About
Ay Carmela!:
Ay Carmela! plays at Shaw Theatre
100 - 110 Euston Road, London, NW1 2AJ
Seating chart & directions
During the Spanish Civil War, Carmela and Paulino, a vaudeville comedy act, have mistakenly crossed the lines and fallen into the hands of Franco's troops. Forced to put on a performance for the fascists and a group of International Brigade prisoners due to be executed the following morning, they rehearse their show - flamenco songs, the pasa doble and bizarre comedy routines in an atmosphere of increasing tension. But as heels and castanets clatter, and the quick-fire patter flows, their own intriguing story unfolds in an unconventional style, with a dash of magic realism and in a riot of black humour and ghostly passion. It soon becomes clear, however, that they are quite literally playing for their lives.
Ay Carmela! is a story of love and loss - a moving reminder of the failure of the living to learn from the dead, and raises ever-relevant moral questions about war and the political responsibilities of artists.
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