Life is a Dream
La Vida es Sueño

Written by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
In a version by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod
Performed in Spanish with surtitles.

Watch the trailer

A prince chained in a mountain. A young woman disguised as a man in search of vengeance. Revolution, love, murder – but in Life is a Dream, is the real truly real, or is it all just a dream?

Cheek by Jowl’s first Spanish-language production is Calderón’s astonishing play from the Spanish Golden Age. Directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, it is performed by an ensemble of Spanish actors.

It comes after many years of bringing Cheek by Jowl’s work to Spain and forming connections and collaborations with Spanish performers and practitioners. Life is a Dream marks the first play from the Golden Age since Donnellan and Ormerod presented their 1989 English-language adaptation of Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna at the National Theatre in London.

Co-produced by Cheek by Jowl, Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (Spain) and LAZONA; in collaboration with the Barbican, London and Scène Nationale d’ALBI•Tarn, France.

Cheek by Jowl is very grateful to the Embassy of Spain in London for their kind support of La Vida es Sueño and also to Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and to the Instituto Cervantes London.

Cast

Name
Ernesto Arias
Prince Ezeanyim
David Luque
Rebeca Matellán
Manuel Moya
Alfredo Noval
Goizalde Núñez
Antonio Prieto
Irene Serrano

Creative Team

Role	Name
Director	Declan Donnellan
Designer	Nick Ormerod
Assistant Director	Josete Corral
Lighting	Ganecha Gil
Sound Design and Composer	Fernando Epelde
Movement Director	Amaya Galeote
Dramaturgy Advisor	Pedro Víllora
Assistant Designer	Alessio Meloni
Costume Assistant	Elena Colmenar
Sound Assistant	Gastón Horischnik
Lighting Assistant	Javier Hernandez
Props	Sira González
Stage Manager	Alex Stanciu
Technical Director (2022-23)	Raúl Sánchez
Technical Director (2023-)	Oscar Sainz
Company Manager	Elisa Fernández
Interpreter	Juan Ollero
Publicity Designer	Javier Naval

Previous Performances

Date	Location
8 June 2024	Córdoba, Gran Teatro de Córdoba, Spain
17 May 2024	Monterey, Teatro de la Ciudad, Mexico
11-12 May 2024	Guadalajara, Teatro Conjunto Santander, Mexico
7-9 May 2024	Mexico City, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico
27 April 2024	Alcorcón, Teatro Municipal Buero Vallejo, Spain
6 April 2024	Móstoles, Teatro del Bosque, Spain
22 March 2024	Pamplona, Teatro Gayarre, Spain
16 March 2024	Alcobendas, Teatro Auditorio Cuidad de Alcobendas, Spain
1–2 March 2024	Pozuelo de Alarcón, MIRA Teatro, Spain
23–24 February 2024	A Coruña, Teatro Rosalía de Castro, Spain
17 February 2024	Santiago de Compostela, Auditorio de Galicia, Spain
3–4 February 2024	Palma de Mallorca, Teatro Principal, Spain
27 January 2024	Murcia, Teatro Romea, Spain
28 December 2023	Cuenca, Teatro Auditorio de Cuenca José Luis Perales, Spain
15–16 December 2023	Bilbao, Teatro Arriaga Antzokia, Spain
25 Nov–2 Dec 2023	Buenos Aires, Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires, Argentina
27–28 October 2023	Logroño, Teatro Bretón de los Herreros, Spain
20 October 2023	Valdepeñas, el Centro Cultural “La Confianza,” Spain
12–15 October 2023	Genoa, Teatro Nazionale Genova, Italy
5 October 2023	Vitoria-Gasteiz, Teatro Principal Antzokia (Festival Internacional de Teatro de Vitoria-Gasteiz), Spain
23–27 August 2023	Edinburgh, Lyceum Theatre (Edinburgh International Festival), UK
21–22 July 2023	Gijón, Teatro Jovellanos, Spain
17–18 July 2023	Almada, Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, Portugal
9–10 July 2023	Barcelona, Teatre Grec (El Grec Festival de Barcelona), Spain
30 June –5 July 2023	Almagro, AUREA (Almagro Festival), Spain
15 June 2023	Sofia, National Theatre “Ivan Vazov,” Bulgaria
2–3 June 2023	Budapest, National Theatre, Hungary
5 May 2023	Alicante, Teatro Principal, Spain
13–16 April 2023	London, Barbican, UK
9–10 March 2023	Albi, Scène Nationale, France
15 Dec 2022–26 Feb 2023	Madrid, CNTC Teatro Clásico, Spain
2 December 2022	Avilés, Centro Niemeyer, Spain
19–20 November 2022	València, Teatro Principal, Spain
12–13 November 2022	Valladolid, Teatro Calderón, Spain
22–23 October 2022	Girona, Teatro Municipal, Spain
14–16 October 2022	Seville, Teatro Lope de Vega, Spain

Reviews

UK

“Fiercely astute… Ormerod’s stunning green-doored design — which remains the backdrop throughout — deftly enables the atmosphere to swing between dream and nightmare.”
The Times

“Absorbing, dreamlike.”
The Stage

“Declan Donnellan’s direction has its gaze trained on the destabilising horror of Segismundo’s lifelong seclusion and subsequent gaslighting.”
WhatsOnStage

“An emerald fever dream of a production… The vision is of a Lynchian nightmare: a single wall lines the back of the stage with the looming emptiness of the Barbican Theatre clad in darkness behind it. Characters appear through doors with Looney Tunes-like surrealism, conjured from the liminal space behind it.”
BroadwayWorld

“Blends the optics of a garish dream with unsettling slapstick.”
The Guardian

“The show’s cast, an ensemble of only 9 players, is a troupe of masters. They balance the show’s intricate philosophical commentary with comedy which verges on slapstick and performances grounded in realism.”
Theatre Weekly

Spain

“A roller-coaster of surprises… Uncomfortable, controversial, brilliant.”
ABC

“Exceptional, highly original and surprising… we don’t remember having seen a more original, daring and transgressive staging of Life is a Dream.”
La Última Bambalina

“Intense brilliance.”
20 Minutos

“Surprises and excites.”
Memorias de un Tiquis Miquis

“Donnellan exposes the prodigious work of actors. He demands of them a versatility and an intensity that oscillates from the physicality to introspection, from laughter to grief, from lightness to the weight of the chains.”
El Confidencial