Guillem Clua’s Spanish-language LGBT play La Golondrina is at Thalia Spanish Theatre in Sunnyside, Queens, Friday through Sunday, September 27 through October 13, 2019. $25
In Spanish with English supertitles.
$25 tickets at thaliatheatre.org
La Golondrina (Guillem Clua’s Play)
Ramón wants to sing La golondrina at his mother’s funeral. He gets Amelia, a singing teacher, to help him.
Ramón has lost his mother and Amelia is a mother with her own sorrows. The song makes the two wonder what makes us human. They decide that it’s our ability to emphasize and feel the pain of others.
The play is inspired by the terrorist attack at the Pulse Bar in Orlando, Florida on June 2016.
Soledad López and Josean Ortiz star. Luis Caballero directs.
La Golondrina (The Song)
“The Swallow” is a famous Mexican song written by Dr. Narciso Serradell Sevilla in 1862 while he was exiled to France during the French intervention in Mexico.
The Doctor found the lyrics translated into Spanish in a magazine used for packing material. The original words come from a poem written in Arabic by the last Muslim king of Granada, Spain.
Swallows are a migrating bird who return to the same nest every year. They make their nests on cliffs or in the eaves of buildings. You can see them feeding in the skies around sunset in many places around the world. The swallows at the old Mission of San Juan Capistrano in Southern California are legendary.
The song captures the feeling of being lost far from home. It also suggests that you can make your home wherever your bed is.