The happiness of the playwright Alberto Conejero (Vilches, Jaén, 1978) this Monday is complete. Not only has he been awarded with the National Prize of Dramatic Literature, but he has won for his piece on the geometry of The wheat, his most personal project, to the point that not only wrote the text but also co-produced and signed his putting in scene, in what was his debut as a theatrical director. “This work links with my roots and from the first moment I committed myself radically with it. I felt that I had to accompany this story until the end and that’s why I jumped to direct it”, explains an excited phone the author.
the geometry of The wheat is characterised by a marriage that is going by car from Barcelona to a small village in the south to attend the burial of the father of man, from which nothing has been known in his whole life. During the trip, not only will cross the country, but also will revive his family’s past, intertwined with Spanish history, and they will draw to the surface their own crisis of a couple. The jury has chosen this work “for his poetic style, his mastery in the precise construction of the figures and the precise configuration and development of the plot, in which converge some stories that reflect the reality of Spanish over three generations.”
Conejero began to write this work two years ago on the basis of a memory of youth from her mother, and immediately launched its staging. “In fact, I was ending up in the trials, with the help of the actors. They ended up to draw it, so that they corresponds to a part of this award,” he admits. It was published by the publishing house of Two Moustaches in may of 2018 and premiered last February at the teatro Valle-Inclán in Madrid in co-production with the National Dramatic Centre. The production is maintained this season in the tour of Spain.
With this award, the dramatist culminated a period of intense and successful activity that was started with the presentation of The dark stone in the National Drama Center in 2015, drama about the last days of Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, the last boyfriend of Lorca, for which he won the Max Award to the best author in 2016. In 2017 premiered two of his: Usuhaia, starring José Coronado, and The days of the snow, written from the memories of Josefina Manresa, widow of Miguel Hernandez, played by the actress Rosario Pardo. In November of last year came to the stage All night of a day, directed by Luis Luque, with Carmelo Gómez, Ana Torrent, who continues to tour. And two months later, Lluís Pasqual premiered The dream of life, the piece that Conejero imagine the end of the unfinished Comedy without title of Lorca.
