The Donostia-San Sebastian Pocket Theatre Festival is organized with the aim of bringing the play closer to the people by removing it from the traditional theatrical spaces. Instead of bringing viewers closer to theatres, it's the theater itself that goes to the viewer. The program prepared for this XXI edition by Donostia Kultura and the Cultural Action Unit includes ten small and medium-sized works, two of them in Basque: Other Sides and Mirror. From May 17 to June 3 you can see proposals in almost all the neighborhoods of the city, where music and humor, bertsos, theatre, magic or monologues will cross, as artistic diversity is one of the hallmarks of the project.

Jon Aizpurua, head of the Cultural Play of Donostia Kultura, has underlined the importance of extending culture to all corners of the capital through the Pocket Theatre: “We believe it is important to promote cultural life in the neighborhoods, both through the Pocket Theatre and through other cultural offerings.” In this sense, it is intended to bring the theater to places where people of all ages and types move, mainly bars, but also to other spaces, such as the youth center of Martutene or the Public School of Igeldo. “Depending on the audience we want to reach, we choose bars of all kinds, and then, regardless of the spectator’s profile, we carry one function or another.”

The organizers of this festival also have another objective: “We seek to give a boost to theatrical production in Euskera.” In fact, according to Jon Aizpurua, the offer of works in Euskera in the field of small and medium-sized theatre in general is very scarce at present: “In this year’s edition, only two out of ten performances will be in Euskera, but that is the reflection of the production that currently exists in Euskal Herria.” However, the organizers of the festival want to influence this production, and for this reason, this year for the second consecutive year they have launched the call Teatro de Pocket,in collaboration with Donostia Kultura, the Euskera Service of the City of Donostia and Euskal Herriko Antzerkizale Elkartea. “Each year, thanks to this competition, we will have at least one production in Basque.” The awarded work will be awarded a cash prize of EUR
3,000 and, in addition, will be offered a period of one month to test and prepare the necessary works, as well as to arrange the proceedings. What do you take into account when assessing a work? “The quality, diversity of components and, in this sense, the originality of the artistic project”.

Basque identity and relationships

There are two representations in Basque that can be seen in this year’s edition. Bat is a work of collaboration between Peio Etxekopar and Asisko Urmeneta. This improvisation that unites story and illustration speaks of Basque identity. “Two worlds so different (France-Spain, North-South, urban people), what does it contain?” That is the question you wanted to put to the Bureau. Relying on their autobiographies, aided by humor and methodical doubt, the public will try to give some keys to getting to know themselves better, or not. The work, which was offered on 18 and 19 May at the macrobiotic restaurant of Intxaurrondo and at the Public College of Igeldo, will be re-seen on 25 in the bar El Nido de Altza.

Another different proposal is the actors Ion Martínez Txiki and Saioa Royo, all of them from Donostia-San Sebastián. In the work Ispilua will discuss the relationships of couple and reflect on love through teleserie. They want to show the viewer that for relationships to progress it is essential to reflect well and know what we really want, and to do so they will question the steps that are taken in normal relationships. The show will be presented on June 1 at the Casa de Juegos de Añorga and June 3 at the bar Via Fora de Amara.

The Donostia-San Sebastian Pocket Theatre Festival is going to be a festival filled with styles such as magic, monologues, transformism or the desire to reach people with very varied tastes and hobbies. In addition to the theater plays in Basque Country Beste Aldekoak and Ispilua, the following are also presented in this XXI edition: The show of the parish of Sergio Fernández and Arturo González, A guuusssto! by Gorka Aginagalde and Gurutze Beitia. Meet the mermaids, Karimen My Chinese Tale, Rafa Forner You tell me and tell me, The wonderful world of the other crises, Hiccup and Condrias, Yogurinha Borova and Nagore Solgore.

In the opinion of the head of Cultural Action, the number of productions is closely linked to the number of performances; “the Spanish are much more numerous than the Basque production”. Therefore, he is in favor of making more effort in towns and cities to promote works in Euskera, always in informal spaces such as bars, as “this gives cultural life to the people or the city”.