TILMUN TEATRO

tilmum teatro

Tilmun Teatro made an early use of video on stage in Madrid and presented live contemporary music. It was featured in national press, and supported by artists who have built outstanding careers in performing arts. After different directing styles over the years, it’s up and running today. 

Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès: Madrid premiere I Caresses by Sergi Belbel: Madrid premiere I Nothing to America by Julio Cortázar: World premiere

“There is a mythical island called Tilmun in the Sumerian culture that lies in the origins of Western civilization. Somewhere in the Adriatic sea, a land of freedom and peace. While attending a PhD program on Film/Media, I was assigned to start a university theater company. Tilmun Teatro was born. We explored stage narratives through an early use of video on stage in Madrid, and live contemporary music. It was featured in national press, and counted with advisor Miguel Ángel Camacho (light), Elisa Sanz and Victoria Velázquez (set/costume). Writer Pedro Vìllora mentioned that Tilmun Teatro showed independent theater level.”

01 Nothing to America (originally Nada a Pehuajó) by Julio Cortázar, is a seminal work somewhere in between Surrealism and Theater of the Absurd. We set four TV monitors on stage exploring new narratives through screens portraying four sides of a (virtual) character interacting with a (live) character. Music was live, original, and contemporary. Upcoming artists and mentors started to collaborate. 02 We staged Caresses by Sergi Belbel a year before its official premiere in Madrid. (I collaborated as assistant director of Guillermo Heras.) 03 Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès was featured by national press in School of Fine Arts, Theater Festival, UCM. Cortázar, Belbel, and Koltès, along with visual narratives and contemporary music, are not common in university theater in Spain today.” —PV

BERNARD-MARIE KOLTES

Bernard-Marie Koltès (1848-1989) was a French playwright and theater director known for The Night Just Before the Forests, (1976), Sallinger (1977), and In the Solitude of Cotton Fields (1986). A close friend and collaborator with director Patrice Chéreau, Koltès followed the legacy left by post-war authors Samuel Beckett, Jean Cocteau, and Jean Genet.

“ROBERTO ZUCCO: Quiero marcharme. Hay que marcharse en seguida. Hace demasiado calor, en esta mierda de ciudad. Quiero ir a África, bajo la nieve. Tengo que marcharme porque voy a morir. […] Me gustaría ser un perro amarillo, roído por la sarna, del que uno se aparta sin prestarle atención. Me gustaría ser un buscador de basuras por toda la eternidad. Quiero marcharme. Hay que marcharse en seguida. Hace demasiado calor, en esta mierda de ciudad. Quiero ir a África, bajo la nieve. Tengo que marcharme porque voy a morir.” [Bernard-Marie Koltès]

SERGI BELBEL

Sergi Belbel (1963) is a Spanish playwright/director that served as director of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. He became well known with his play Caresses in 1992. [Sergi Belbel]

CARESSES I SCENE 1
Living room in an apartment downtown. Young Man and Young Woman.not… Pause

MAN. It’s strange. I WOMAN. What. I MAN. All this. I WOMAN. What do you mean. I MAN. I don’t know if you have realized. I WOMAN. No. What. I MAN. I have a feeling… I WOMAN. Tell me. I MAN. Strange feeling… I WOMAN. What’s up with you. I MAN. It’s like… I WOMAN. Like what… I MAN. Like if no… I WOMAN. No what. I MAN. Like if we have not… Pause I WOMAN. What. I MAN. Nothing to tell each other

JULIO CORTÁZAR

Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), Argentine poet, short story writer, and translator, is part of the boom of excellence in Latin American letters in the 50-60s.

“I think we all have a little bit of that beautiful madness that keeps us walking when everything around us is so insanely sane. […] Only in dreams, in poetry, in play do we sometimes arrive at what we were before we were this thing that, who knows, we are.” [Julio Cortázar]

Nothing to America was described as “theater of the humor and absurd, transgressor, irreverent.” The manuscript was found in Zaragoza, Spain, and, as it happened with Caresses and Roberto Zucco, one year after it was presented by Tilmun Teatro, it premiered nationally.

ROBERTO ZUCCO

CARESSES

NOTHING TO AMERICA

Tilmun is a mythical island called in the Sumerian culture which lies in the origins of Western civilization. Somewhere in the Adriatic sea, a land of freedom and peace.

"The lands of Magan [Egypt] and Tilmun looked up at me.
Enki, moored the Tilmun-boat at the coast,
Loaded the Magan-boat sky high.
The joyous boat of Meluhha
transports gold and silver." --Sumerian writing

Aula de Teatro CM Isabel de España / CM Fundación Sepi I UCM

TILMUN

Tilmun Teatro is a university theater company by CM Fundación Sepi and CM Isabel de España in Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Pedro Valiente is founding director (1992-1994), and set its future through his mentor César Gil (1995-1997), and assistant director José Antonio Díaz (1998-2008).

“Founding cast including José Antonio Díaz, Alejandra Prieto, Almudena Agulló, Alicia Martín, Carmen Mesa, Miguel Gayá, Domingo Rodríguez, Javier Losada, David de Francisco, Pedro Torres, and Matías Fuertes. Antonio Cabello, The Lion King voice instructor, collaborated on directing as well as César Gil, RTVE executive producer, who took over Tilmun Teatro. Producer José Manuel Valiente coordinated the first three works. Juan José Talavera composed music for Penelope is Waiting (2015) video installation. Alejandra Prieto created Bunraku theater for You Are Mythical (2018), documentary film. Both, Pedro Valiente works." --TT

TILMUN TEATRO

1992-1993 | Tilmun Teatro is born in September 1992. Juan José Sánchez, deputy director at CM. Fundación Sepi, assigned Pedro Valiente as Tilmun Teatro first director. Workshop in Fall semester, production in Spring semester. The first project is world premiere of Nothing to America by Argentine Julio Cortázar. Staging includes multiple video monitors, and live contemporary music.

1993-1994 | Second project is Madrid premiere of Caresses by Spanish Sergi Belbel. Staging introduces new dramaturgy in the university, grows in acting, and reaches audience success.

1994-1995 | Third project is Madrid premiere of Roberto Zucco by French Bernard-Marie Koltès. Production is featured in national press. An independent theater, Sala Cuarta Pared, aims to present Tilmun Teatro. Finally, it performs at University Theater Festival at Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

In 1995, Pedro Valiente is awarded the highest grant of the year by the Ministry of Culture of Spain to study filmmaking in New York. He asks his professor César Gil to take over. Company's adviser from start, César focuses on acting, and switches to Spanish modern theater. I Site I Behance

TIMELINE I 20 ANNIVERSARY

1997-2007 | José Antonio Díaz, assistant director from start, becomes third director leading a stable period. In 1999, The Scream of Campanilla by Sara Sánchez, directed by J.A. Díaz, wins Madrid State’s University Theater Festival. An Ideal Husband by Óscar Wilde, directed by J.A. Díaz/Sara Sánchez, is featured in The Reception of Óscar Wilde in Europe (2010) by Stefano Evangelista.

2008-2009 | Sara Sánchez, Beatriz Cobo, Joaquín Manso, José Díaz, and Rosa Torres share directing and stage European theater, active on social media.

2010-2013 | Virginia Frutos is new director, collaborating with Carlos G. González, staging work in Sala Triángulo and Garaje Lumière. In 2012, Tilmun Teatro celebrates its 20th Anniversary. In 2013, University Theater Festival supported by El Corte Inglés and Madrid State.

2013-2021 | Alberto Basas is new director. Known for Libres (2013) TV series, stages Que el tiempo cura (y no es verdad), Buero Vallejo Award for Young Theater in Madrid State (2017).

Founders CM Fundación Sepi I CM Isabel de España I Universidad Complutense de Madrid Collaborator CEV Institutions Ministerio de Cultura de España I Colegios Mayores de Madrid

Press El País I ABC I El Diario Montañés I Guía del Ocio Links Vimeo I Flickr SM CM Isabel de España I Foroasterosteatro Book The Reception of Oscar Wilde in Europe (2010) by Stefano Evangelista (ed), Bloomsbury Publishing, London, p.civ

Directors 1992-1994 Pedro Valiente 1994-1996 César Gil 1997-2008 José Antonio Díaz 2009-2013 Virginia Frutos 2013-2021 Alberto Basas ​​2022 Alberto Basas, Pedro Torguet I 2015 RNE3 Homage to César Gil 2022 Aula de Teatro Video

Butoh Dance I Tilmun Teatro I Early Work I Theater Training