Making a Scottish comeback, Edinburgh-based multilingual theatre group Fronteiras Theatre Lab (fronteira meaning ‘border’ in Portuguese) is set to bring their intimate physical theatre show La Niña Barro to Assembly Roxy this March. The show’s three day run will coincide with International Women’s Day.
An ongoing creative project first formed in 2013, this run marks a decade since La Niña Barro’s original premier at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The performance will feature the original crew and cast, including Director and Producer Flavia D’Avila and lead actress Elizabeth Sogorb as the clay woman.
Created from introspective poems written by Spanish writer Marta Massé, La Niña Barro explores the experience and feelings of a woman made from mud, probing how she feels about and relates to herself, earth, nature, life and love through a raw and intimate mix of skilled Mbira (traditional Zimbabwean thumb piano) music, moving spoken word and intense physical theatre.
Actress Elizabeth Sogorb said “I sat down to re-read Marta’s original poems in preparation for this run the other day and I couldn’t stop crying. It was a rare grey, rainy day in Alicante and they just really hit me… so many memories stirred inside me, everything we have experienced with this show, all the conversations we’ve had. I can’t wait to get her under my skin again.”
A performance enacted fully in the nude and spoken in the Spanish language, La Niña Barro creates a sensitive, impactful experience for audiences that asks us to reflect on what makes us human as the clay woman bears her soul and self.
Director and Producer Flavia D’Avila said “This is a deeply personal, heartfelt project for all of us. Not only are we celebrating 10 years since our Niña first came into the world, but there have been many changes and losses for us all along the way – and it’s all embedded there, in the work itself.
What I find really interesting about La Niña Barro is that it affects people in completely unique ways depending on where they are in their lives. We’re really looking forward to giving her the run she deserves in Edinburgh.”
Since 2014, La Niña Barro has toured around Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, and the USA, winning the Impact Award at the 5th Small-Scale Theatre Festival in Miami and making the cover of specialist dance and physical theatre magazine Godoff in Madrid.
Dates: 7th – 9th March 2024
Venue: Assembly Roxy
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 