Premiere
Abbey Theater
October-November 2021
Duration: 1h 30 min
Language: Spanish
Recommended from 12 years
Édouard Louis and Eddy Bellegueule are the same person and they are not. To end Eddy is the story of a transformation, that of the peculiar boy who has to survive in the environment of violence, machismo, poverty, and homophobia in which he has the bad luck to be born. The sensitive and restless boy who must hide his true self to try to be accepted. The teenager who goes out of his way to look like a real man in order to avoid the fate of abuse and humiliation to which he seems condemned. But it is Édouard who, with stark and luminous honesty, tells us the story of Eddy, his suffering and his liberation when he finally manages to flee from that oppressive environment. Because the end of Eddy Bellegueule is the beginning of Édouard Louis, one of the most brilliant writers of his generation.
The disappearance of Gerardo Vera leaves us without the director of this work as planned. José Luis Arellano, Gerardo's pupil, will direct this play that we dedicate to the memory of one of the great Spanish theater directors of recent times. These are the notes that Gerardo left written:
Not since August by Tracy Letts have I been so impressed by a contemporary text.
Eddy is like a thick spit thrown violently against the well-thinking consciences of a society installed in a deep insensitivity towards the pain of others, in a despicable rejection of those who are different. This luminous text by Édouard Louis is impregnated with truth, pierced on all four sides by verbal and physical violence that gives you no respite. It is a desperate cry from an adolescent aware that for his family he is nothing more than a degraded being, a source of shame, repulsion, ignominy; a curse. Echoes of Genet and Koltès, the same violence, the same fragility and the same compassion towards the characters.
It's my first montage for LaJoven. It is exciting to meet them on stage after so many years of following their dazzling path of commitment to the youngest. Being close to David Peralto and José Luis Arellano makes me feel safe directing two very young actors, an unusual challenge in my career. I am very grateful for your trust. I am also in love with José Luis Collado who, once again, has hit the target again with a text in Spanish that gives me the same emotion that Èdouard Louis's novel did when I read it for the first time. Thanks also to the Teatro de La Abadía and Carlos Aladro, its director, for resolutely hosting such an exciting theatrical experience. _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b_cf58d_
Todos contra el cáncer
Édouard Louis and Eddy Bellegueule are the same person and they are not. To end Eddy is the story of a transformation, that of the peculiar boy who has to survive in the environment of violence, machismo, poverty, and homophobia in which he has the bad luck to be born. The sensitive and restless boy who must hide his true self to try to be accepted. The teenager who goes out of his way to look like a real man in order to avoid the fate of abuse and humiliation to which he seems condemned. But it is Édouard who, with stark and luminous honesty, tells us the story of Eddy, his suffering and his liberation when he finally manages to flee from that oppressive environment. Because the end of Eddy Bellegueule is the beginning of Édouard Louis, one of the most brilliant writers of his generation.
The disappearance of Gerardo Vera leaves us without the director of this work as planned. José Luis Arellano, Gerardo's pupil, will direct this play that we dedicate to the memory of one of the great Spanish theater directors of recent times. These are the notes that Gerardo left written:
Not since August by Tracy Letts have I been so impressed by a contemporary text.
Eddy is like a thick spit thrown violently against the well-thinking consciences of a society installed in a deep insensitivity towards the pain of others, in a despicable rejection of those who are different. This luminous text by Édouard Louis is impregnated with truth, pierced on all four sides by verbal and physical violence that gives you no respite. It is a desperate cry from an adolescent aware that for his family he is nothing more than a degraded being, a source of shame, repulsion, ignominy; a curse. Echoes of Genet and Koltès, the same violence, the same fragility and the same compassion towards the characters.
It's my first montage for LaJoven. It is exciting to meet them on stage after so many years of following their dazzling path of commitment to the youngest. Being close to David Peralto and José Luis Arellano makes me feel safe directing two very young actors, an unusual challenge in my career. I am very grateful for your trust. I am also in love with José Luis Collado who, once again, has hit the target again with a text in Spanish that gives me the same emotion that Èdouard Louis's novel did when I read it for the first time. Thanks also to the Teatro de La Abadía and Carlos Aladro, its director, for resolutely hosting such an exciting theatrical experience. _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b_cf58d_
ELENCO
ARTISTIC TEAM
Translation of the original play A MONSTER CALLS based on the novel by Patrick Ness.
Inspired by an original idea by Siobhan Dowd
Adapted by Sally Sookson, Adam Peck and the original company.
Premiered in 2018 by The Old Vic of London, in association with Bristol Old Vic.
Dirección José Luis Arellano García
Traducción David R. Peralto
Escenografía José Luis Raymond y Laura Ordás
Iluminación Juan Gómez-Cornejo (AAI) y Jesús Díaz Cortés (AAI)
Videoescena Álvaro Luna (AAI)
Vestuario Ikerne Giménez
Música Alberto Granados Reguilón
Movimiento escénico Chevi Muraday
DIR. Producción Olga Reguilón Aguado
DIR. Técnica “Está por Ver”
DIR. Técnica LaJoven Daniel Villar
Ayudantía de dirección David Blanco
Regiduría y ayudantía de escenografía Christina Eleftheriadou
Ayudantía de vestuario Laura Camila Forero
Ayudantía musical Antonio Serrano
Técnico de iluminación Óscar Fernández
Técnivo AV David González
Ayt. Técnico iluminación María Díez
Maquinista Raquel Rubio
Prácticas de regiduría Lou Bigué-Suner
Realizaciones Mambo Decorados, Alles Schick (escenografía), Juan Carlos Rodríguez (utilería) Gabriel Besa y Cristina Collado (sastrería).
Guía Didáctica Maite Fernandez, Carmen Yelamos, Elena Trujillo y Paloma Romero
AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL
Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness is the multi-award-winning author of books for adults, young adults and children. A Monster Comes to See Me, inspired by an idea by the late Siobhan Dowd and which Patrick also adapted for the screen (2016, starring Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson and Felicity Jones), is published in forty languages.
An adaptation of the first of his Chaos Walking trilogy - starring Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) - was released in 2021. Patrick has won every major award for children's fiction, including the Carnegie Medal twice, and won the Olivier Award for the theatrical adaptation of A Monster Comes to See Me. He created and wrote the 8-part BBC spinoff Doctor Who Class and as a screenwriter has written for Fox, Lionsgate, Apple, Warner Brothers and Entertainment One.
The first book in his new middle grade series, 'Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody', was published by Walker in September 2024 and will be followed by 'The Hat of Great Importance' in June 2025.
ORIGINAL IDEA
Siobhan Dowd
Siobhan Dowd was born in 1960 to Irish parents. Raised in London, she began her career working in New York for International PEN, where she headed the Rushdie Advocacy Committee and was named one of the “Top 100 Irish-Americans”. Upon her return to the UK, Siobhan co-founded English PEN's Readers and Writers Program and went on to serve as Deputy Commissioner for Children's Rights in Oxfordshire.
Siobhan did not start writing until she was invited to contribute a story to a children's anthology on racism. She went on to write four award-winning novels, celebrating the publication of A Swift Pure Cry and The London Eye Mystery, but Bog Child and Solace of the Road were published posthumously. Waterstones had just named her one of the “25 Authors of the Future.”
She died in April 2007, aged just 47. In her final days, Siobhan set up a trust to direct the profits from her works to fund reading projects for children.
Twitter: @sdowdtrust
ADAPTATION
Adam Peck
Adam is a playwright and winner of the Olivier and OFFIE awards in the UK. He was an associate artist at Bristol Old Vic between 2013 and 2024.
Recent credits include The Jolly Christmas Postman (for Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Cinderella: A Fairytale (for Northern Stage, Newcastle), Oliver Twist and 101 Dalmatians (for Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol), Orpheus & Eurydice and Belle & Sebastian (for Bristol Old Vic), and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (for Chris Harper Productions, West End & UK Tour).
His plays have been published by Bloomsbury and Walker Books.
DIRECTION
José Luis Arellano
With a degree in Dramatic Art from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid, he has developed his career mainly in Spain and the United States. His latest works as a director are 'Peter and Wendy heading to Neverland' by Nando López, 'War&Love' written by Carlos Be and 'Yo te querré' by Proyecto Zarza. He is also a regular guest director at GALA Theatre in Washington DC where he won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Direction for Yerma in 2015.
He is artistic director and founder of LaJoven. With it he has directed numerous productions with texts and commissioned versions of authors such as Juan Mayorga, Jordi Casanovas, Irma Correa, Marta Buchaca, Alberto Conejero, Guillem Clua and Nando López with great reception by the public and which have earned him awards such as Finalist for the Valle-Inclán Award for 'Proyecto Homero: Ilíada/ Odisea' and Finalist in the MAX Awards for 'El señor de las moscas' and 'Eneida: Playlist para un continente a la deriva'.
