The first weekend of the Hispanic-American Golden Age Festival will feature a total of ten shows, most of them being absolute premieres, and street entertainment in the streets and squares of the Historic Center.
Alcalá de Henares, June 13, 2025.- Under the slogan ‘Dream the classics’, this Friday the 13th marks the start of the twenty-fourth edition of the Hispanic-American Golden Age Festival ‘Classics in Alcalá’, which will host nearly 90 performances of theater, music, dance, circus, poetry, and street performances by 62 national and international companies until July 6.
The first weekend of the festival presents a lineup of ten shows, most of them premieres, along with a wide range of free outdoor performances in the streets and squares of the Historic Center.
The curtain of ‘Classics in Alcalá’ rises, as tradition dictates, at the Teatro Salón Cervantes with the absolute premiere of ‘Numancia’, Miguel de Cervantes’ verse tragedy, a production of Teatros del Canal, with adaptation and direction by the prestigious José Luis Alonso de Santos. He has been awarded in this edition with the Fuente de Castalia award, given to personalities and entities that have excelled in the defense and promotion of classical theater.
Also, on the afternoon of this Friday the 13th, the street programming kicks off with the traditional Baroque show ‘Vertumno. Golden Age and Laughter’ by Atakama Cultural Creativity, Vistequienteviste, and Atutiplan, starting at 8:15 p.m., which will tour Plaza de Cervantes and Calle Libreros.
The inaugural evening of ‘Classics in Alcalá’ closes with the absolute premiere of ‘La Gitanilla’, in the version by the Alcalá-based Ballet Albéniz of the famous Cervantine exemplary novel. The show will take place at the Municipal Auditorium ‘Paco de Lucía’ starting at 9:00 p.m.
From street caricatures to Garcilaso’s sonnets
The day of Saturday the 14th features a total of six events. The first one stars an Alcalá-born graphic humorist, Mon, and is titled ‘The Golden Age of Caricatures’. It will be a stroll through the streets of the Historic Center starting at 11:00 a.m., during which the artist will capture passersby in cartoons.
At 11:30 a.m., the courtyard of the Antezana Hospital will host the comedy ‘The Dog’s Dream’, a production by the Alcalá-based theater group La Jara and Coros y Danzas La Nacencia.
In the afternoon, starting at 7:00 p.m., the auditorium of the Gilitos Cultural Center will be the stage for ‘The Captive Queen’, a production by the Maru-jasp group, which includes live music. At the end of the show, the company members will engage with the audience.
The Corral de Comedias joins the festival lineup at 7:30 p.m. with the Spanish premiere of Calderón’s classic ‘The Daughter of the Air’, performed by the Luna de Plata company. And half an hour later, at 8:00 p.m., the second performance of ‘Numancia’ will begin at the Teatro Salón Cervantes.
The day of Saturday closes at the Chapel of San Ildefonso, starting at 8:30 p.m., with the poetic show ‘Between Rhymes and Riverbanks’, based on the sonnets of Garcilaso de la Vega, in a production by the National Comedy of Uruguay and the National Company of Classical Theater.
Fireworks and stilt walkers on Calle Mayor
‘Between Rhymes and Riverbanks’ opens the day on Sunday the 15th at 11:30 a.m. And half an hour earlier, Mon embarks on his second Baroque caricature walk through the streets and squares of the Historic Center.
In the afternoon, there will be repeat performances of ‘The Captive Queen’ at 7:00 p.m. at Gilitos, and ‘The Daughter of the Air’ at 7:30 p.m. at the Corral de Comedias; and the third showing of ‘Numancia’ at 8:00 p.m. at the Teatro Salón Cervantes.
And to close out the Sunday and the first weekend of the festival, starting at 9:00 p.m., you can enjoy the street show ‘Of Feathers and Other Spirits’, a production from Spain, Bolivia, and Colombia that draws from Andean folklore and mythology, featuring fireworks, stilt walkers, and puppets. The procession will start from Plaza de los Santos Niños and go all the way down Calle Mayor.
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