Until Sunday 24 April, the theatre company Anton Chekhov Siglo XXI will be performing at the Teatro del Barrio the play The Grand Inquisitor, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a vehement and scathing monologue starring Nacho Marraco, Carlos Guerrero and Marta García, directed by Marita Heras.
The Grand Inquisitor’s Speech admits multiple interpretations and has its own philosophical entity, independent of the rest of the novel it is part of. It is a clear exponent of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s thought. It contains a critique of the Catholic Church and its action in Spain: the story is set in Seville during the Inquisition. There, the Grand Inquisitor reproaches Jesus that, although his intention was to save humanity, he behaved as if he did not love it, because “he gave it an enormous dose of freedom, and with it (the Inquisitor assures us)”, he disoriented it.
Jesus, the founder of Christianity, brings forward his return to earth. It is not yet the moment announced in the bible, but fifteen centuries after his departure. He appears in Seville, in the most dreadful times of the Inquisition, where the day before, the Grand Inquisitor, to the greater glory of God, had hundreds of heretics burned. The crowds recognise the Son of God and celebrate him. They ask him for miracles, which he readily grants. In the midst of the collective ecstasy, the cardinal appeared and had Jesus imprisoned like any other heretic, to the astonishment and submission of the people. In the dungeons of the institution of terror, a vehement, angry monologue begins, where the inquisitor will reveal the true reasons of his heart and the answer to his inquisitive question: “Why have you come to hinder us? We have no need of you!”. Tickets can be purchased at this link.
