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| Spain's microtheatres provide lifeline for actors as public subsidies dry up | Spain's microtheatres provide lifeline for actors as public subsidies dry up |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| On a rainy night, two dozen people lurk in the doorways of the Chinese rag trade wholesalers that line a narrow street in the centre of Madrid, awaiting the signal that will allow them into one of the Spanish capital's tiniest, and most successful, theatres. | On a rainy night, two dozen people lurk in the doorways of the Chinese rag trade wholesalers that line a narrow street in the centre of Madrid, awaiting the signal that will allow them into one of the Spanish capital's tiniest, and most successful, theatres. |
| Housed in a ground-floor flat once occupied by the apartment block's doorwoman, the Casa de La Portera is part of a cultural revolution as Spanish theatre, like other arts, finds ways to survive a recession that has seen it sucked dry of what used to be its lifeblood – public subsidies. | Housed in a ground-floor flat once occupied by the apartment block's doorwoman, the Casa de La Portera is part of a cultural revolution as Spanish theatre, like other arts, finds ways to survive a recession that has seen it sucked dry of what used to be its lifeblood – public subsidies. |
| Those lucky enough to get one of the 25 tickets on sale are ushered into the front parlour, lined with uncomfortable high-backed dining room chairs that occupy much of the tiny space. The two actors – including Barbara Lennie, recently in Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In – performing an adaptation of Tennessee Williams are within arm's reach. | |
| The actor and director José Martret said he founded the theatre to produce a version of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov that more conservative theatres did not want. "This time I didn't even give them the opportunity to say 'no'," he said. It now plays to full houses – even if there are only two dozen people there. | |
| Across town, queues form for the €4-a-show tickets on sale at another miniature theatre, housed in a former butcher's shop, which calls itself Microtheatre for Money. Five tiny spaces, fitting a dozen people, run back-to-back 15-minute experimental shows – with not a subsidy in sight after a group of 21 actors and directors banded together and set up on their own. | |
| "The overall offer is good," said El País critic Marcos Ordóñez, who said the shows were good to average. "The only problem is a lack of air-conditioning." | |
| Complex laws governing the running of theatres are circumvented by calling the new spaces "cultural clubs" and selling theatregoers "temporary membership" rather than formal tickets. | |
| The microtheatre scene has already spawned one success that has moved up the theatre chain – a one-woman adaptation of American writer Toni Bentley's erotic memoir, The Surrender, has been taken up by the country's National Drama Centre. The play, put together and performed by Madrid-based Swiss actor Isabelle Stoffel, is now on its way to Argentina and Germany and is seeking a space at the Edinburgh fringe. | |
| "I think what they have done is amazing," said Bentley, who was in Madrid recently to see the play based on a book whose explicit subject matter – centred on her experiences with anal sex – meant she once quipped it would only ever make it on to the most 'off' of stages. | "I think what they have done is amazing," said Bentley, who was in Madrid recently to see the play based on a book whose explicit subject matter – centred on her experiences with anal sex – meant she once quipped it would only ever make it on to the most 'off' of stages. |
| With Spain's budget deficit estimated at about 10% of GDP last year, austerity measures have chopped away much of the country's arts funding. Senior cultural administrators, both public and private, report that average budgets have been halved since Spain lurched into the first part of a double-dip recession three years ago, according to a report by Fundación Contemporánea. | |
| Funds for Spanish film-making, which hit €90m (£80m) in 2009 – against just €83m in domestic ticket sales for Spanish films – are falling fast. Last year that sum was €71m, with further cuts on their way. | Funds for Spanish film-making, which hit €90m (£80m) in 2009 – against just €83m in domestic ticket sales for Spanish films – are falling fast. Last year that sum was €71m, with further cuts on their way. |
| From theatre to film and documentary-making, Spanish creators are finding new ways to live without state funds – and discovering that it also gives them creative freedom. | From theatre to film and documentary-making, Spanish creators are finding new ways to live without state funds – and discovering that it also gives them creative freedom. |
| "Companies like ours are concentrating on shows that can be moved easily," said Carmen Mayordomo of the Zombie Company, which has embraced microtheatre. "You have to keep costs down and make sure you are doing quality theatre. That is the only way you get more contracts." | "Companies like ours are concentrating on shows that can be moved easily," said Carmen Mayordomo of the Zombie Company, which has embraced microtheatre. "You have to keep costs down and make sure you are doing quality theatre. That is the only way you get more contracts." |
| Poet Violeta Medina says that, as artists, actors and directors find ways to fund themselves rather than depending on the state, the quality of what they do can suddenly improve. | |
| "It is one thing to complain about the lack of funding, which is true, and quite another to sit back with your arms crossed doing nothing," she said. "There is a change of attitude. The blow to funding is shaking things up, and producing some positive things." | |
| The new can-do attitude extends beyond microtheatre, to crowd-funded documentary films and music such as flamenco star Mayte Martín's latest collection of bolero songs, Cosas de Dos. | The new can-do attitude extends beyond microtheatre, to crowd-funded documentary films and music such as flamenco star Mayte Martín's latest collection of bolero songs, Cosas de Dos. |
| Medina points also to publishing, where a phenomenon knows as "cardboard-publishing" – which spread across Latin America during the last great South American recession – has gained a foothold. The new publishers use recycled cardboard to produce cheap books with handmade covers. Santiago Roncagliolo – a well-known Spanish-based Peruvian writer – is among the first whose works have been published in the new format. | Medina points also to publishing, where a phenomenon knows as "cardboard-publishing" – which spread across Latin America during the last great South American recession – has gained a foothold. The new publishers use recycled cardboard to produce cheap books with handmade covers. Santiago Roncagliolo – a well-known Spanish-based Peruvian writer – is among the first whose works have been published in the new format. |
| Nobody is getting rich from Madrid's new self-funding cultural scene, but at least actors and others are working. "The money means that we can just get by," said Martret. "And these days that means a lot." | Nobody is getting rich from Madrid's new self-funding cultural scene, but at least actors and others are working. "The money means that we can just get by," said Martret. "And these days that means a lot." |