Life is a Dream
La Vida es Sueño

Watch the new trailer here:

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

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 will be Calderón’s astonishing play from the Spanish Golden Age. Directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, it will be 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 down through the years. 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 (CNTC Madrid) and LAZONA; in collaboration with the Barbican, London and Scène Nationale d’ALBI•Tarn, France.
Barbican presentation generously supported by The Polonsky Foundation.

Tickets on Sale:

Cast and creative team

Cast

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
Interpreter	Juan Ollero
Publicity Designer	Javier Naval

Upcoming Performances

Date	Location
13-16 April 2023	London, Barbican, UK
5 May 2023	Alicante, Teatro Principal, Spain
2-3 June 2023	Budapest, National Theatre, Hungary
17-18 July 2023	Almada, Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, Portugal
21-22 July 2023	Gijón, Teatro Jovellanos, Spain

Previous Performances

Date	Location
9-10 March 2023	Albi, Scène Nationale, France
15 December 2022-26 February 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

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