The Teatro del Carmen will host the premiere of La Maqama de la Fiesta on Saturday, November 21, written about eight hundred years ago by the poet from Vélez, Al-Murabi. This is the first time this play has been staged.
The Cultural Delegation of the Vélez-Málaga City Council is programming the premiere of La Maqama de la Fiesta at the Teatro del Carmen on Saturday, November 21. This is the first time this text, written between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, has been brought to the stage.
The play was written by the poet from Vélez, Al-Murabi, who lived approximately between 1270 and 1350. It is considered the first complete text preserved from the literature of the Axarquía region and one of the few complete works of the maqama genre, a medieval Arabic narrative that combines rhymed prose, humour, and satire.
The plot begins with a domestic request. The protagonist's wife asks him for a lamb for the sacrifice feast, but the family's financial situation prevents him from buying it, so he wanders the streets of the ancient medina of Vélez-Málaga. The following episodes depict the markets, trades, social differences, and customs of the Nasrid period.
The theatrical adaptation is the work of Ana Ortiz and María José Ruiz from the María Zambrano Theatre Company, who are directing the staging. After the performance, there will be a tasting of typical products from the Andalusian era.
The Councillor for Culture, Alicia Ramírez, highlighted the value of the text:
“We are talking about a text written by someone from Vélez eight centuries ago, which has survived the passage of time and which we will now be able to enjoy for the first time on stage.”
The play was recovered locally thanks to a public reading promoted in 2016 by Salvador Gutiérrez, the Cultural Coordinator of the City Council. The premiere is on Saturday, November 21, at the Teatro del Carmen.
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