation of its kind, in which Alenjandro draws on his own personal experiences to help us to understand Copla. With clips of notable Spanish films and tv, he brings the essence alive with his alter ego La Gitana, casually slipping into different diva’s by simply taking a new costume hung up on the wall. We are drawn into the character and to what the song that being performed is about.
With a talented pianist and a violinist, Copla in all its glory is brough to life. Alejandro goes deeper, explaining how Copla was a tool for resistance, with women, ethnic minorities and queer people seeking solace from the regime through song and the impact that ideologies have had on Spanish society, almost questioning issues of identity, social norms, sexual identity and of place where you feel like you are living an in-between life.
With humour brimming, Alejandro really does engage with the audience, bringing a playfulness that I get the impression comes with Copla song. His audience interaction in this lecture-come-cabaret-come-singalong adds a fun element to an otherwise deep and meaningful performance. Simplistic staging-costume and props, brightly coloured against a black background and dramatic lighting for those diva moments, just help to place us in a Spanish bar, where I could imagine such songs being sung. Alejandro does a wonderful job of making the audience feel welcome: it feels like you are talking to a friend reminiscing about their life and the audience interaction, with himself and audience to audience, helps us to understand the connection that Spanish people have with their home when singing Copla.
Copla is an interesting piece. Not only does it introduce the audience to something that perhaps a lot of people haven’t been exposed to- but it is also in some ways, a history lecture full of humorous moments. Despite its cultural significance, there weren’t many times I felt out of place or felt like I wasn’t included in the joke, despite being from a different country and often not knowing the tv show or film being spoke about, which, I think if you boil Copla down to, is what it is all about.