La Celestina

Thematic work basis
The following information built the background for the work of �Flamencos en route� and they were included in the definitive production in one or the other form.
Presumably in the year 1499 there comes out a book, probably in Burgos, which contains a �comedy of Calisto and Melibea�. Today it is known under the title �La Celestina� and is regarded as the most important Spanish literary creation from this epoch on the threshold of the modern age. In the only preserved copy of the first edition the title page and therefore the place and year of publication are missing, as well as every indication of the author. A quite unsure matter.
Also inside the text the author isn�t comprehensible. The book consists just of dialogs between the leading characters Celestina, Melibea and Calisto as well as some servant characters, but there is no narrator, no one comments these dialogs. As in a play the characters speak without someone allowing them to speak. The question if the Celestina is a dramatic work which is meant for being performed or if it�s rather a forerunner of the modern novel is still not answered.
In spite of all these uncertainties the book was a bestseller: in the 15th Century it was reprinted in the whole of Spain, translations in Italian, French, German arose. The name of the leading character Celestina became to the common expression for a matchmaker: �una celestina�. Some people thought that the story was true: a Portuguese travel guide from this time mention the house of Celestina as a sight in Salamanca.
In later editions there are found indications of the author, Fernando de Rojas. He was born around about 1475 and died in 1541 in Talavera de la Reina in New-Castile. Though it remains unclarified how far he is responsible for the whole text, he has possibly extended an already existing part of the book and perhaps there were also other writers involved. Therefore the editions of the Celestina today still come out without details to the author.
The story which is told to us is rapidly summarized in broad terms. Actually it would not at all be especially original if it wouldn�t come to such a sad end.
A young man named Calisto falls in love with a lady, Melibea, at a chance encounter. She�s young too, naturally beautiful and above all from a better family and more intelligent than him. Because she first turned him away, he turns via his servants to the known all over town matchmaker Celestina. First, this one conjures the devil and achieves with his valid assistance that after all Melibea falls in love with Calisto. So far, everything goes well but afterwards the undoing can�t be held back any more. Calistos servants demand from Celestina a part of the reward which she has received, it comes to an argument and both of them murder the matchmaker. On their flight, they fall out of a wi

Premiere, 19.10.1991, Zug, Theater Casino

no pictures or audio data files available

La Celestina

Morgenpost am Sonntag, Dresden

„Flamencos en route" played to rapturous applause at the State Operetta. They performed a piece entitled „Celestina", an old Spanish tale about a matchmaker. This story was played and danced though the medium of the „Flamenco", aided in parts by electronic music by the band. What the company managed to extract from their Flamenco was astonishing - the comic, the tragic, the grotesque, the banal, it was even bulging with life itself. The highlight of the show was the fiesta which they created with a typical Cante (song) and guitar - an absolute treat for the Flamenco purist. An illuminating wave of amazement swept over the audience.

Morgenpost am Sonntag, Dresden, 05.06.1993

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

A grasp on all aspects of human life! (...) Every one unique in its own way - a complete look at the (instinctive) lives of humans; what makes them so artful is their ability to make the performance look (almost) like real life. The prize for the top performance is richly deserved by Brigitta Luisa in the role of the matchmaker Celestina, combining the vitality and lust for life of the role in an almost obscene and shocking way with the frailty of an old woman; common and vulgar, but at the same time human and touching. The „Flamencos en route" company is a remarkable phenomenon.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 09.12.1991