In 1667 the English writer John Milton finished his most famous narrative poem, Paradise Lost, a title that has become a literary topic and that, today, Andrés Lima and Helena Tornero have wanted to revisit. “We can believe the poem or interpret it, as we do with the Bible,” says Lima, who directs the theatrical adaptation of Tornero, with whom they sign the dramaturgy of Lost Paradise.
The symbolism of the poem about the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the earthly Paradise goes up to the Greek stage with Pere Arquillué in the role of God, Cristina Plazas as Satanás, Lucía Juárez as Eve, Rubén de Eguía as Adam, Elena Tarrats in the role of la muerte and Laura Font, in that of guilt.
Lima refers that Milton’s poem “is a recreation of the Bible, with the expulsion of Satan and the creation of hell, and above all Satan’s revenge against God with the temptation of the apple, which is when original sin is created. .” The director reveals that this montage is commissioned by the director of Focus, Daniel Martínez de Obregón, “who was interested in the aspect of how rebellion is treated.” The fact is that “Milton fell in love with Satan and ended up praising rebellion, since he himself participated with Cromwell in the regicide, which was the precedent of the French Revolution.”
“Milton was a very puritanical Protestant – Lima continues – and his poem provokes opposite readings, but in any case it is a very beautiful book, which speaks of us. For me, the most interesting thing is that it talks about political morality and establishes the ethics of power, and the relationship between power and ordinary citizens. God tells Adam and Eve that they can do whatever they want except touch the tree of knowledge. In fact, they can eat its fruit, but then they will be mortal. And that’s the same thing with power. They say there is free will but I don’t think so. If you do according to what, they cut your throat. And Eva made a real revolution by biting the apple because she wanted to know”.
Tornero is responsible for the theatrical adaptation and has also made a reinterpretation of the role of the woman, which she explains as follows: The Bible gives little space to this episode of Paradise and, on the other hand, Milton amplifies it and heavily influences the misogyny of the femme fatale, who for being curious and wanting to know brings destruction. That has affected the situation where women have been placed throughout the centuries. And then I wondered what Eva was thinking while she was going through all that, because in the poem the others speak, who are all men”.
The playwright also recalls that “God always knows what will happen and is ahead of everyone. Satan lacks information that God does have.” She adds: “God gives all power to man over all the species on the planet and today we pay the consequences in many aspects, such as climate change. The Earth is a place from which we can be expelled.”
And he concludes: “At that time, the actor was associated with the devil because they both had the ability to transform. What they didn’t say is that he had the ability to question power, and we’ve played that aspect to the hilt in our version.”
Lost Paradise, a co-production of the Grec, the Romea theater and the National Drama Center, will premiere at the Grec amphitheater on July 26 and 27, and will have a season at the Romea in the fall.
