Presas: Powerful Spanish drama of resilience, survival and human complexity comes to life on Brussels stage

Behind bars and iron rules, Ignacio del Moral and Verónica Fernández’s cult play Presas (Prisoners) lays bare the fight for survival and dignity.

TeatroBe is bringing the post-war Spanish drama to the Centre Culturel Jacques Franck under the direction of Diana Campillo from 24 to 28 November.

As is customary for TeatroBe, the production will be in its original Spanish with surtitles in English.

Following highly successful productions of Galceran’s El método Grönholm and Sanzol’s La Ternura, the Brussels theatre group changes gears with a play set within the harsh, unforgiving confines of a women’s prison during a bleak period in the late 1940s.

Says Campillo: “Beyond physical walls lies an invisible cage of hidden sorrows. Yet Presas proves that human connection can flourish anywhere reminding us that while freedom can be locked away, inner dignity cannot.”

In this searing, and deeply human story, the entire prison prepares for an event that takes place every 10 years. During the religious festivities of the Saint Perpetuus Jubilee, the bishop is set to visit the prison and grant a special pardon to one of the inmates.

The prison is an enclosed ecosystem that teems with tension and institutional dysfunction. Nuns scramble under the orders of the chaplain to ensure everything is immaculate for the bishop’s arrival as the warden isolates himself in his office in a state of apathy and heavy depression following his wife’s departure. The prison doctor fights a desperate, losing battle to keep inmates healthy amidst squalid, unsanitary conditions. A defence lawyer compromises his professional boundaries as he falls for one of the prisoners he represents, and an unscrupulous predatory teacher exploits a young inmate’s naivety to draw inappropriately close to her.

At the heart of the tension is a diverse tapestry of female inmates — prostitutes, political dissidents, thieves and murderers, all competing against one another as each believes they deserve the pardon.

Among them are Magdalena, the pragmatic madame, Mari Cruz, the unyielding communist, La Manca, scarred by violence, Paquita, heavily pregnant and desperate, Fuensanta, losing her grip on reality, Macarena, fiercely defiant and refusing to let the brutal system break her spirit, and Teodosia, whose compliance and favour with the nuns have left her ostracised by the rest of the inmates.

As the countdown to the Jubilee continues, the prison transforms into an emotional pressure cooker where hope and desperation clash at every turn.

TeatroBe’s compelling new production brings this powerful story of resilience, survival, and human complexity to life on the Brussels stage.

Presas
24-27 November 20.00; 28 November 14.00 & 20.00
Centre Culturel Jacques Franck
Chaussée de Waterloo 94
Saint-Gilles

Photos: ©Ángel Castillo Perona