The Teatro Español (Plaza de Santa Ana. Calle del Príncipe, 25) premieres on 10 February and until 22 March in the Sala Pequeña – Margarita Xirgu the play El nudo gordiano, by the American playwright Johnna Adams, directed by Israel Elejalde and adapted by Paula Paz.
The play, which delves into the more complex territories of motherhood, responsibility and pain, features the performance of two great actresses, Eva Rufo and María Morales, who give life to the two central characters of the play.
Set in a small community shaken by a school tragedy, El nudo gordiano confronts a mother with her son’s teacher in an encounter which, far from offering comfort, gradually turns into a verbal battle marked by tension, reproaches and uncomfortable truths. What begins as a conciliatory conversation leads to a moral duel where every word opens new cracks.
With precise structure and sharp dialogues, Adams poses questions of great ethical depth: who is responsible when a child does not fit on the margins of the normative? , where does the responsibility of the family end and that of the education system begin? what does it mean to protect? El nudo gordiano does not offer easy answers, but it invites us to look at the most ambiguous areas of the human condition.
The director, Israel Elejalde, brings to the stage this classic metaphor, the knot impossible to untie, as central image of a contemporary conflict. As the director himself points out, “the piece raises a dichotomy before the abyss: cutting the knot or trying to undo it. Who is responsible for this decision and who bears the consequences?”. The work thus places the viewer before a moral dilemma without clear solutions, where good and evil are rarely delimited.
