TUMBALAFUSTA by Xavier Bobés, Pau Matas & La Ruta 40
Pre-premiere on May 25, 2024, at the Teatre de Lloret.
Official premiere on July 7, 2024, at the Grec Festival (Barcelona).
Season at Teatre Lliure (Barcelona) from January 22 to February 9, 2025.
FETEN AWARD 2025 – Best Object Theatre Show.
XARXA ALCOVER 2025 Award from Mostra d’Igualada.
Nominated for the Catalan Critics’ Awards, Butaca Awards, and Teatre Barcelona Awards in the category of Best Family Show.
PRESENTATION
Tumbalafusta is a show for family audiences that combines text theatre, object theatre and music. It revolves around fundamental themes such as friendship, imagination, childhood, play and the passing of time. Wood is the main element of this proposal, in which two pairs of hands move pieces around the space and make landscapes, stories, games, questions, images, words… appear in an imaginary journey in which performers and spectators will share questions about how the world around us works, following the constant process of discovery that comes with growing up.
SYNOPSIS
A wooden box silently awaits its fate.
Two pairs of hands begin to move their pieces around the space. And landscapes are built as houses, a neighbourhood, a village, a town, a city…
And from the interplay between these four hands and this pair of heads everything is transformed.
Stories emerge from pieces of wood that are home.
From the neighbourhood arise sounds that are music.
And from the city we hear the voices of many boys and girls.
And we wonder what we are doing there.
And we discover how everything around us works.
And we learn.
Numbers, words, images.
And little by little we grow older.
And older.
And we ask ourselves more questions until, at last, we get to the origin of it all:
The tree of life.
ARTISTIC CREW
Creation and playwriting
Xavier Bobés, Pau Matas and La Ruta 40
Directors
Xavier Bobés and Pau Matas
Interpretation
Alberto Díaz and Sergi Torrecilla / Jaume Ulled
Music
Pau Matas
Construction of stage elements
Pep Aymerich
Lighting design
Conrado Parodi and Conchita Pons
Production manager
Maria G. Rovelló
Pedagogical counselling
Laura Tamayo
Technical manager and Technician on tour
Esther Porcel
Director’s assistant and stage manager
Alba Balboa
Communication
Marta F. Martí
Photographer
Juanjo Marín
Production
La Ruta 40 and Festival Grec
Production support
Beca Mans (Viu el Teatre)
Teatre de Lloret
This show was created in residence at Nau Ivanow, Factoria SI and Col·legi de Teatre de Barcelona.
Suported by
REVIEWS AND OPINIONS
“Tumbalafusta avoids, at all costs, coming across as spectacular or pretentious. It deliberately strives to appear humble, approachable, and to connect through the deep humanity of its two performers, the memories and images they evoke, and the reflection it proposes: the passage of time must always be accompanied by innocence. They open up worlds of imagination that manage to captivate and hold the audience’s attention, wherever they may be on their journey of growing up.”
Judit Martinez Gili / RECOMANA.CAT
“I am absolutely a fan of well-thought-out family proposals, with sensitivity and aesthetics, that treat children as intelligent little people. This ‘Tumbalafusta’ is wonderful.”
Clara Narvión / Cultural journalist
“An exercise in sincerity and intimacy (even if fictitious) that connects with the child’s heart, regardless of the viewer’s age.”
Jordi Bordes / EL PUNT-AVUI
“A delicate, intelligent, precious and precise family show. A praise to imagination, to childhood, to friendship and to the passing of time. Bravo.”
Josep Maria Miró / Playwright and director
“A hymn to imagination and friendship for all kinds of audiences that turns scraps of wood from a carpentry shop into living, poetic matter to tell stories and celebrate ourselves. And how difficult it is to go so deep in reflecting on the passing of time from such a simple place.”
Alberto Conejero / Playwright and director