March 30, 2015 | Posted in:Vellum News

The 15th century novel La Celestina, provides backbone to a shadowy puppet opera in the Met’s Spanish castle patio. The title refers to the village witch/prostitute who spells a young man trying to win the heart of his beloved.  Done entirely with Shadow puppets it tells the tragic tale of love and betrayal, witchcraft and magic, murder and suicide. Before this play was written, Spanish literature consisted of fantastical things and this tragicomedy brings the Spaniards out of the middle ages into contemporary times by incorporating real life into the narrative. The production is wondrous and instantly becomes a larger than life cinematic experience. Recalling everything from Don Giovanni, drive-ins and 60’s cinema, the puppets are projected onto the façade of an actual Spanish castle (Velez Blanco) and plays off the ancient marble statues exhibited in that part of the museum.