From 1 to 10 November, the Teatro del Barrio de Madrid (20, calle Zurita) will be screening Desobediente María (Desobeying Mary) by the Uruguayan playwright Marianella Morena, in which she recounts the life of María Pacheco, an indomitable woman who faced an emperor; the Leona of Castilla; a woman who led the communal revolts of S. XVI.
Laura Hernando, Lucía Trentini and Candela Solé are the protagonists of this work, a conversation between women from different life natures, continents, professions and historical times, to talk about one of the first revolutions in Europe: the frustrated communal revolt.
María Pacheco is a transgressor figure that stands out from her time. She was a noble Castilian, leader of the community and wife of the general Juan de Padilla. After the death of her husband, she took over from Toledo the command of the uprising of the Communities of Castile against King Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to her heroic adventures, she was known by the people as Leona de Castilla, Brava Hembra, Centella de Fuego and El último Comunero. He never got the pardon of the king whom he faced and died in exile in Portugal, going through many hardships in the last years of his life.
The play tells how three sisters from a sewing workshop in Toledo live spectral apparitions of María Pacheco. The mother forbids them to believe in what is happening to them, and the community mocks them. Until they choose to trust and represent it through music, and fiction, as a game, but more than that: an exercise in empowerment. Tickets can be purchased here.
