CRISTÓBAL MARYÁN
Django in Pain
A playwright wants to write a happy play, but he can't because Django, his main character, is depressed and has decided to commit suicide
MarYán's most successful theatre project to date. "Django in Pain" has run for 4 seasons in Mexico City, with a 5th season coming up in 2027. It is a cinematic meta-fiction of a theatrical meta-fiction that uses humour, music, and puppets to tell a hopeful story about depression, compassion, and friendship. A reflection on sadness, a moving western, and a musical journey.
How the project began
In the most hopeless moment of confinement as a result of the pandemic, Ana Graham and Antonio Vega set out to tell a hopeful story about depression. Without leaving their apartment in New York and commissioned by The Play Company, they recycled materials to build sets, reused objects, and transformed a glass desk into the stage to create several worlds; from a cabin in the middle of the forest to an ocean where the protagonists coexist with a blue whale. Recording the story with their phone, they explored different techniques, such as miniature theatre, table puppets, and shadow theatre. At the same time, while in his apartment in Mexico, MarYán composed and performed the music that accompanied the story. The project was presented as a puppet film that could be streamed during confinement.
How the project began
In the most hopeless moment of confinement as a result of the pandemic, Ana Graham and Antonio Vega set out to tell a hopeful story about depression. Without leaving their apartment in New York and commissioned by The Play Company, they recycled materials to build sets, reused objects, and transformed a glass desk into the stage to create several worlds; from a cabin in the middle of the forest to an ocean where the protagonists coexist with a blue whale. Recording the story with their phone, they explored different techniques, such as miniature theatre, table puppets, and shadow theatre. At the same time, while in his apartment in Mexico, MarYán composed and performed the music that accompanied the story. The project was presented as a puppet film that could be streamed during confinement.
