In 2022, Formentera becomes a fulcrum for theatre once more with the Festival of Children's Entertainment

Today the Formentera Office of Culture presented the fifteenth Festival of Children's Entertainment (Mostra d'Espectàcles Infantils). Organised by Sa Xerxa Children's and Youth Theatre in the Balearic Islands and the Consell de Formentera, the programme will bring four shows to Formentera between 14 and 16 January.

Susana Labrador, Councillor of Culture, described the Festival's focus as "continuing to offer local children and families quality theatre and culture, while supporting the industries of theatre and culture."

The kick-off comes Friday 14 January with two storytelling sessions: Contes per volar ben amunt and El vaixell vermell. Both sessions are the handiwork of Lletra encantada, and co-creator Raquel de Manuel Mur leads each one. Contes per volar ben amunt showcases oral and corporal narration to tell ancient and reinvented stories and songs. Individuals at Formentera's adult day centre can enjoy the approximately 45-minute performance from 11.00am.

El vaixell vermell takes audiences on a journey across an ocean to a magical island. It is a workshop of co-creation, a bonfire around which songs, stories, laughs and illustrated albums are shared. The session features a captain and a group of sailors who boarded a ship and set sail in search of new shores. This all-ages show is free and starts at 5.00pm in the Sant Ferran library connection (Punt de Lectura), with a duration of 45 minutes.

The Festival will continue Saturday 15 January with L'Estaquirot Teatre's L'aventura d'avorrir-se. This puppet show stars Rita, a little girl who, in spite of her many toys, is eternally bored and does not know how to play alone. But one day at grandma's house, with a simple rubber duck, Rita embarks on an adventure over the course of which her imagination will take her to the world of colours, and she will discover surprising characters... Recommended for all audiences, the 50-minute performance will take place at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) from 6.00pm.

The Festival ends Sunday 16 January with Volen Volen, the breakout dance and circus show by the company Mariantònia Oliver. Dance and circus merge to create a language without words, based on the manipulation of objects and movement. A warm choreographic game that stirs children's emotions and enhances their creativity with balloons evoking the most important moments of childhood. The 35-minute show is recommended for ages three and up, and can be seen at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) from 6.00pm.

Tickets

Saturday and Sunday performances are priced at 4 €. Tickets can be purchased on entradesformentera.cat where information will be available from Friday 7 January.
 
Due to the exceptional situation stemming from the COVID-19 crisis, admission to the 2022 Festival will be free for unemployed individuals and under-employed freelancers.

The shows will be carried out in accordance with safety protocols and in compliance with current regulations, and functions may be postponed based on the epidemiological situation.

Sa Xerxa

"Culture is an essential human right". This idea has pervaded Sa Xerxa for nearly twenty years and is the chief motivator behind every activity the non-profit promotes.

A volunteer-powered organisation that works to deliver culturally dynamic on-stage offerings and boost children and young people's involvement in culture through the performing arts. Sa Xerxa specialises in all-ages theatre, disseminating quality shows in every corner of the Balearic Islands and, at the same time, strengthening the cultural industry and fomenting programming and family theatre festivals across the region.

2022 theatre troupes

Lletra encantada
Lletra encantada are co-creators of stories and spells, of new paths and adventures. They conduct workshops for children from aged zero to twelve. Founders Raquel de Manuel Mur and Helena Maba shape workshops and performances around stories and books. De Manuel leads reading and theatre activities with children and youth on Menorca, with more than 13-plus years of storytelling experience there and in Catalonia.

L'Estaquirot Teatre
L'Estaquirot Teatre, founded in 1973, specialise in family shows in which actors' lighthearted and expressive language fuses with the magic and spontaneity of the language of puppets. Forty-one productions have provided the troupe with the basis for constant and ongoing research of puppetry techniques. In 1981 the company created the Itinerant Puppet Theatre (Teatre Ambulant de Titelles) and put puppetry at the centre of "The Puppet Kitchen" ("La cocina de los títeres"), a 13-episode TV series in collaboration with TV3.

Mariantònia Oliver
Since the theatre troupe's inception in 1989, Mariantònia Oliver have developed a huge body of educational and creative projects in schools and social initiatives. In 2000, they settled on Mallorca and put a strong social commitment at the heart of their work. Since 2016 they have piloted EiMa, a festival in rural areas of Europe, and overseen educational projects at the Centre for the Creation of Performing Arts in Maria de la Salut (Mallorca). Mariantònia Oliver is director and choreographer for the theatre troupe that bears her name, not to mention professor at the Conservatory of Music of the Balearic Islands.

7 January 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera