Katia Caso returns to Havana stages with theatrical project between Spain and Cuba

January 9, 2024

Cuban actress Katia Caso will return to the island to present the play "The Night That Never Existed," a co-production by the Cuban company Teatro Espacio and the Off Latina venue in Madrid, Spain.

The theatrical project will premiere on March 2, 2024 at the Adolfo Llauradó Hall and after a tour through various venues in Cuba, including El Mejunje in Santa Clara, it will reach the Spanish capital in September.

"The Night That Never Existed" proposes a journey with Shakespeare from 16th century England to Hispanic America to explore what love is: "England. Sixteenth century. The most powerful woman in the world begs the most sensitive poet in her kingdom to give her an answer to the only question that matters: what is love?"

To accomplish this, this Hispanic-American cooperation project has brought together the talent and experience of a team of four great artists from four countries. The leading roles will be played by Caso and Alfredo Reyes, in the roles of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, respectively. For his part, the original text is the work of Mexican Humberto Robles, while the sound design was handled by Uruguayan Guillermo McGill.

Cuba Noticias 360 spoke with Katia Caso, who in the coming days will be traveling to Havana from Madrid to meet physically with the rest of the team after several months of virtual meetings.

Regarding the origins of this project, the renowned actress explained that it all started with a proposal from Alfredo Reyes. "Alfredo and I have been friends for a very long time, he is an actor and director of Teatro Espacio and we wanted to work together. So he had this wonderful play by Humberto Robles, the most performed living playwright in the world, inside and outside Mexico, who is also an activist for Human Rights."

After the proposal, Caso commented that "my head immediately started spinning because I have always kept doing theater in these 37 years of artistic life and I immediately said yes."

Then came the moment to think about how to put together this project. "I know here in Madrid Roberto Terán, who has had a lot of success with his theater venue in the La Latina neighborhood. He is a person who loves Cuba very much and always told me he wanted to go to the island with some project," Katia continues.

After receiving the script from Alfredo Reyes, Terán embarked on this project and together they set out to work on this kind of fictional conversation between Elizabeth I of England and William Shakespeare that invites the spectator to explore an vast feeling that affects all of us but very few are capable of defining.

Regarding the staging, Roberto Terán himself affirms that "'The Night That Never Existed' is like love itself, sometimes a comedy and other times a drama."

For her part, Caso elaborates on her interpretation: "For me to play Elizabeth I is a marvel because she is the type of character that requires characterization work."

"It is a luxury to work on this play also because we are not only going to play Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, but through this path we do what the director calls 'actoral cross-dressing,' that is, it is theater within theater and the queer concept is very much implied and reflected in the work," added the artist.

Although the text is written in archaic English and the characters use period language, Caso revealed that "little by little its progression becomes more contemporary. In the case of Elizabeth she transforms herself, while Shakespeare does an important introspection of what he is and what he discovers on stage."

The press release assures that the proposal is currently "the only theatrical collaboration project between Spain and Cuba," a joy that her team shares and that Katia eagerly awaits to show to the island's public.

To conclude, the actress has shared three Shakespeare quotes included in the text that show the essence of the production. With them she leaves a preview of how much Cuban spectators will discover when this team finally takes the stage in Havana next March:

"Love will strike fear in the brave and courage in the coward"; "Poor is the love that can be counted"; and "The more love I give you the more I have, for both are infinite."