To answer them, they have created this piece in which several stories are presented to us with characters feeling and suffering love (because yes: love is also suffered, especially when that grain of sand begins to appear that ends up becoming an entire desert).
Tip for approaching this theatrical proposal: go with an open mind! Important note. Because we are facing a performance, an act in which there are different scenes and different stimuli that, at first, seem totally unconnected, incoherent, and extravagant. But BEWARE: because in the end, everything makes sense, everything comes together, thread by thread, story by story, to see ourselves reflected in this madness we have just witnessed.
It is a proposal that impacts. Starting with the first scene in which we see the actress (immense!) in a close-up and going through the different emotions that love produces in us. She doesn't move, stillness is the queen of the stage, but, thanks to the camera, we can see every subtle gesture, that small tear, that hint of a smile, of hope, of fear... An impressive work by the actress where we fully immerse ourselves in those emotions that are so loved and so feared, that love produces.
That said: expect a long scene. And that is what prevails throughout the proposal: stillness, calm. There is no rush to tell the story, we are invited to coexist with each scene and savor it second by second. Even if, in the stands, the audience begins to shift in their chairs because they don't understand anything. But, calm down: because in the end everything comes together. Therefore, a little tip: don't anticipate! Open your mind and enjoy.
An immense interpretation in which stillness and contained emotion prevail
Anna Pérez Moya is the actress-performer of this proposal. And she is in charge of telling us an adventure story. And what does that have to do with love? Everything. She takes us headfirst into the heart of the jungle, so we delve into the search for El Dorado, the mythical lost pre-Columbian city.
She barely moves to tell us the story, but her gestures, her diction, her way of narrating, make us feel the humidity of the jungle clinging to our skin.
Poetry and metaphor to talk about love
We delve into this promised quest, this fascinating city so much talked about, and to find it, we are willing to do anything: to get covered in mud up to our elbows, to get lost, to face fearsome creatures... This is the metaphor that Agrupación Señor Serrano gives us about the search for love. And it is beautiful.
Gold appears throughout the work at different moments: emerging from the rubble, with an impressive, precious scene, or dyeing Victorian tableware. Because it is the symbol of this incessant pursuit that human beings undertake every time we fall in love. A pursuit that we are more than willing to carry out, regardless of the consequences.
A proposal that is too long
Història de l'amor is a piece that can become exasperating. Why? Because there are very long scenes. And they are somewhat strange scenes, which can cause discomfort, surprise, or astonishment in the audience. It's good to want to make an impact, but the long duration of these moments can cause the intensity of the message, the thread, the beauty of the proposal to be lost.
I believe that if some minutes were cut (it lasts 80 minutes), the work would gain more strength, more poetry, and less discomfort. I must admit that what happened to me with this play had NEVER happened to me before: during its performance, my attitude was one of strangeness, discomfort, and fascination at the same time. I didn't know if I liked it or not, I didn't have an opinion about it. But, when I saw the end and left the Lliure, I was emotional, very emotional. I believe that if some scenes are cut a little, the rhythm would be better maintained, without causing rejection at certain moments.
A very beautiful staging
The message of the play is very beautiful, very much so. And you understand everything at the end, in the last few minutes. But, in addition to that, the aesthetic is also beautiful. Although it may not seem so at first glance (piles of garbage bags welcome you), a great variety of elements appear on stage that make us smear ourselves up to our eyebrows with mud, colors, shouts, moans...
History of Love is a work that I loved, but it did so in the end. One of those proposals that impact you, surprise you, stir you and provoke something in you: discomfort, beauty, surprise, anguish... But you leave the theater with a full heart and knowing that, just like the protagonist, you do the same every time you open the doors to love: you put on your boots and prepare to dive headfirst into the jungle, no matter what happens.