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New performance of the monologue “El Mono desnudo”

ViaNica.com | Jun 18, 2008

Actor Salvador Espinoza during his performance of “El Mono desnudo”
The monologue “El Mono desnudo” (the naked monkey) returns to the Managuan stage. The play, produced by the Nicaraguan Teatro EKO, has been a success in different parts of Nicaragua as well as abroad, and will be performed throughout the month of June in the Sala de Teatro Justo Rufino Garay, and in the Sala Experimental of the Rubén Darío National Theater in August.

The play, which premiered in 1996, is acted out by Salvador Espinoza and directed by Erasmo Alizaga. The text of the work comes from “Informe para una academia”, by German writer Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924). Teatro EKO adapted the play however, to make a more "tropicalized" version of it, according to the protagonist.

Since its debut, the play has been performed repeatedly in Nicaragua and in other countries, such as at the Festival de Espectáculos Unipersonales in Colombia, the Festival de Monólogos in Panama, and in several Spanish cities. Espinoza explained why the original titled was changed into "El mono desnudo" (the naked monkey). Nicaraguan writer Jorge Eduardo Arellano gave a critique after the premiere of the play, saying that "interpreting a character through its dramatic potentiality, Espinoza transforms and transfigures into a "naked monkey", taking on the Kafkian reflection of the absurd human unimportance".

This time, the play will be performed in the Sala de Teatro Justo Rufino Garay, located adjacent to the Parque Las Palmas. Performances are scheduled on June 19, 20, 35, and 26 at this locale. The play will then move to the Sala Experimental of the Rubén Darío National Theater, where performances are scheduled for August 14 and 15.