Malaga Theatre Festival: the best theatre plays in Malaga

The 35th edition of the Malaga Theatre Festival takes place during the month of January and part of February. An incredible moment to enjoy the best theatre that can be seen nowadays in the whole country.

At WonderStays we love to recommend everything our city has to offer. And we are sure that, as a tourist, you are looking forward to plans like the ones we have already told you about here. But the Malaga Theatre Festival is one of our great jewels of winter Malaga, and we are sure that among our visitors there is more than one lover of these shows.

If you are planning to visit our city during these dates, there is bound to be a play that catches your attention. Here are some of the most appetising ones. And we also give you some tips so that you can choose the one that best suits you.

The venues of the Malaga Theatre Festival

This year, the Malaga Theatre Festival is divided into four different venues:

Microteatro

This space, in its usual line, will offer small theatre plays whose programme can be found in this link of the festival. A different proposal, for all those who want to see something different and have little time.

Cervantes Theatre

The great theatre of Malaga hosts the most spectacular plays in terms of staging and cast. Up to 14 plays with an impressive cast in most of them, ranging from dramas to musicals and children’s shows.

Echegaray Theatre

This medium-format theatre hides more reduced proposals as far as the deployment of means is concerned, but no less interesting for that. In fact, it is a good time and place to discover surprising companies and plays. Some of them with an alternative and highly suggestive staging. In total, 23 shows aimed at both children and adults.

Hotel Vincci Posada del Patio

The Laúd lounge of this hotel in Malaga hosts a different, innovative show that combines theatre, music and gastronomy. Its title is Hambre (Hunger), and it consists of a dinner show inspired by the Golden Age.

ESAD Theatre Hall

The Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático could not miss the party that is the Malaga Theatre Festival, and it is also hiding two surprises that we will tell you more about later on.

What can you see at the Malaga Theatre Festival?

There is so much and so good that we wanted to select some of the plays that we think will be of most interest to you. But on the Festival’s website you have all the proposals, take a look!

La cantante calva’ (The Bald Singer): for lovers of the avant-garde

This classic of the so-called theatre of the absurd returned to Spanish theatres in May by Luis Luque. This is the production that is coming to the Malaga Theatre Festival, which received excellent reviews. And yes, it is avant-garde theatre, although this work by Ionesco premiered almost 70 years ago. The Bald Singer is more relevant today than ever: it speaks of the lack of communication in modern societies and the foolishness of our actions. The cast couldn’t be more attractive: Adriana Ozores, Fernando Tejero, Javier Pereira, Carmen Ruiz…

Trojan Women’: a desperate hymn for women and against war

Euripides wrote The Trojan Women a whopping 2,400 years ago (slightly more). Obviously, the text that comes to the Cervantes Theatre is a revision of that one, updated by Alberto Conejero. And the action has moved from Ancient Greece to modern-day Syria. A devastating scenario of war, in which women are the spoils that the winners share. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón heads the cast of this impressive tragedy that all lovers of classical theatre will adore.

Smoking room’: a bitter comedy about people’s miseries

It was a film that triumphed at the Malaga Film Festival 15 years ago. Now it is back in the form of a play and with an exciting cast: Secun de la Rosa, Manolo Solo, Miquel Esparbé and Edu Soto. They are some of the co-workers who become involved in a business crisis when a smoking room is requested in the company. Humour, but also drama, are masterfully mixed in this essential piece.

‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’: a musical to let your hair down

If you’re in the mood for something less serious but of exceptional quality, musicals may be right up your street. As with Smoking Room, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a theatrical adaptation of a film – and it works! The journey of three drag queens through Australia will bring to mind musical hits of the best disco music. And the staging couldn’t be more impressive: a huge golden bus in which much of the story takes place.

Así que pasen cinco años’: Lorca, always in force

This surrealist play, whose title ended up being premonitory (Lorca was murdered five years after writing it) returns to the stage. It was first seen in Spain in 1975, and the staging that comes to the Cervantes is by Ricardo Iniesta. As then, what we are told are the premonitions that the passage of time ends up bringing to reality. What, in short, happened to its author.

‘Three Sisters’, a Chekhov classic

Three sisters leave the capital to go and live in a terribly boring provincial town. This opening is the Russian author’s plot excuse to talk to us about something much more profound: the meaning of existence. Ana Fernández and Marina San José (the daughter of Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel) head the cast of this play for which time seems to have stood still.

Lysistrata’: a hilarious version of Aristophanes’ play

Now at the Echegaray, this adaptation of Aristophanes’ text is sure to delight you. Because Las Niñas de Cádiz have added music and carnival humour to give this timeless story a new force. The plot: the adventure of a group of women who go on a sex strike to end the war.

Alice in Wonderland’: for all audiences

Children also have their place at the Malaga Theatre Festival. There are many proposals, but Lewis Carroll’s story always works. A dreamlike world opens up before the eyes of a little girl, who embarks on a journey in which she will meet characters as irreverent as they are funny.

Mrs. Carrar’s Guns: Bertolt Brecht and War

Brecht dissects the motives of the Spanish Civil War in this hard-hitting play. A widow who has lost her husband in the war fights to keep her sons from going to the front. But events take a surprising turn of events. A play with a very political background, but shocking nonetheless.

Yllana: the best sketches in the ESAD theatre hall

Yllana is a gestural humour theatre company that was founded 26 years ago. They have created two shows that will be performed in the ESAD theatre hall. The first, Chefs, is a delirious piece that will make all audiences laugh and revolves around the fashionable world of haute cuisine. The second play, Lo mejor de Yllana, is a selection of the best of this company in all the years it has been on stage.

These are our suggestions, but at the Malaga Theatre Festival there are many more offers for you. If you visit us, don’t forget to book your tickets!