Focs/Vatre

The Belgian writer Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-87) published Feux in 1936. In that sequence of lyrical prose pieces based on figures from Greek mythology, Yourcenar addresses the unrest of her time, uncovering “another History”, while making a transgressing reading of the classics. Revisiting the concept of love, she finds flesh and blood sisters in Clytemnestra, Antigone, Sappho, Mary Magdalene or Phaedra. Directing a Serbian-Spanish co-production, Carme Portaceli proposes a common emotional journey, labouring on María Velasco’s version. With a bewildering sense of humour, Focs/Vatre summons a group of testimonial characters, from yesterday and today, offering a lucid vision of their suffering. On this reflective crossfire between myth and contemporaneity, the characters (and us, the viewers) access a conscience that, in the words of the dramaturgist, will “give birth to the future”.